Tyson was laying down a challenge to the heavyweight champion of the world.
"Let's go man to man in the streets if he wants," Tyson said. "No bodyguards or anything. He can't beat me there and he can't beat me in the ring."
For the first time since returning to boxing, Tyson has a goal other than becoming heavyweight champion again. Lewis gave it to him, both in his fight last weekend with Michael Grant and in his comments afterward.
"I'm coming at him and when I do, he will pay," Tyson told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday. "I'll say this to Lennox Lewis: Don't fight anymore and hold your title until I come. It should be two or three more fights and I'll be ready."
Tyson began training this week for his fight June 24 with Lou Savarese with a new determination, born out of the way Lewis manhandled Grant and then proclaimed that Tyson was not a major player in the heavyweight ranks.
"I want this guy," Tyson told manager Shelly Finkel after watching the Lewis-Grant fight on television.
In a gym on Thursday, he pounded the mitts inside the ring under the watchful eye of trainer Tommy Brooks, then warned no one to count him out of the heavyweight ranks he once terrorized.
"I'm just Mike Tyson and I'm just gradually working myself back up," Tyson said. "I'm humble, but I'm still ferocious and ruthless."
Tyson showed a bit of that by screaming profanities at a female AP photographer and ordering her from the gym. But he also showed a tender side later when he patiently listened to a brain damaged former fighter try to get him to look at a rap song he wrote.
Tyson rubbed the fighter's neck while listening to him, and thanked him for coming.
"See what I have to put up with?" he said.
Tyson, who last fought Jan. 29 when he stopped an outmatched Julius Francis in England, was to have fought Savarese on May 20, but told his promoters to postpone the fight while he dealt with family troubles and his desire to fight again.
He began working out after watching Fernando Vargas fight last month against Ike Quartey, and began his actual fight training this week after watching the Lewis-Grant bout.
"I could have fought when I was supposed to and be like Larry Holmes and jump into the ring after two years like he did against me just to get paid," Tyson said. "But I want to do a good job against Lou Savarese."
Tyson is supposed to meet Savarese in Milan, Italy, but Finkel said it might be moved elsewhere in Europe if soccer matches in Italy interfere.
His purse has not been reported, but it is sure to be more than the $8-10 million Lewis made for defending the heavyweight title against Grant.
"He can't draw flies," Tyson said. "My worst pay-per-view tripled what Lewis did against Grant. I don't need him. He needs me."
Assuming Tyson beats Savarese, he is tentatively scheduled to fight in September. Finkel said countries such as South Korea, Qatar, Malaysia and others have inquired about hosting the fight.
Tyson would conceivably be ready to fight Lewis by late in the year or in the spring, but there are many drawbacks to the fight. The main one is Lewis has a contract with HBO and Tyson is tied to Showtime, although Finkel said he thinks the two competing networks might be able to reach a deal.
"It would be the biggest grossing fight in history," Finkel said. "Each fighter would make at least $30 million."
Tyson already reportedly is $20 million richer without even stepping into the ring, thanks to a settlement of a lawsuit against a law firm for representing both Tyson and promoter Don King at the same time.
Tyson declined to discuss the settlement, though he still has lawsuits pending against King and former managers, John Horne and Rory Holloway.
"Don King and them didn't have to rob me. I was giving them money anyway," Tyson said. "I just wasn't giving it to them fast enough."
Tyson did, however, ramble on about a variety of historical subjects ranging from Alexander the Great to Al Capone before getting into his waiting Lamborghini and heading home.
"I just want to be the best I can be," he said. "I want to get the belief and confidence I had in myself at one point back again."
