MIKE TYSON has been offered £30 million to defend his WBC title against Lennox Lewis.

Lewis' manager, Frank Maloney, wasted no time in pledging the money after Tyson said that he was willing to meet the Canadian-raised fighter.

Tyson's WBC title, won against Frank Bruno in March, will not be at stake when he fights Bruce Seldon in Las Vegas on Saturday week because of a court ruling prohibiting him from putting his crown on the line against anyone other than Lewis.

As he opted to meet WBA title-holder Seldon, Tyson was told to vacate his WBC crown on July 15th.

But in a further complication to the heavyweight division merry-go-round, Maloney said Lewis was prepared to let Tyson keep his belt rather than fight each other for a vacated title.

Lewis, who took £2.6 million in "step-aside money" to allow Tyson to fight Seldon, was himself the WBC title-holder until he lost to Oliver McCall in September 1994.