Time is ticking down on both men’s illustrious careers and there is no excuse for either camp to put any more obstacles in the way of a fight which would be the biggest-grossing one in boxing history.

Lewis, though, continues to have his doubts as to whether such a showdown will ever take place.

He and his advisers have been attempting to land Tyson for years but the former champion is still making painfully slow progress back from the suspension for ear-biting which had put his future in jeopardy.

‘‘Everyone’s asking me who I’m going to fight next but since the Holyfield fight I’ve been waiting for Tyson,’’ Lewis said.

‘‘After the last fight where he boxed that blimp he says he needs two more fights and I’m saying ‘boy, is this fight going to happen’?

‘‘We’re going to have to see what happens. There’s other guys out there who deserve a chance as well so it’s not all about Mike Tyson.’’

Tyson will have watched Lewis’ clinical demolition of Rahman and can be excused a little shudder of apprehension.

In 13 minutes and 29 seconds, Lewis justified all his pre-fight claims that he was saving up something special for a man he openly despised and rounded it off with one of the best punches of his career.

Rahman shaded the first round behind his jab but from the second onwards it was Lewis who was flicking out that shot more convincingly and in the third round he produced a sharp left which had Rahman temporarily back-tracking towards the ropes.

In the fourth round Lewis knocked Rahman back into a neutral corner, teed him up with a left hand then produced a swinging right hook which plunged the champion to the canvas.

There was clearly to be no recovery from the champion, who lay flat on his back until the count of eight when his valiant attempts to clamber to his feet only sent him careering into the ropes and referee Joe Cortez waved the contest off.

‘‘Everybody thought Rahman got under my skin and he did get under my skin a little bit but I kept all that reserved because I said ‘boy, he’ll have to pay for that’,’’ Lewis said.

‘‘I stayed focused because of the great team behind me. We’ve all been on a mission and as soon as we went to training camp 12 weeks ago everybody was really focused.

‘‘I told you that was a lucky punch in South Africa. I had far too many attributes for him.’’

While Lewis was still out celebrating his team of advisers were beginning to check the latest situation with Tyson, anxious to tie down the unpredictable former champion as soon as possible.

Lewis’ business manager Adrian Ogun said: ‘‘We’re going towards Tyson and I’d say we’re 90% confident.

‘‘The deadlock with the networks has been broken and Mike Tyson has been very positive indeed in putting this deal together.

‘‘Mike Tyson is a mandatory and I do not believe that the Mike Tyson that we know would become ranked number one in the world for the WBC title and then decide in a mandatory situation that he would rather step down and walk away than face Lennox.’’