LAS VEGAS, Nov. 18 -- Bring on Mike Tyson. That's the fight Lennox Lewis said he wants next. In fact, it's the fight he says he has wanted for years.

Lewis picked the right time to speak up, after he had knocked out Hasim Rahman in the fourth round Saturday night to reclaim the heavyweight championship he lost to Rahman in April. Rahman did almost all the talking before the rematch, but afterward he was in a local hospital being examined. That's when Lewis happily took his turn at the microphones during a news conference, cast a satisfied glance back at a winning performance and all but demanded a showdown with Tyson in the near future.

"Tyson," Lewis responded when asked whom he would like to fight next.

"Since the Holyfield fights, I've been waiting for Tyson," Lewis said. Lewis beat Evander Holyfield twice in 1999, officially receiving only a controversial draw in their first fight. Before that, Holyfield twice overwhelmed Tyson. Yet Tyson lingers, his skills badly eroded, although he remains the biggest draw among the heavyweights.

"It's a funny thing, though," Lewis said, almost trying to goad Tyson. "After his last fight where he boxed that blimp [Denmark's Brian Nielsen], he said he wanted to fight more tuneups."

In silencing Rahman, Lewis recaptured the World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation belts. John Ruiz, who is scheduled to fight Holyfield on Dec. 15, holds the World Boxing Association belt. But there is no clamor for a Lewis-Ruiz unification fight and certainly not another Lewis-Holyfield fight.

Lewis-Tyson would be a big moneymaker even though Tyson hasn't faced a quality fighter since Holyfield. Don King has wanted to put the winner of Saturday's fight together with Tyson, and the wily promoter gained favor with Lewis during this promotion. But Gary Shaw of Main Events, which co-promoted Rahman-Lewis II, said he is the one who can best put together a Lewis-Tyson fight.

"They're two fighters who don't need a title," Shaw said. "They just have to say when and where they're fighting and what time. That's all you need for those two guys.

"I think you're going to be pleasantly surprised. My hope is you're going to see a Mike Tyson fight right around the April time frame. That's what I'm shooting for. I believe [Lewis] has confidence in Main Events. I believe I can bring a Tyson deal to the table."

Shaw said he hoped King would stay out of the way, but he sounded as though Main Events could reach an accommodation with King, who, after all, already had been whispering in Lewis's ear.

Shaw said he wanted to talk with Shelly Finkel, Tyson's manager. Tyson has plans to fight Ray Mercer in January, but that is not a certainty.

"I think the networks [HBO, which did the pay-per-view on this fight, and Showtime, which has a contract with Tyson] understand that both fighters need to fight one another. I really believe both fighters want to fight one another. Certainly Lennox wants to fight. Lennox is willing to go from this fight right to a Tyson fight without any tuneups."

Adrian Ogun, a British adviser to Lewis, said he believes that Tyson will agree soon to fight Lewis.

"I don't think that the Mike Tyson we know would reach the number one ranking in the WBC, which he has, and step down and look away from a fight with Lennox Lewis," Ogun said.

Lewis took the occasion of the news conference to return the ordinary belt that Rahman gave him in Baltimore at the beginning of their pre-fight hype tour, when Rahman said that would be the only belt Lewis would get back from him. Lewis placed the belt on the table in front of where Rahman would have been sitting had he been available. Draped once more with the championship belts Rahman had taken from him seven months ago, Lewis expressed satisfaction with his stoic behavior in spite of Rahman's taunts.

Lewis was moving on with his career, which had taken on new luster with one of his best performances. He boxed -- but he also demonstrated a crowd-pleasing punch, and not just one, either. He boxed Rahman silly and disposed of him easily. The 36-year-old three-time champion mixed a stiff jab, aggressiveness at the proper times, a beautiful hook to set up his knockout punch and an even more beautiful right cross to knock Rahman flat on his back at 1 minute 29 seconds of the fourth round.

Rahman had shown resolve with his physical conditioning but had bowed to a technically superior boxer who, unlike their first meeting, trained seriously this time.

"Everybody thought Rahman got under my skin," Lewis said. "He did get under my skin a little bit. Just a little bit. I said, 'Boy, he's got to pay for that.' He's going to have to defend all that in the ring. 'Has Been' Rahman -- I changed the name -- 'Has Been' Rahman."

Lewis enjoyed a big laugh.

His trainer, Emanuel Steward, said he visited Lewis's room on the eve of the fight and found nothing but confidence.

"You know, this man does not have any class compared to what I have," Steward said Lewis told him. "He said, 'Emanuel, this is going to be an easy fight. I'm going to have some fun tomorrow night. You go out and have a good time.' And he started playing Ping-Pong. From that moment on, I knew what was going to happen.

"When I saw him dancing around, I said, 'Look at my baby out there.' He was jabbing, giving him angles where Rahman could never get set to throw the right hand. I told him at the end of the third round, 'Take it to him. The man cannot counterpunch. He only can punch going forward.' "

Steward confessed that Lewis's penultimate punch was an accident: "He threw a left hook that was not intended to land, it was just to maneuver Rock's body into a position where he could hit him with the right hand. And bingo."

"On behalf of Rock, he wants to extend his congratulations to Lennox Lewis," Steve Nelson, Rahman's co-manager, said. "Rock says that he will be back, he'll be back for any fight that Don can put together."

Nelson said that Rahman was all right but had been taken to the hospital as a precaution. Both fighters earned about $10 million. But having turned down the chance to sign a long-term contract with one of the cable television networks and with no rematch clause in his contract, Rahman now found himself, in Shaw's words, "completely out in the cold."

Rahman would have to settle for whatever King, as his promoter, would do for him. Not surprisingly, King seemed far more interested in Lewis.