EVEN before they prepared to lower the noose, ever so gently, around Mike Tyson's neck in Las Vegas today, boxing folk were already contemplating the business possibilities that his second enforced sabbatical from the sport would present for the game's big hitters. And that is just the promoters.

The fighter best placed to profit most from the decision - a likely Pounds 3 million fine and a ban of at least 12 months - is Lennox Lewis, according to the Londoner's manager, Frank Maloney.

With Tyson out of the picture for a year or more, Maloney says, Lewis will move inexorably towards a showdown next March with Evander Holyfield, the World Boxing Association champion who was running out of ears when Tyson was eventually disqualified last Saturday night.

Lewis defends his own World Boxing Council version of the title against Henry Akinwande in Lake Tahoe on Saturday night, a contest of such underwhelming impact that, even if one of the spectacularly muscled combatants stood on the other's shoulders (a total of 13ft 1in) and walked naked down the main street singing Rule Britannia it is unlikely the citizens of this quiet cross-border ski resort would be roused beyond mild bemusement.

But for Maloney, all 5ft 4in of him, things are always looking up. His good humour has sustained Lewis in several disappointing periods of a career remarkable for its under-achievement. He says Holyfield will almost certainly attempt to unify two versions of the title in his next bout, when he fights the International Boxing Federation champion Michael Moorer - and he explained that Tyson's absence will provide further room for manoeuvre because that fighter's promoter, Don King, will be frozen out of negotiations.

"King only has a contract with Moorer if he delivers Tyson, which he can't now do," Maloney said, struggling weakly to hide his satisfaction. "Moorer has a contract with Main Events. As does Holyfield. And Holyfield does not have to go exclusively with King, as people think. He has a two- fight contract with King but he can nominate any opponent he wants and King will only be a co-promoter anyway.

Simple. And you can bet your last craps chip that King is doing everything in his power to disturb that comfortable scenario. He has also, I understand, been spending his unusually long silence in the middle of a crisis tailor-made for his particular brand of loudness to negotiate the best deal possible for Tyson with the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

A source close to King says the promoter is desperately trying to keep Tyson's ban to a minimum. He will have impressed upon the commission that if Tyson disappears from boxing, so do the enormous paydays in Las Vegas. Saturday's fight generated more than

The disturbance in the MGM Grand afterwards, about 100 yards from the sanctioned contest, has also done huge harm to the town's reputation. This time there were more than 45 people injured, several thousand dollars worth of chips stolen and much expensive gambling furniture wrecked. And it was near the MGM Grand last year that the rap singer Tupac Shakur was shot dead after a Tyson fight. Boxing, the casinos and the town cannot stand much more of this - especially as Las Vegas promotes itself as a place for family holidays.

Seedier elements have been cleansed downtown and the late-night ruckus outside the hotel room now is likely to be a child falling from a pram rather than, as of old, a hooker arguing with her pimp.

It is a town of wild contradictions and mangled morals. No more than a mile from where the commission will hand down its judgment on Tyson, a casino with a heavy accent on family entertainment features a mock electric chair as one of its most popular attractions: strap yourself in, turn on the juice and amaze your friends as you give your hair that neat Don King coiffure.

It is a chilling illusion. It is also the acme of bad taste. But that is Las Vegas. Boxing is central to that culture, that morality of double standards. It is also part of the reason why Tyson is likely to be sent from the hearing today with little more than temporary exclusion from the moneyfeast.