Las Vegas, May 9: World heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis is suing Don King for up to US$385m after claiming the boxing promoter used death threats to prevent him from organising a rematch with former champion Mike Tyson.

Lewis’ lawyers filed the suit in New York on Thursday, saying King had issued death threats against Jeff Wald, Tyson’s friend and advisor, as well as bribing others to try convince the boxer to back out of a deal to fight Lewis in June.

King has also been accused of conspiring with a female friend of Tyson’s to keep him in a New York hotel last month in order to stop him from signing the Lewis contract.

Lewis’ lawyers claim their client has lost 10 million dollars because he won’t fight Tyson on June 21 in Los Angeles and another 25 million because no deal has been signed for an eventual rematch between the two fighters.—dpa