Boxing: Bruno next in line for labouring Lewis: After the WBC champion's successful first defence the bargaining begins for the lucrative heavyweight battle of Britain

THE estimated gross is a gross exaggeration but when Lennox Lewis outpointed Tony Tucker here on Saturday night he touched off bargaining that probably will exceed pounds 8m if a deal is reached to defend the World Boxing Council heavyweight championship against his fellow Briton, Frank Bruno, in September.

Negotiations for what would be by far the richest sporting event ever staged in Great Britain hung in the balance until Lewis successfully defended the title he gained by decree. Now they would like us to think about the future. 'Lennox's next defence will be against Frank Bruno,' said Lewis's promoter, Frank Maloney, after the fight.

The announcement of Lewis's unanimous, if unconvincing victory after 12 largely boring rounds at the Thomas and Mack Center must have sounded like music to the ears of Bruno and his promoter, Mickey Duff, but Maloney struck a jarring note. 'We have also been offered dollars 5m to take an easy fight back here in September, so Frank had better not be greedy,' he said.

A big snag in all this is Bruno's belief that immense popularity in Britain entitles him to more than the 25 per cent of the purse money normally accorded a challenger. Wembley Stadium, the National Stadium in Cardiff and Maine Road, the Manchester City football ground, have been put forward as possible venues, but nothing has been signed, and it is possible that the contest will not take place.

A further complication is the promotional contract that Lewis has with Main Events, Dan Duva's New York-based organisation. The word from that quarter is that Lewis may be offered a defence against Evander Holyfield, who lost the undisputed title to Riddick Bowe last year.

These are gloomy echoes for the American promoter, Don King, who invested dollars 12m ( pounds 7.7m) to stage Lewis v Tucker in a forlorn attempt to regain a foothold in the heavyweight division. King will probably break even through pay-per-view television sales, but Tucker had left too much of himself behind and was unable to capitalise on Lewis's deficiencies.

Lewis claims that the hand injury he denied all last week prevented him from knocking out Tucker, but there was no small amount of consternation in the champion's corner during the 10th round when it appeared that the strength had drained from him suddenly.

At that moment Lewis could do nothing but crouch in front of an equally fatigued Tucker. 'Jab, move,' implored Lewis's handlers, realising that their man was in trouble. The danger passed but not a sense of the limitations Lewis brought to a first defence of the title.

Spectacularly knocking out Donovan 'Razor' Ruddock last year, Lewis had convinced virtually everybody that he is a force in the heavyweight division and Tucker, at 33, could not trade blows with him and stand through 12 rounds. Yet when the final bell rang, Lewis and his supporters were relieved to hear it, and Tucker walked back unassisted.

However you analyse cause and effect, this turned out to be a mediocre heavyweight championship contest, one that raised questions about Lewis's technique and stamina. If it is now established that he can withstand hard blows to the head and has the will to fight back strongly, too much of his work still bears the mark of an amateur. Lewis seemed incapable of putting more than two punches together and frequently failed to follow up an advantage.

Certainly, it was not the sort of performance Lewis's people had projected for him, or one to worry the true heavyweight champion, Riddick Bowe. 'Take away Lewis's right hand and he's pitiful,' said Bowe after watching the contest in Virginia where he is training to defend the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation titles against Jesse Ferguson.

Lewis is most dangerous when crossing his right over the incoming left jab and he might have won with it as early as the third round. Until then Tucker had not found it uncommonly difficult to evade the champion's attempted haymakers, often making him look clumsy, but this time a long, flat punch clattered into the side of his head. Unquestionably, Tucker was shaken and took a standing count after being sent down for the first time in his professional career, but Lewis, wild and failing to shorten his blows correctly, was unable to press home the advantage.

As they came out of their corners for the next session it could be imagined that Lewis would not need the entire contest to confirm his status, and yet there was so little effective activity that the crowd grew disgruntled and began to jeer.

It had always been felt that Tucker might settle for a tedious contest if he found it impossible to shake Lewis, and that is what it became. Even though the challenger was tiring quickly by the seventh Lewis did not alter his tactics and continued to miss wildly whenever he went for Tucker's head.

Then, in the eighth round, Tucker at last got to the chin Lewis continues to hang out like a lantern. The champion was sent across the ring, and had to take around 14 punches before instinctively producing a short left hook that relieved the pressure.

Now Lewis answered a key question, showing plenty of heart in rallying to stagger Tucker, who returned to his corner at the bell as though the ring was adrift in a heavy sea. Those endeavours seemed to affect Lewis as much as Tucker and both began to reveal signs of fatigue, lurching at each other like two drunks brawling in a bar.

Whenever Lewis landed he allowed Tucker time to recover, and they were so tired by the 10th that it would not have taken much to send either over. Lewis slipped in the 11th, ending up on all fours, and was so slow to regain his feet that Tucker's supporters yelled optimistically.

However, they had nothing to complain about when the judges reached a unanimous decision in Lewis's favour, Mickey Vann scoring it 118-111, Jenny Roth 117- 111 and Harry Gibbs 116-112.

There was more to it than that of course. Lewis insisted he had never once been hurt by Tucker, but then laid contradictory claim to a strong chin. 'I proved tonight that I can take a punch,' he said. 'You have got to give Tony Tucker credit,' he added. 'He realised it was his last chance and he fought a smart fight. I wasn't satisfied. I can do better, but it was good enough.'

It was not good enough at all, confirming in some eyes that too much was made of Lewis's victory over Ruddock, no matter how stunning.

On the same bill, Mexico's Julio Cesar Chavez the undefeated WBC super-lightweight champion, won his 88th consecutive bout when he stopped Guyana's Terrence Alli in the sixth round.

(Photograph omitted)