TUNICA, Miss. -- The year was 1984 and Lennox Lewis was an 18-year-old spoiling for a fight. He found it in the Catskills against a young terror named Mike Tyson whose reputation was already known in the amateur ranks.

Lewis needed someone to spar with and for the better part of a week he and Tyson went at each other in a makeshift gym.

Tyson wasted no time in giving Lewis a fat lip. Later, Lewis would bloody Tyson's nose.

Cus D'Amato, Tyson's mentor, watched the talented pair in the ring and thought ahead. Someday, he told the two, you will meet in a big fight.

"I didn't think it would come true,'' Lewis said.

It will Saturday night, and they don't come much bigger. When Lewis defends his heavyweight titles against Tyson in Memphis, Tenn., each fighter will make some $20 million in a bout that could be the richest ever.

And, if the two go after each other like they did as amateurs, it might be a fight that actually lives up to its hype.

"Just like back then it was pretty explosive,'' Lewis said. "I predict Saturday will be explosive.''

Lewis recalled the sparring session Wednesday at a news conference at a Mississippi River casino, where soft jazz played and then Lewis played chess with a 13-year-old chess club member.

Down the river a bit, Tyson entertained a group of children bused in by the Tunica Recreation Department and who got a chance to do what reporters have not been allowed -- ask the former champion some questions.

Third grader Jamal Cornes, who may have a future as a journalist, piped up:

"Why did you bite off Evander Holfyfield's ear?''

"That was a long time ago,'' Tyson said, laughing.

Lewis' carefully produced news conference was in sharp contrast to Tyson's appearance a day before, when he refused to talk but his assistant trainer delivered a profanity-filled monologue to an audience that included some children.

That trainer, Stacey McKinley, also claimed he had pictures that showed Tyson knocked out Lewis when they sparred as teen-agers, though he never produced them.

Lewis said he was never knocked down, much less out.

"Mike Tyson never knocked me out in four days,'' he said. "He did give me a fat lip but I gave him a bloody nose, too.''

Lewis said Tyson was much the same kind of fighter he is today, though less seasoned. Tyson came right after him, much like Lewis expects him to do Saturday night.

"This cat rushed across the room and I gave him my Muhammad Ali impression. I was dancing around, boxing him,'' Lewis said.

Lewis' amateur trainer Arnie Boehm, who adopted him as a child, recalled the sessions in an interview with the fighter's hometown paper The Record in Kitchener, Ontario.

"As each sparring session progressed, his dominance progressed,'' Boehm said.

Lewis appeared calm and confident as he talked about Saturday's fight, then spent some time in the ring hitting mitts held by trainer Emanuel Steward.

At 6-foot-5, Lewis will tower over Tyson in the ring and plans to use his reach and stinging jab to control the fight.

"My jab will be popping,'' he said. "He's never seen a boxer like Lennox Lewis. He's never seen a jab like mine. Nobody has a jab like Lennox Lewis has a jab.''

Tyson, who is listed at 5-11 and will likely enter the fight as an underdog for the first time in his career, has had trouble with taller fighters in the past and comes into the fight with only 18 rounds under his belt in the last five years.

In that same time, Lewis has fought in 12 title fights and, aside from a knockout loss to Hasim Rahman in South Africa, appears to be in his prime.

"Lennox is fighting better than ever,'' Steward said. "Mike Tyson is fighting second rate fighters.''

Steward said he doesn't even think Tyson deserves to be fighting for the heavyweight title.

"Everyone is holding onto that image of Mike Tyson from 10 to 12 years ago,'' he said. "That Mike Tyson is gone.''

Lewis, who has tried to portray the fight as bad versus evil, couldn't resist getting in a few last digs at Tyson before going off to play chess, one of his passions.

"I think he's scared of the press,'' Lewis said. "They try to psyche him up and get him ready because they realize he likes that kind of talk and excitement.''