George Foreman, Riddick Bowe and several less distinguished heavyweights are jockeying for position, hoping to join Mike Tyson's hit parade when the former champion is released from an Indiana prison March 25.
But the infighting among leading promoters Bob Arum, Don King and Butch Lewis could be just as fierce as their efforts to divide the spoils of a proposed Foreman-Tyson showdown.
At a news conference in New York on Tuesday, when he was promoting Foreman's title defense against Axel Schulz of Germany in Las Vegas on April 22, Arum suggested that a Foreman-Tyson championship match could gross a record $250 million, with $100 million left over for the promoter and two fighters to share.
Said Foreman, who regained the heavyweight crown at age 45 by knocking out Michael Moorer last November: "The only thing that keeps me fighting is the phenomenon of the youngest heavyweight champion of all time [Tyson won the title at 20] fighting the oldest.
"Me and Tyson will be the greatest thing since P.T. Barnum. The elephant standing on two legs, the man shot out of a cannon, the woman with a beard down to the floor."
But Foreman made one stipulation: There could be no fight with Tyson if King was in any way involved.
"If he doesn't sign with King, we could fight before the end of the year," Foreman said. "I can't put up with King in my life. Every contract with him has some complication."
King got Foreman his biggest purse in his first reign as heavyweight champion in the 1970s. Foreman reportedly received $5 million in 1974 for his "Rumble in the Jungle" with Muhammad Ali in Zaire.
But when Foreman launched his comeback in 1987 after a 10-year absence from the ring, Arum became his principal promoter.
Arum and King can do quite nicely even if Foreman-Tyson never happens. For reasons poles apart, Foreman and Tyson have captured the imaginations of even casual boxing fans.
Foreman, who once modeled himself after thug-like Sonny Liston, became a hero to the over-40 set, spreading goodwill while poking fun at his ample girth and huge appetite.
Thus, Foreman can demand $12 million -- the highest sum ever guaranteed by HBO -- for fighting the likes of Schulz.
Tyson, on the other hand, intrigues boxing fans who are curious to discover if, after three years in prison for rape, he still possesses the ferocity that made him the fight game's most magnetic box-office attraction in the mid-1980s.
Tyson is not likely to take serious risks soon after his release. King matchmakers already are busy lining up boxers such as Peter McNeeley to help shake the ring rust.
During his incarceration, Tyson has worked extensively with weights and performed calisthenics to keep his weight at a reported 214 pounds. But the Indiana Youth Center does not provide boxing facilities.
Whether Tyson has remained loyal to King is the issue. Nearly every promoter visited Tyson in prison or sent an emissary.
King has maintained a low profile amid all the news about Tyson's release. In a brief statement issued through his Florida office, King said, "I just want to see Mike get out of jail and free. That's my only concern right now."
King controls one-third of the heavyweight title in World Boxing Council champion Oliver McCall, who makes his first title defense against ex-champion Larry Holmes on April 8.
And, if the World Boxing Association goes through with its threat to strip Foreman for fighting Schulz rather than top-ranked Tony Tucker, the WBA then would match Tucker against Bruce Seldon for the vacant title. Tucker and Seldon have promotional ties with King.
But don't rule out an Arum-King alliance. The two have worked together before, with the first Sugar Ray Leonard-Roberto Duran fight in June 1980 as a prime example.