When the National Basketball Association conducted its annual All-Star Game in Washington back in February, Mike Tyson and his little buddy, IBF light welterweight champion Zab Judah, had courtside seats. Tyson was watching pre-game warm-ups when his running mate, who had been circulating through the crowd, returned to tell Tyson he had run across someone he wanted to bring over to introduce.

"Hasim Rahman is here with his mother," reported Judah. "She'd like to meet you."

Iron Mike fairly exploded.

"F*** Rahman!" spat Tyson. "And f*** his mother too!"

Judah pleaded and eventually Tyson relented. Departing from his long-standing policy against fraternising with the enemy, he allowed himself to be introduced to Mrs Rahman, and even shook hands with her son.

"It wasn't the end of the world," admitted Tyson, who nonetheless reamed out Judah once the visitors had returned to their seats.

"I don't want to be friends with somebody in my own weight class," Tyson explained when he subsequently related the episode to me. "I don't want to be nice to a guy I might have to fight some day."

At the time this conversation took place the chances of Tyson and Rahman ever meeting in the ring seemed slim indeed. Less than two months later, the smart money would term it a likelihood. Thus was the world of heavyweight boxing turned upon its ear by the stunning developments in South Africa last Saturday night.

Lennox Lewis' five-round annihilation at the hands of the unsung Rahman represented a tale as old as boxing itself. In recent history it called to mind Tyson's own ill-prepared defence against Buster Douglas in Tokyo 11 years earlier, but the truth of the matter is that Goliath probably thought David was going to be an easy fight, too.

Suffice it to say that Lewis was arrogant, out-of-shape, preoccupied (two weeks before the title bout he broke training to appear with Julia Roberts and George Clooney in the upcoming remake of "Oceans 11"), and arrived on site far too late to acclimatise himself to the 6,000-foot altitude.

The debacle quickly termed (by HBO boxing pundit Larry Merchant) "The Crumble in the Jungle" cost Lewis considerably more than his World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation heavyweight titles. The spectre of a $30 million payday for meeting Tyson was largely fanciful (it probably wasn't going to happen anyway), but the chances of Rahman now fighting Tyson are excellent.

Lewis' connections had taken the precaution of including a return-bout clause in the contract, but the agreement also allowed Rahman a one-fight "out" - a voluntary defence against a challenger of his own choice.

Moreover, while the contract further stipulates that HBO would televise RahmanLewis II, the television giant thought so little of his chances that they didn't bother locking up his services for the interim defence.

And having snatched away Lewis' titles, Rahman also inherits his obligations. Under WBC rules, the new champion would normally be required to make his first defence against the top-rated contender, and that organisation has Tyson number one. Rahman may HAVE to fight Tyson next.

Tyson is scheduled to fight Nigerian David Izon in Washington on June 2nd, but as negotiations between Rahman's promoter Cedric Kushner and Tyson adviser Shelly Finkel proceed apace, expect to read any day now that the June bout has been cancelled.

In the meantime, you can expect to see a lot of posturing over the next few weeks. HBO fired the first salvo Tuesday evening when (in conjunction with Lewis and his promoters) it issued a press release "announcing" an August 18th date for the rematch. Significantly, there was no mention of Rahman or Kushner agreeing to anything of the sort. "This," said a Kushner representative when I telephoned him that evening, "is all bullshit".

The unilateral "announcement" smacked of the same arrogance HBO displayed on Saturday night's telecast from South Africa, when its announcers repeatedly described Lewis as the "undisputed" heavyweight champion. (WBA heavyweight champ John Ruiz, for one, would surely dispute that; calling Lewis "undisputed" renders the term utterly meaningless.

Does all of this mean that Rahman-Tyson is certain to happen and that Rahman-Lewis II won't? No. HBO will fight mightily, pulling out all the stops to retain its stranglehold on the heavyweight titles - beginning by offering Rahman twice the $3.5 million he was supposed to get for a rematch.

The contract for last Saturday's fight also appears to contain a poison pill of sorts. Were Rahman to fight Tyson, Tyson would supposedly assume Rahman's terms for the Lewis rematch on HBO. This would clearly be unpalatable to Showtime, to whom Tyson represents a $15 million investment.

As we contemplate a world in which the heavyweight champion is a pleasant young Muslim from Maryland who has been knocked out by David Tua and Oleg Maskaev, it is worth noting that America's sports editors were caught almost as off-guard by this latest development as were Lewis' people.

Citing the prohibitive costs of covering a one-sided bout whose late start precluded making many Sunday editions, most US newspapers elected to sit this one out. The New York Times and the Washington Post covered it with their Johannesburg-based political correspondents.

The Boston Globe was fortunate enough to have Joe Burris, a sportswriter married to Desmond Tutu's daughter, in place for the fight. Only Rahman's hometown paper, the Baltimore Sun, actually dispatched a boxing writer to Carnival City.

Boy, do the rest of us look dumb now!