NEW YORK The court ruling which prevents Hasim Rahman from fighting anyone but Lennox Lewis for the next 18 months raised more questions than it solved about the state of heavyweight boxing.

Britain's Lewis, who lost his heavyweight titles to Rahman, was the big winner because he will have a rematch against the 28-year-old American who knocked him out in the fifth round April 22 in South Africa.

"I have won the first round in court and now I will do it again in the ring when I meet rahman later this year," Lewis said.

Rahman is the big loser. He could have signed a 20-million-dollar deal to fight the 35-year-old Brit or Mike Tyson during a bidding war and would have been set for life win or lose. Instead he signed with promoter Don King.

Now he will make barely better than the 3.15 million-dollar guaranteed minimum purse stipulated in the rematch clause of his original pact with Lewis.

U.S. District Court Judge Miriam Cedarbaum did throw Rahman a bone by saying in her ruling, "I expect negotiations in good faith to raise that minimum."

Rahman vowed he will not accept a substandard offer for the rematch, but he has no bargaining power without the threat of being able to take his titles into a separate deal with Tyson.

"If I don't get the purse I want, I don't fight," Rahman said.

Say he tried to outwit Lewis. Before the 18-month period ends, the World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation would have dropped Rahman as champion.

Lewis and Tyson would fight for the WBC crown. Samoan David Tua and Chris Byrd would likely fight for the IBF crown. The winners might unify the crowns. And Rahman still might be waiting to fight again.

Rahman's lawyers said their man should be allowed a fight before Lewis under better terms, a notion Judge Miriam Cedarbaum rejected because Rahman breached his contract by signing the Don King deal rather than seek an interim bout under terms available in the original pact, AFP reported.

"Rahman breached the contract when he signed an exclusive promotional contract with Don King that precluded the Lewis rematch as contracted for," she said. "We don't make promises and then walk away from them."

Frank Maloney, Lewis' manager, hopes the rematch can be set for September.