Los Angeles, June 20: Briton Lewis weighed in at 256 1/2 pounds, seven and a half pounds more than he did when he beat Mike Tyson in June 2002. Ukrainian Klitschko tipped the scales at 248 pounds. Lewis defends his WBC and IBO titles against Ukrainian Klitschko at Los Angeles's Staples Center on Saturday, confident it will pave the way for a career capper against WBA champion Roy Jones Jr later this year. At thursday's weigh-in, the mood was jovially competitive, perhaps reflective of the laid back setting of Los Angeles, which last staged a heavyweight championship fight in 1958. Providing a historical book-end was Roy Harris, who lost to the great Floyd Patterson in that match. Harris sized up the present boxers from experience. "I think from what I've heard about the two, and I've seen a little bit of them, but it looks like Lennox Lewis is probably the more educated boxer and he has probably more combat experience, although the other fellow, when you knock out thirty one people in a row, that's hard to overcome, I mean that's great", said Harris.

At 6-foot-7, Klitschko (32-1) is the tallest opponent Lewis (40-2-1) has ever faced but the 37-year-old Briton shows little apprehension. Lewis-Klitschko was hastily arranged after Lewis's original opponent, Canada's Kirk Johnson, withdrew with a chest injury.

It gives Klitschko, a resident of Los Angeles and Lewis's mandatory challenger in the WBC division, the world title shot he has craved, while the Briton gets the chance to accelerate his carefully-defined career plan.

The only two setbacks to Lewis have come in shock defeats to Oliver McCall in 1994 and Hasim Rahman in 2001, when he was accused of complacency. Giving Lewis a psychological boost at least was a group of fellow Brits, hoisting the Union Jack and singing songs with lyrics supporting their countryman.

Bureau Report