KIEV, Ukraine -- Retired WBC World Champion Vitali Klitschko said he would return to the ring if his former rival, WBC World Champion Lennox Lewis, also comes out of retirement.

"If Lewis comes back, I will fight by all means," Klitschko told fans in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Tuesday.

Klitschko's spokesman Yuriy Nesterenko, however, warned the chance was slim at best.

"People love Vitali and want him to come back to sports. That's why he said what people wanted to hear from him," Nesterenko said, adding that "the match will never take place."

Ukrainian-born Klitschko pulled out of a defense of his heavyweight title and retired in November because of a knee injury, becoming the second WBC heavyweight champion in a row to retire while holding the title.

Lewis quit in February 2004 after beating Klitschko in his last fight. Klitschko went on to stop Corrie Sanders in the eighth round in April 2004 to win the WBC belt.

Nesterenko said that Lewis spent 26 years boxing, and has done "everything that he could." Klitschko, meanwhile, now needs to focus more on fighting sports injuries than boxing rivals, Nesterenko said.

Klitschko ran for Kiev mayor in March, but lost.