Stripper Claims She Was Assaulted By Tyson

Mike Tyson is facing an allegation that he assaulted a stripper and her boyfriend at a club in Phoenix, Arizona, in the early hours of Sunday. Promoters of his June 8 bout with Lennox Lewis for the world heavyweight championship are now awaiting the result of a police investigation.

Phoenix police confirmed yesterday that they were investigating claims by an exotic dancer and her boyfriend that Tyson assaulted them in the downtown HiLiter club after a confrontation. A police statement said there were no signs of injuries to the dancer, aged 25, or to her 23-year-old boyfriend.

Detectives are taking statements from other club-goers, who have given conflicting accounts of what happened.

Tyson's attorney, Darren Soll, dismissed the allegation as "patently false". He confirmed that Tyson had attended the club but said he had left without being involved in any confrontation. He said none of the witnesses indicated that Tyson had struck anyone.

The allegation is the latest in a string of claims, mainly by women, that they have been assaulted by the boxer. This year police in Las Vegas investigated two separate such claims but did not press charges. The women had each alleged that Tyson sexually assaulted them.

The latest claim too seems unlikely to derail the fight with Lewis. Although Tyson had his boxing licence in Nevada revoked in January after his brawl with Lewis at the promotional press conference in New York, many other states offered to stage the bout.

Tyson served three years in jail for a 1992 rape and has also been imprisoned for a road rage attack. He has had psychiatric treatment and has been on medication to try to control his anger. At the Nevada hearing he said: "I'm not Mother Teresa and I'm not Charles Manson either."

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