New Tyson sex assault claim

HEAVYWEIGHT champion Mike Tyson, who spent three years in jail for rape and remains on probation, has been named in a sexual battery complaint filed in Chicago, police said on Tuesday.

A police spokesman said a complaint was filed over the weekend by an unidentified woman and is being investigated. Tyson has not been charged.

According to police, the alleged incident occurred at a nightclub.

Tyson (29), was released from the Indiana Youth Centre in March of last year and captured the World Boxing Council heavyweight title on March 16th with a third round knockout of Frank Bruno.

In 1992, Tyson was convicted of raping Desiree Washington. a contestant in the Miss Black America beauty pageant the previous year at Indianapolis, a crime he has maintained he did not commit. He served three years of a six year term and received four years probation.

Tyson was the undisputed heavyweight champion from August 1st, 1987, to February 11th, 1990, when he was knocked out by James "Buster" Douglas in one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.

Staff at the Chicago nightclub where Tyson has been accused of molesting a beautician yesterday rallied to his support.

The manager of the Clique nightclub told a television reporter "Tyson was in open spaces and full sight at all times."

A waitress from the popular bar "also denied that anything could have happened," the reporter said. The boxer "was very laid back and relaxed and just having some food and enjoying the atmosphere there.

Their claims have fuelled wide spread speculation that Tyson is the victim of false allegations. "There's a lot of scepticism about these charges this morning," a US television reporter, Anne Kavanagh, told Sky News. "A lot of people are sceptical because so far there is really not much to go on.

"The club where this incident allegedly took place is on the near south side of Chicago it's a very popular place, especially with athletes. Several athletes were there late Sunday night early Monday morning when this was supposedly happening. Mike Tyson was among them and people who work at the club deny it.

"They say they could see Tyson at all times. They say he was drinking iced water and chatting with fans, but nothing more than that."

But a lawyer for the 25 year old woman, who is co-owner of a beauty salon and from Gary, Indiana, said Tyson instigated the encounter at the club after spotting her on the dance floor and attacked and injured the woman in a private room.

"She was taken into his company" by club employees instructed by the boxer, attorney Jerry Peteet told the Chicago Sun Times.

The woman was treated at a local hospital and called police, then came to see him, Peteet said.

"She was visibly shaken, fearful and in some degree of discomfort from the injuries she sustained," Peteet told the newspaper, without being specific about her injuries. "She was angry, emotional, disturbed and shocked."

But the nightclub's assistant manager, Moody Andrews, said the club kept its own security guards around Tyson at all times and that he never went to a private area. Moody told CBS radio that the woman asked to meet Tyson, not the other way around.

Tyson's adviser while in prison, Indianapolis schoolteacher Muhammad Siddeeq, said he attended a prayer service in Chicago with Tyson on Sunday, and dismissed the woman's claims.

"I give no credence to this report," Siddeeq told the SunTimes, "Every time Mike turns or moves there's people out there who want to do their thing."

WGN television in Chicago reported that Tyson was in the company of former champion Oliver McCall Sunday evening. In an unrelated incident, McCall was arrested Tuesday night in Winston Salem, North Carolina, and charged with possession of marijuana.