Boxing: Tyson in second $100m lawsuit

MIKE TYSON, who sued Don King last week, has now filed another lawsuit against two former managers, claiming they betrayed him via a deal that made King his exclusive promoter.

Tyson alleges that he lost millions of dollars because Rory Holloway and John Horne convinced him during a meeting in an Indiana prison visiting room in 1992 that he should make King his exclusive promoter. At the time Tyson was serving a sentence for rape.

Tyson claims the pair made an arrangement with King in which the promoter got a large percentage of his fight purses and promotional rights. The former world heavyweight champion has asked for $100m (pounds 61m) damages, the same amount as he wants from King.

The lawsuit was filed on Monday in the Los Angeles Superior Court. Tyson claims that Holloway, of the Nevada-based Holloway Management Inc, and Horne, of the Beverly Hills-based Horne Entertainment Inc, made an arrangement with King where King got a large percentage of Tyson's fight purses and promotional rights. Tyson said that he did not realize that the deal gave Horne and Holloway about 20 per cent of his purses and King another 30 percent.

Tyson's suit alleges that Holloway and Horne also took $8.6m beyond the 20 per cent, violating their contract with him.

Horne responded by saying that the case would only prove that Tyson had "the greatest deal of any athlete in history. His charges are absolutely baseless," Horne said, adding that his association with King "did nothing but the absolute best for Mike Tyson financially."

Two women are suing Tyson for $22m, claiming he verbally and physically abused them at a Washington DC restaurant. Both women feared "immediate bodily injury," the suit claims. They are seeking damages for assault, battery, defamation and emotional distress.