Iron Mike Tyson’s Oz tour in jeopardy due to past rape conviction

Sydney: Self-proclaimed baddest man on planet, legendary boxer Mike Tyson’s planned speaking tour to the Australian continent is under serious jeopardy due to his six-year conviction for rape in 1992.

Leading pubic relation figure Max Markson announced Tyson’s visit to Australia on Wednesday, and Tyson is lined up to speak at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on November 17 as part of an international speaking tour that is also set to take in Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. But there is a possibility Tyson, who served six years (and was parolled for a further three) for the rape of Miss Black Rhode Island Desiree Washington, will not be granted access to Australia nor New Zealand with immigration departments for both nations yet to approve his visa application. Markson confirmed Tyson has submitted his Australian visa application and was now ‘patiently waiting’ for approval. According to the Australian Immigration Department``s character requirements, a visa applicant will not pass the entry test if he or she has a ‘substantial criminal record’, ‘have, or have had, an association with an individual, group or organisation suspected of having been, or being, involved in criminal conduct’ or ‘represents a danger to the Australian community or a segment of that community’. “(Tyson) is raising a lot of money for charity, there will be around 500 people employed locally because of his tour and he is travelling with is wife and two children so clearly he is no danger to society,” the Herald Sun quoted Markson, as saying. It``s understood Tyson, who is now a teetotaller and vegatarian, addresses his 1992 rape conviction, subsequent jail term and eventual rehabilitation during his speaking tour which has already toured Europe, South America and Thailand. ANI