Boxing: Mike Tyson accepts ban that prevents him from entering the UK

Tyson was due to tour the United Kingdom in March 2014 but has had to cancel all appearances after a recent change to immigration laws

Mike Tyson has been forced to scrap appearances in London after discovering he is banned from entering the UK (Getty Images)

Former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson will not fight against the decision to deny him entry to the UK, apparently cancelling planned appearances on stage next year.

Tyson, 47, had been due in London this week to promote his new autobiography, but his publishers said he had instead gone to Paris as a recent change to UK immigration laws relating to those previously sentenced to more than four years in prison barred him from entering the country.

Tyson was convicted of the rape of a teenage beauty queen in 1992 and served three years of a six-year sentence. He also has convictions for assault, cocaine possession and driving under the influence.

He is currently booked in for a British tour for his one-man Broadway show, directed by Spike Lee, which is booked for eight nights in March next year in London, Glasgow and Manchester.

However, there seems little prospect of those dates going ahead after Tyson told BBC Sport he would not contest the decision.

"Hey, listen, if that's what they want I'm not going to fight their laws," he said.

"I'm not going to fight no law. If that's what they established then I won't go there any more."

PA