Tyson admits cocaine possession in court

Former world heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson is facing up to four years in jail after admitting cocaine possession and driving under the influence.

Tyson, 41, was arrested after he was stopped by police as he was leaving a nightclub in Phoenix, Arizona, on December 29 last year.

An officer said he saw Tyson wiping a white substance off the dashboard of his black BMW and that his speech was slurred. Police also found bags of cocaine in his pocket and his car.

The troubled boxer quietly acknowledged to a judge that he had been in possession of cocaine at the time and was impaired when he appeared in court yesterday.

He faces up to four years and three months in prison when he is sentenced on November 19.

His lawyer David Chesnoff said Tyson has been clean and sober for eight months.

"It's obvious this was a crime he was committing against himself," Chesnoff said.

Police stopped Tyson after the boxer had spent the evening at the Pussycat Lounge.

He told officers later that he used cocaine "whenever I can get my hands on it", and that he preferred to smoke it in Marlboro cigarettes with the tobacco pulled out, according to court documents.

He also told police he had used marijuana that day and was taking the antidepressant drug Zoloft.

After his arrest, Tyson put himself on an in-patient treatment programme for what his lawyer called "various addictions".

Prosecutor Andrew Thomas told the court Tyson should be jailed, noting that the boxer was convicted of rape in Indiana in 1992 and pleaded no contest to assault charges in the state of Maryland in 1999.

"Mike Tyson is a repeat offender with a violent past," Thomas said.

"I believe only a prison sentence will send the right message and properly protect the public."

In 1986, Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion in history when, at 20, he knocked out Trevor Berbick.

He lost his title four years later when he was knocked out by James "Buster" Douglas.

By 1997, Tyson's career hit a low point when he bit Evander Holyfield's ear during a fight.

Tyson had recently been trying to revive his career with a series of boxing exhibitions.