LOS ANGELES -- Heavyweight champion Mike Tyson allegedly slugged a Hollywood nightclub parking lot attendant in the stomach in a dispute early Monday over a parking spot, authorities said.
The attendant, Michael Devine, 33, was not seriously hurt in the incident.
Devine filed a battery complaint against Tyson after walking into the Hollywood Division police station about 1:45 a.m., department spokeswoman Margie Reid said.
Detectives, who planned to interview Tyson later Monday, said they had obtained no independent confirmation the boxer was involved in the incident, Reid said.
A spokesman for Tyson's adviser Don King confirmed the fighter was at the club, but said he could provide no details of the incident. Repeated efforts to reach Tyson's lawyer, Howard Weitzman, were unsuccessful.
According to Devine's complaint, three men in a white Mercedes-Benz pulled into the parking lot of The Palace nightclub and parked in the owner's space, Reid said.
Devine approached the driver and told him he couldn't park in the spot, Reid said.
During an argument that followed, the passenger, who Devine identified as Tyson, 'struck the victim in the stomach with the back of his hand,' Reid said. The three men then walked into the club.
When he filed his police report nearly two hours later, Devine said 'he experienced some pain at the time' of the alleged attack, 'but was not in pain at the time of the report,' Reid said.
He did not require medical attention, she added.
Tyson has had previous run-ins with parking lot attendants.
In June 1987, he allegedly put his arms around an 18-year-old female parking attendant at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles' Griffith Park and said, 'Give me a kiss.'
The woman's supervisor drove by in an electric cart, saw the tussling and asked her if she was having a problem. Tyson allegedly threw a concert T-shirt at the man's face and struck him with the butt of his open hand. The man suffered a cut lip and sore nose.
Tyson was charged with misdemeanor counts of battery and assault with a deadly weapon -- his hands. An out-of-court settlement in excess of $100,000 was reached three months later.
The heavyweight champion was last in the ring Feb. 25, when he knocked out England's Frank Bruno to keep his undisputed title. The fight came 11 days after he traveled to the Dominican Republic to obtain a divorce from actress Robin Givens.
A week before Givens filed for divorce last Oct. 7, she told television interviewer Barbara Walters that life with Tyson was 'torture ... pure hell ... worse than anything I could possibly imagine.' Family members said Tyson beat Givens.
