Fashionistas you have arrived 3-25-03 - 10-3-03

[W.W.L.D.]

Troubled boxing champ Mike Tyson, once estimated to be worth at least US$300 million, has filed for bankruptcy in an attempt to bring some order to his finances, his lawyer said on Sunday.

Tyson, currently facing assault and disorderly conduct charges stemming from a scuffle in a Brooklyn hotel in June, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan on Friday, according to his attorney, Debra Grassgreen.

The one-time heavyweight boxing champion - who served three years in prison in the mid-1990s on a rape conviction and was suspended from professional boxing for biting the ears of heavyweight boxer Evander Holyfield during a 1997 bout - opted for bankruptcy after years of financial mismanagement and free spending habits that burned through hundreds of millions of dollars in earnings.

According to media reports, Tyson amassed and spent between US$300 million and US$500 million.

"As a professional fighter, who relied on others to manage his affairs, he discovered that his debts far exceeded his assets," Sunday's New York Post quoted Grassgreen as saying. "Now, he has taken the lead in bringing order to his financial affairs."