Boxing: Tyson and King settle lawsuit

Don King has reached an out of court settlement with Mike Tyson, settling the $100million lawsuit the heavyweight had filed against his former promoter.

"Negotiations have been ongoing for several weeks, and it's been somewhat of a slow process because there are so many parties involved," Tyson's attorney, Stephen Espinoza told USA Today. "Ultimately, we reached an agreement that all parties found acceptable. It's my understanding that everyone has signed, and we are in the process of obtaining the approval of the bankruptcy court."

A financially crippled Mike Tyson settled his $100 million lawsuit Thursday against Don King, his former promoter.

The settlement needs court approval because Tyson, despite $300 million in ring earnings, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August. Approval could take more than a month.

"Negotiations have been ongoing for several weeks, and it's been somewhat of a slow process because there are so many parties involved," said Tyson's attorney, Stephen Espinoza. "Ultimately, we reached an agreement that all parties found acceptable. It's my understanding that everyone has signed, and we are in the process of obtaining the approval of the bankruptcy court."

The terms call for King to pay Tyson $14 million, including $8 million up front. The remaining $6 million will be paid in the next two years.

The Smoking Gun reports that Don King has agreed to pay $14 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Mike Tyson, who sued the promoter in 1998 for $100 million, claiming that the King robbed money from his prize purses.

Details of the King-Tyson agreement are contained in a proposed reorganization plan filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, where the wreckage of the 37-year-old heavyweight's finances has been laid out in excruciating detail since Tyson's Chapter 11 filing last August.

The eight-figure King payment is conditioned upon a bankruptcy judge's approval of the Tyson reorganization plan or the legal agreement itself. For his part, King, 72, does not admit liability for the allegations in Tyson's federal complaint, according to a description of the settlement contained in the Tyson reorganization plan.

Mike Tyson, the former world heavyweight boxing champion struggling in bankruptcy, accepted a $14-million settlement from Don King that ends Tyson's $100-million lawsuit against his ex-promoter. Under the terms of the deal, King pays Tyson $8-million immediately, and another $6-million over the next two years.

Tyson, who turns 38 on Wednesday, had accused King, 72, of fraudulently taking money from Tyson's purses when the two worked together after Tyson was released from prison in 1995 through his 1997 ear-biting of Evander Holyfield.

Tyson sued King in 1998, and King countersued for $110-million.