Former world heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson says he hopes to be granted a visa to visit New Zealand in November but won't ''cower and beg'' immigration officials to overlook his criminal convictions.
Tyson has been booked to make a visit to New Zealand and Australia in November on a motivational speaking tour dubbed ''The Day of Champions.''
The New Zealand Immigration Service has yet to decide whether it will grant a visa to Tyson, who was convicted of rape in 1992 and served three years of a six-year sentence.
Under New Zealand law, anyone convicted of an offense which carries a prison sentence of five years or longer will not get a visa, though discretion is allowed in some cases.
Speaking to New Zealand reporters on Thursday in a video hookup from Las Vegas, Tyson was in a typically pugnacious mood.
''I'm not going to sit here and cower and beg to come to your country,'' Tyson said. ''I'm sorry, but if I can't come, I can't come. It will be my misfortune but I don't want to feel like I'm on trial to come to your country.
''I've never been to New Zealand. I've never had the opportunity before. It must be a serious country if I can't go there.''
Tyson's promoter, Max Markson, told reporters ''we've applied for the visa and asked for a special direction from the minister, so we're waiting patiently for a visa.''
Markson said Tyson's facial tattoo is based on the traditional artworks of New Zealand's indigenous Maori and the boxer could be classified as ''an honorary New Zealander.''
''He's a great ambassador and he really does have a tremendous story which he has to tell to the people of New Zealand and it would be a tragedy if the show that he's been doing on Broadway for the last few weeks can't be told,'' Markson said.
''He's not a danger to New Zealand; he'll be there for one day.''
In a statement, the New Zealand Immigration Service said Tyson's visa application would be considered under the same rules as any other.
''Mike Tyson will have to apply for a visa to enter New Zealand and make full disclosure of his previous convictions,'' it said.
''There is never a guarantee that any visa application will be approved. All visa applications are considered on their individual circumstances.''
The 46-year-old Tyson used to proclaim himself the ''baddest man on the planet'', but no longer.
''Those days are over man,'' he said. ''I left that for the other guys.''
