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Tyson knows how NBA's Bryant feels FORMER boxing champion Mike Tyson, who served three years in prison on a rape conviction, says he empathizes with basketball star Kobe Bryant and the sexual assault charges faced by the Los Angeles Lakers guard. "I've been in an ordeal like him, and I know how easy it is for a young man to be a big shot, a big star in America's eyes and then get in another arena and he's nobody. That means the judicial arena," Tyson, 37, said in an interview airing Monday on the syndicated TV show "Access Hollywood". The one-time heavyweight champion, convicted of rape in 1992 and suspended from professional boxing for biting the ears of Evander Holyfield during a 1997 bout, said he wished Bryant "the best" and urged the NBA star to stay close to his family. "When it comes to the nitty-gritty, if he ever gets some (jail) time, which I hope he doesn't, and which I don't think he is going to, he's gotta keep in consideration who's gonna come see him, who's gonna be in touch, who's gonna be his contact if anything happens," Tyson said. "It can happen to anybody." Bryant, 24, has been charged with class 3 sexual assault, the equivalent of rape under Colorado law, stemming from allegations made by a 19-year-old Colorado woman who worked as a concierge at a resort where he was staying in June. The athlete has denied he raped the woman, insisting their encounter was consensual and that his only wrongdoing was adultery. He is due back in court Oct. 9 for a preliminary hearing that will determine whether he must stand trial. If convicted, he could face a sentence of four years to life in prison.
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