NEW YORK (AP) The president of the World Boxing Council has filed a $56 million lawsuit against Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis, saying he was knocked out, spat on and threatened during a fracas between the fighters at a news conference in January.

Jose Sulaiman said in court papers that he sustained severe physical and psychological injuries in the melee Jan. 22 in New York.

Sulaiman's lawsuit, filed late Thursday in Manhattan's State Supreme Court, asks for $2 million in actual damages on each of three causes of action and $50 million in punitive damages.

Tyson was introduced first at the news conference, and allegedly rushed Lewis when he stepped out. Neither fighter hit the other, but people jumped in to keep them apart.

Thomas Deas, Sulaiman's lawyer, said the 36-year-old Tyson knocked out and then threatened Sulaiman, 71, of Mexico City.

"When he got up after being knocked out, Tyson spat on him and threatened to kill him," Deas said.

The lawyer said Sulaiman had to undergo several dental surgeries to repair broken teeth and damaged bridgework.

Tyson's boxing adviser, Shelly Finkel, said he was surprised by the lawsuit.

" I'll have a lawyer handle it," said Finkel who declined further comment.

Deas said Sulaiman is not sure whether Lewis, 36, hit him. But the champion was named as a defendant just in case it turns out he did.

"I know he was hit during the melee, but it must have knocked some sense out of him because Lennox never touched him," Judd Burstein, Lewis' lawyer, said of Sulaiman.

The suit also names Lewis' American promoter, Main Events, and Dan Klores Communications, the public relations company that represented Tyson at the time. Tyson is no longer a Klores client.

Donald Tremblay, a spokesman for Main Events, said he had no comment on the lawsuit. He referred queries to his lawyer, Patrick English, who did not return calls.

Matthew Traub, a spokesman for Klores, said his firm had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment.

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