Bruno: Don't label me the English Mike Tyson

Boxer Frank Bruno last night angrily denied he had become the 'English Mike Tyson' after claims that he turned to drugs to fight depression.

The 41-year-old former world heavyweight champion was speaking weeks after checking into a drink and drugs rehab clinic following a divorce from his wife, Laura.

Bruno denied he had a problem and denounced the 'mugs and creeps' he said were trying to portray him in a similar light to the man he fought in 1996.

He told Radio 5: 'It's very, very sad what people are saying about me. It's about jealousy and power and money. They're trying to turn me into the English Mike Tyson but I'm not the English Mike Tyson. I'm the same English Frank Bruno I always was.

'If I go to the toilet, it's front page news. I don't think anybody's got a right to tape, bug, film, follow, terrorise someone like they've been terrorising me. I've been through a lot of pressure, a lot of stress but I'm feeling stronger and stronger every day.

'I've still got a little bit - about one per cent - to clear up but 99 per cent I'm coming through.' Asked directly if he had taken steroids or cocaine, he said: 'Not that I know of, no.'