Donald Trump publicly defended Mike Tyson after he was convicted of rape in 1992, claiming in a radio interview that, if anything, the boxing champion was a victim of being touched inappropriately by women.

The Republican has long defended Tyson and has even boasted the boxer's support for his White House bid, despite his having been convicted of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old contestant of the Miss Black America pageant.

In the 1992 radio interview on the "Howard Stern Show" reviewed by CNN, Mr Trump was asked if he’d ever seen Tyson touch women inappropriately.

Mr Trump responded with a laugh: “I've seen women going around touching him. He walks in a room and the women start grabbing him and grabbing his ass and grabbing anything else they can grab on him.”

He then went on to call Tyson's conviction of raping Desiree Washington a "travesty". He then noted the boxing champion had often performed at his hotels and casinos.