LONDON -- Mike Tyson caused a storm in Britain on Thursday without throwing a punch or biting an ear.

The government's decision to grant him an entry visa for his June 24 contest with Lou Savarese in Glasgow, Scotland, sparked a wave of protests even before the venue had been decided.

British immigration laws can prevent anyone who has served a jail sentence of at least a year from entering the country. Yet Tyson, who served three years for rape, is being allowed in for a second time for a fight that will earn him millions.

Home Secretary Jack Straw, whose department covers immigration as well as law and order, allowed Tyson to enter Britain in January for what turned out to be a two-round demolition of Julius Francis in Manchester, England.

Straw insisted that was a one-time entry visa and said it might not happen again.

But he granted another entry visa Thursday, citing "exceptional circumstances." He said that the fight had big commercial benefits, that Tyson had behaved himself on his previous visit and that banning the former champion might harm Britain's reputation for staging major sports events.

When Straw announced that the former world heavyweight champion would be allowed back in for the Savarese fight, lawmakers, newspapers and women's rights groups were up in arms.

"We are very disappointed by Jack Straw's decision and very concerned that the feelings of Scottish people have been ignored," Oona Hay of the Rape Crisis Center in Glasgow said. "Our main concern is the message that is being sent to women and how seriously the government really takes violence against women."

A poll of 1,000 Scots by the Daily Record of Glasgow found almost two-thirds said they did not want Tyson in their country.

The London Evening Standard said Straw's decision "will sicken most people and makes a nonsense of all the government's rhetoric about being tough on crime."

"It is a sad commentary on the present day cult of celebrity that the normal and sensible immigration rules which ban from Britain foreigners who have been jailed for serious violent offenses should be bent just because a case involves someone as famous or notorious as Tyson," the paper said in an editorial.

"A thug like Tyson is unwelcome in this country, even if banning him would be bad for business in Glasgow."

But the fight, originally scheduled for Milan, Italy, this weekend but postponed because Tyson wouldn't have been ready in time, appears to be going ahead. Promoters are expected to announce on Friday whether the open-air fight will be at the 52,000-capacity Hampden Park or 60,000 Parkhead.

One Glasgow lawmaker welcomed Straw's decision.

"We are very pleased. We kept our mouth shut as far as Tyson was concerned," Jimmy Wray said. "We followed all the rules, and we got him to apply.

"He applied and he behaved himself the last time he visited the UK, and the secretary of state was obviously very happy about that. So I'm pleased for all the boxing fans who want to see Tyson and never had the opportunity."