PHOENIX -- Mike Tyson denied he raped a 50-year-old woman in California, his first public statements since the allegation was made last week.

"Everything in the long run will prove that I'm innocent and I'm just looking forward to that," the former heavyweight champion told KTVK-TV in Phoenix on Tuesday.

The woman contends she was sexually assaulted by Tyson on July 16 at a Big Bear City home he rented during training.

Investigators from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department are investigating but have not interviewed the 35-year-old boxer, who is training in Phoenix for a Sept. 8 fight with Danish boxer Brian Nielsen in Copenhagen.

"We're still trying to substantiate what this woman is telling us. If we had more than that, we would already have taken some further action, such as arresting him," sheriff's spokesman Chip Patterson said.

Members of Mike Tyson Enterprises "were made available for interviews" with investigators on Wednesday, Tyson's lawyer, Darrow Soll, said in a statement released Wednesday night. Investigators said three members of Tyson's entourage potentially could prove or disprove the allegations.

"We are exceptionally pleased with the professionalism exhibited by San Bernardino County authorities in conducting their investigation," Soll said. "It is our hope that they will reach a decision in the very near future."

Soll, who met with investigators on Monday, said he also provided county officials "with additional information from our investigation."

However, Soll did not offer to let them interview Tyson, Patterson said.

County investigators do not have legal authority to compel the boxer to talk.

Tyson was convicted of rape in Indiana in 1992 and served three years in prison.