Former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson is back in the gym preparing for a possible fight with Ireland's Kevin McBride on July 31, according to a report on Fightnews.com.

Tyson's manager Shelly Finkel told Fightnews.com that St Louis and Louisville, Kentucky were the front-runners to stage the bout.

The website said Tyson had returned to gym training at the Central Boxing Club in Phoenix, Arizona after several weeks of doing road work and conditioning on his own.

Tyson, who turns 38 on June 30, has not fought since knocking out Clifford Etienne in the first minute of their 10-round bout in February last year.

McBride, 31, who now lives in Brockton, Massachusetts, has a career record of 31 wins (26 knockouts), four defeats and one draw.

Tyson's career has been punctuated by run-ins with the law and outbursts of bad behaviour.

The former world champion served three years in prison for the 1991 rape of a former beauty queen and was suspended from boxing after he bit off part of Evander Holyfield's ear in a 1997 heavyweight title bout.