That’s Iron Mike Tyson eying my ears like they were big juicy pork chops. (Thanks to TCA colleague April Neale for the timely photo op.)
Back in 2011, at a Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, Calif., the former heavyweight champion was a guest at an OWN Network launch party hosted by Oprah Winfrey.
Tyson had been at a session earlier in the day to promote the Animal Planet series Taking on Tyson. In that series, Tyson talked about his lifelong fascination with pigeons, raising them in a special pen he built in his old Brooklyn neighbourhood and racing them across rooftops.
Once the most feared man in or out of the ring, I found Tyson to be friendly, engaging and courteous when I spoke with him at the launch event. He had just shot scenes for the sequel to The Hangover, the comedy film that went a long way toward rehabilitating his image.
I complimented him on his own documentary and we talked about another boxing doc, Facing Ali. Tyson says he was moved to tears watching former Canadian champ George Chuvalo spill his guts about the tragic life and death of two of his sons along with his wife.
Friday night at 8 p.m. ET, from AT&T Stadium, the Dallas Cowboys playpen in Arlington, Texas, Tyson will fight Jake Paul. The match will stream globally on Netflix.
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At 58, this is Tyson’s first sanctioned fight since he was weeks shy of his 39th birthday in 2005. Paul, a YouTuber-turned-prize fighter, is 27 and has a distinct height and reach advantage, but far less experience in the ring. It’s scheduled for eight two-minute rounds and the two men will punch with slightly less lethal 14 ounce gloves.
Tyson had 47 fights before Paul was born in 1997. The older man is the underdog at ESPN BET.
Do I hope Tyson catches Paul with a left hook early? You bet.
