The long-contemplated Mike Tyson reality TV show has been given the greenlight. Animal Planet television network has decided to create a special series about the former heavyweight champion and his life-long love of competitive pigeon racing.
According to the March 15 edition of “The New York Post,” the show will be called “Take On Tyson” and will feature competitions of Tyson and his pigeons against the leading racing-pigeon owners in New York. Cable channel Animal Planet Network will air the show in early 2011.
To this day, Tyson has maintained two pigeon lofts – one in Jersey City, NJ (which I have recently witnessed) and another in Brooklym, NY. He cares for hundreds of pigeons at each location.
Pigeon racing is a fascinating sport which involves the highly intelligent birds flying distances of up to 500 miles. The youngest heavyweight champ in boxing history has had a special affection for pigeons since his elementary school days of growing up in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. Now he will have the opportunity to present pigeon racing into the mainstream media.
Quotes in The New York Post:
Mike Tyson: “I may have stopped fighting but I never stopped flying birds. It’s my first love.”
“Mike Tyson and the Animal Planet? They don’t seem to go together, do they?”
Marjorie Kaplan, Animal Planet network head: “We’ll film and when everyone gets back, we’ll see what we have.”