Tyson vs. Joe Boxer?

[Guest MrRant]

This may need to go into Television but it IS sports related so the mods can move it if the feel the need.

 

Looks like Mike Tyson's ready to sink his teeth into reality TV.

 

 

The production company behind those scantily clad Victoria's Secret prime-time specials is plotting a new series that would put an everyday palooka in the ring against the ear-chomping ex-champ.

 

The proposed reality series--no title yet--is "very much in the preliminary stages," a staffer at Triage Entertainment said Wednesday.

 

Per the Hollywood Reporter, talks are ongoing between Triage, which most recently produced The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show for CBS, and Tyson's managers to seal a deal for the heavyweight's involvement.

 

As for the everyday palooka, that role has yet to be cast. Producers say they're not necessarily looking for a person with prior boxing experience. Just, presumably, a death wish.

 

"This is a suicide mission," says professor Robert J. Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University. "It's one thing to pit yourself against 19 other guys [to court] a beautiful bachelorette [à la, The Bachelorette]. It's another thing to have Mike Tyson pummel you."

 

At 36, and having been battered himself in a bout last June against Lennox Lewis, Tyson isn't the unbeatable Tyson who regularly leveled opponents early in his career.

 

He is still, though, the unpredictable Tyson who bit off a piece of Evander Holyfield's ear and threatened to rip out Lewis' heart and "eat [his] children."

 

Diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Tyson has been known to try to even his temperament by taking the antidepressant Zoloft. He has also been known to go off his medication before fights. So best of luck to you.

 

Joe Boxer, the everyday palooka, not the underpants guru, would be prepped for the Tyson bout via an "intense training regiment," the Reporter says. The training sessions would be weaved into the show's storyline.

 

According to the trade paper, unnamed major broadcast networks are hot for the Tyson series. Thompson, for one, understands the idea's appeal.

 

"We've been telling this story in fiction for a long time," Thompson says. "It's called Rocky."

 

While a wannabe boxer may be looking for fame and respect by squaring off against Tyson for the purposes of a TV series, Tyson himself may be looking at the bottom line.

 

On Monday, he agreed to pay second wife (now, second ex-wife) Monica Turner $6.5 million from his future earnings. He also saw Turner appropriate the couple's multimillion-dollar homes in Connecticut and Maryland.

 

Tyson previously was married to actress Robin Givens (news) from 1988-1989.

 

The ex-champ, meanwhile, isn't waiting for a TV show to get him back into the ring. He's scheduled to discuss issues with Clifford "the Black Rhino" Etienne February 22 in Memphis.

 

I wouldn't mind watching a weekly execution.

[Guest bob_barron]

I don't see how they can do this since it's Tyson is gonna kill the guy who he fights.

 

I'll still watch

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

They'll have to set it up like "The Great White Hype" ya know.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Ain't no fuckin' way I'd get in the ring with that animal, unless we're talking big-money prizefights. I think the person should get $10,000 for every round they last with Tyson. That would make it pretty interesting.

[Guest alkeiper]

No one would last past round 1. This is a disaster waiting to happen.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

If the cameras followed Tyson around, I'd be game.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

...to watch the show.

[Guest jimmy no nose]

That will be so good, but I'm sure there will be some trouble when the guy dies.