The boxer who loves birds

A mini-series about a day in the life of ear-chomping boxer Mike Tyson will give you insight into the man trying to leave behind a troubled past for a life with fair-feathered friends

Au00a0former world heavyweight champion boxer now spends his days coaching dull pigeons to spread their wings.

It's not a soppy episode from The Oprah Show, it's actually what fearsome Mike Tyson's life looks like now.

Taking on Tyson fills in the blanks about why Tyson is standing on a pigeon-poo-infested terrace in the opening shot of the documentary. Like most of Iron Mike's passions, this too was funded by illegal activities, though we are never told specifically what.



Homing pigeons is something coach Vinnie introduced him to, and the boxer has been obsessed ever since. "I want to be world champion and I want my pigeons to be world champions as well," says Tyson. The film takes you through pigeon tryouts as the narrator draws parallels with the boxer's life.

Cracking Tyson's tough shell, the film discusses his stint in juvenile prison and his struggle with illiteracy as a teenager. A chance visit by iconic boxer Muhammad Ali to this correction facility is what led to him donning boxing gloves, he says. "I wanted the respect he demanded, I saw the way people looked at him. He never talked to me or saw me really, but right then at age 12 I knew I wanted to be the best boxer in the world," he recalls.

The camera captures Tyson talking about mentor and coach Constantine "Cus" D'Amato who passed away shortly after Tyson won his first world championship at the age of 20. It's a dilemma for the boxer who credits Cus with the best and the worst of his life. "I was taught to feel superior because that is what works for you in the ring. You have to feel bigger than your opponent," he says. But controversies outside the ring were caused by the same sense of being superior to everyone else, admits Tyson, looking back at the 'mean-machine' he calls himself.

It might seem bizarre that a film about Mike Tyson has hardly any stills without the birds, but the documentary is certainly worth a watch for fans. After all, Ali too had a song about bees (remember Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee?), written for him.

Taking on Tyson premieres on Animal Planet on June 6 at 9 pm