Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Mike Tyson berates Toronto TV host Nathan Downer

TORONTO - You mess with Mike Tyson at your peril — especially on live TV.

Call him what you like, call him a cab, call him late for dinner, but DON’T call him a convicted rapist.

For a second, by the glint in the ex-heavyweight champ’s eye, I feared for CP24 anchor Nathan Downer’s life.

Tyson was in studio at 2 p.m. Wednesday to talk about his visit to City Hall the day before, when he threw his considerable bulk behind beleaguered Mayor Rob Ford. “Best mayor in Toronto’s history,” Iron Mike opined.

“We’re cut from the same cloth,” said Ford to the media mob outside his office.

The CP24 studio Wednesday was much calmer, even soothing, until Downer asked Tyson:

“Some of your critics would say, this is a race for mayor, we know you’re a convicted rapist, this could hurt his campaign.” (Tyson did three years for rape in the 1990s.)




Tyson’s jaw clenched. His tattoo jiggled. His eyes hardened. I swear his biceps tensed.

“You’re being negative,” he said. OK, so far so good. Downer exhaled. The conversation, including promoter Alex Choko, switched to the topic of George Chuvalo.

Then Tyson boiled over.

“So interesting that you come across like a nice guy,” he purred menacingly to Downer.

“But you’re really a piece of s---.”

“C’mon,” Downer said.

“That was a piece of... F--- you. That was a piece of s---.”

“You know we’re on? We’re doing live TV.”

“I don’t care. What are you going to do about it?”

Downer tried to turn talk to Tyson’s one-man show, Undisputed Truth, at the ACC.

“Is it nerve wracking for you to do something like this (the show) or is it more nervous for you to box. How does it compare?”

“I dunno,” said Tyson. “It’s more nerve wracking for me here talking to a rat piece of s--- like you.”

“Oh, c’mon, Mike.”

“No, because you’re a piece of s---. You really shouldn’t have..... A piece of s----.”

“Alright, we’re going, we’re going to wrap up this interview. Thank you for coming in.”

“Well, f--- you!”

And people say political discourse in Toronto has gone to the dogs.

    I'm okay everybody. Unfortuantlely my question hurt Mike Tyson's feelings. That was not my intentions. My apolgies for the language.
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