Mike Tyson getting ready to make debut as reality TV star

Former world heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson is getting ready to make his debut as a reality TV star.

Tyson, a life-long pigeon keeper, will star in a series about bird racing, The New York Post reports.

"I may have stopped fighting. But I never stopped flying birds. It's my first love," Tyson said.

The show, to be called Take on Tyson, pits Tyson and his birds against the best racing-pigeon owners in New York.

It is set to air on the cable channel Animal Planet sometime early next year.

The headline potential of turning the ferocious fighter into a reality TV star is not lost on Tyson himself, who has never been on a continuing series.

"I am a little worried about the sitcom effect. Mike Tyson and Animal Planet? They don't seem to go together, do they?" Tyson said over the weekend

Tyson begins shooting next month in Brooklyn. For the show, Tyson turned his birds over to a cigar-smoking pigeon trainer, Vinnie Torre, who is getting them ready for the competition.

"Mike will be the underdog this time," said Marjorie Kaplan, the head of Animal Planet.