An explosive video clip of Mike Tyson losing his temper on live Canadian TV has re-emerged.

The show’s host, Nathan Downer, put himself into the firing line of Tyson’s anger when he decided to bring up the subject of Tyson’s criminal past.

The interview had started as expected with some polite conversation about the boxer’s time in Toronto and his meeting with the Mayor, Rob Ford.

Tyson was very complimentary about the Mayor and his city and shared his surprise at how famous the politician was:

“This is the first time where the mayor is bigger than the whole city, he's a bigger celebrity than anyone in the city. He's a really dynamic character.”

Mayor Ford was running for re-election at the time and Downer made the brave choice to ask Tyson about whether he had done any research on the Mayor, who had recently been the focus of some controversy.

Seemingly irritated by the question, Tyson replied that he had only seen the Mayor on TV and that was why he wanted to meet him.

Downer then decided to abandon all tact and verbally attack Tyson, asking if Tyson had harmed the Mayor’s chance of staying in office because “we know you’re a convicted rapist.”

Perhaps only surprising Downer, Tyson understandably reacted with shock and anger.

The former World Champion completely lost his cool and said:

“Hey, I don't know who said that, you don't know who said that, you know what I mean? And, I don't have no comment for that, you know, because it's negative, you're being negative. I met the mayor, nothing they can do about it."

Despite his manager’s desperate attempts to try and get the interview back on track, Tyson didn’t hold back, going on to insult Downer and seemingly end any friendliness between the two:

“So interesting that you come across as a nice guy but you're really a piece of sh*t, with that comment. F*** you, that was a piece of sh**.”

Downer, realising his mistake, tried to get the interview back on track but Tyson had had enough and ended the interview with his final words on the show being:

“It's more nerve-racking talking to a rat piece of sh*t like you. You're a piece of sh**. F*** you.”