Mike Tyson finally has an "opponent" for his much-hyped comeback fight.

In May, the 54-year-old former undisputed world heavyweight champion and self-proclaimed "baddest man on the planet" posted an Instagram video of himself training for a four-round charity bout－likely against longtime rival Evander Holyfield, 57－though the event has not been confirmed.

So now Tyson is doing the next best thing－fighting a shark.

In an upcoming Discovery Channel TV special dubbed Tyson vs Jaws: The Rumble on the Reef, Iron Mike will go toe-tofin with the ocean's deadliest predator "in the name of research", Entertainment Weekly reported on the weekend.

The special is set to air worldwide on Aug 9.

Though it's unclear how Tyson and the shark interact, the boxing icon said he agreed to take part in the project in order to help overcome his fears of returning to the ring.

"I learned from the experience of filming the Shark Week special that whatever intimidates me, I am still able to step up to the challenge of overcoming anything," said Tyson, who retired in 2006 with a career record of 55-6-44 of those victories coming via knockout.

A bizarre trailer for the show features Tyson lifting weights, knocking over a shark cage, punching a surfboard and attempting to blow up an inflatable boat. There's even a joke about him infamously biting Holyfield's ears during their title rematch in 1997.

Discovery Channel said no sharks were harmed during the filming, and since Tyson is still alive and posting on Instagram, we can only assume the whole thing went rather, uh ...swimmingly.

"I equate this experience with overcoming my fear of getting back in the ring at 54 years old," the American told Entertainment Weekly.

"I learned that I can overcome anything that would prevent me from accomplishing my life's mission of reaching my highest potential and bringing me closer to God."

Meanwhile, Tyson has reportedly turned down a $20 million offer to fight in a bare-knuckle match while he continues to post videos showing him ferociously punching the heavy bag and working out with a trainer on the hand pads.

"We offered Mike $20 million and some additional benefits, but he has turned it down,"David Feldman, president of the fledgling Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, told Ring TV last week.

"Who knows what's going to happen with Tyson? His management team said he was going to fight in July, then they said he was going to fight in August, so who knows what's going to happen with him?"

Trainer Teddy Atlas, who worked with Tyson early in his career, said the jury is still out on whether a comeback is for real.

"I think a lot of people will be curious to see how this plays out because they remember when he was knocking everybody out. They remember all the craziness, and they want to take a peek,"Atlas told DZAN Boxing.

"That's what it is. People want to take a peek at it. Even the ones that didn't see him, they heard about it. Let's take a peek at him and see what he looks like now.

"I think we have a Frankenstein syndrome in America. We like to see monsters made. We might not want them in our living room unless they're on television, but we want to say we were around when they walked the Earth."