Trump jokes about putting Kamala in the ring with Mike Tyson

Donald Trump cracked a joke about putting rival Kamala Harris in the ring with Mike Tyson at a Pennsylvania rally stressing his appeal to women voters.

Trump went out of his way to praise 'Iron Mike' Tyson following a story about an Olympic boxer he accused of being a transgender female. 

'I know Iron Mike, and he's a great guy, Mike Tyson. He's a good man,' said Trump, who was involved in boxing promotion before he became a politician through his former Atlantic City casino and hotel empire, praising the former heavyweight champ.

'Oh, they could fight Iron Mike. I'll tell you. Iron Mike would say this is not a good thing,' Trump said after his riff on transgender athletes.

'Mike is – Mike's been through a lot, but he could fight. Let me tell you, that guy could fight. But can you imagine Mike?' Trump asked.

At that point, someone in the audience apparently yelled out the idea of Tyson vs. Harris. 'Oh, he says, Put Mike in the ring with Kamala. That will be ...' Trump said, going with the idea.

The former president made the comment in the most crucial battleground state, backed by a crowd of women holding pink 'Women for Trump' signs – a gesture staged by his campaign to underline the message.

Both camps are in a desperate fight to secure women votes. Women make up a majority of the electorate. And a shock Des Moines Register poll out of Iowa had Harris running up a 20-point edge among women – a margin that the Trump camp considers unrealistic.

Tyson was the undisputed heavyweight champ from 1987 to 1990 and was a cultural phenomenon of the error as well as a powerhouse in the ring. He was convicted of rape in 1992 following allegations by Miss Black America contestant Desiree Washington and served three years in prison. During one of his 1997 comeback fights he was disqualified after biting off part of Evander Hollyfield's ear. 

Trump praised Tyson while complaining about transgender men competing in women's sports.

He brought up Olympic fighter Imane Khelif of Algeria, who defeated Italian fighter Angela Carini after she quit their match after just 46 seconds. Khelif was under scrutiny after having failed to meet a gender eligibility test for a previous women's boxing championship, although there is no indication she is transgender.

'I'm a woman like any other woman. I was born a woman. I lived a woman. I competed as a woman. There's no doubt about that,' she said after her Olympic Gold Medal match. 

Trump has regularly highlighted the issue of transgender sports at his rallies.

'These two men that transitioned, you would be shocked to know that they both won Gold medals,' Trump said.

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'It's so unfair, it's so ridiculous,' he said.

Trump has been holding up his ability to go 'off prompter' at his rallies, and criticizing Harris as scripted. 

On Sunday, speaking Lititz, Pennsylvania, he took heat for speaking about a potential shooter and the media, who he calls the 'fake news.' 

'And to get me somebody would have to shoot through the fake news. And I don't mind that so much. I don't mind that,' Trump said.

Trump has long defended Tyson, including shortly after the 1992 verdict. 'I’m totally opposed to obviously what happened. I’m a very strong believer in harsh punishment,' Trump said at the time. 'But we think it’s probably, in this particular case, a lot more good can be done by having Mike Tyson pay a substantial award both to the victim subject to court approval and creating a ward for people that were abused or raped in the state of Indiana.'