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Boxing

30th Jun 2022

Mike Tyson says he was on shrooms when he fought Roy Jones Jr in 2020

Kieran Galpin

Roy Jones Jr

‘Helps me train, helps me box better, when I’m feeling I really don’t feel the punches’

Boxer Mike Tyson has revealed that he was high on shrooms when he fought Roy Jones Jr in 2020, saying it definitely helped him during the fight.

As a legend of the ring, Tyson has 20 years of stories under his belt and a few regrets, it turns out. The 56-year-old boxer recently sat down with hosts Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder and Fred Taylor on their Pivot podcast.

Having previously said that magic mushrooms “saved my life”, the New York-born athlete spoke on getting into psychedelics following his retirement.

When Tyson was asked just how drugs help him, he replied: “Everything: helps me train, helps me box better, when I’m fighting, I really don’t feel the punches.

“It’s just some f***ing magical s**t,” he continued before referencing his 2020 fight with Jones Jr.

“I was on shrooms,” he revealed, to which the podcast hosts looked visibly shocked. “I wouldn’t fight without them, you crazy?”

He added: “I wish I did this s**t in my career, I’m so f***ing mad I didn’t know about this s**t.”

When Crowder questioned whether the “drugs” make him perform better, Tyson corrected him and said “medicine.”

“The medicine makes you a better fighter,” he added.

Tyson has been very open about his attitudes towards what are typically referred to as “drugs.” In 2021, the former champion told Reuters that they quite literally saved his life.

“To think where I was – almost suicidal – to this now. Isn’t life a trip, man? It’s amazing medicine, and people don’t look at it from that perspective,” he explained. “I believe this is good for the world.”

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