Mike Tyson did an interview with Yahoo where he dropped some bombs about his past life and his current peaceful state that he’s in.
Tyson says there were times when he straight socked a fan for requesting his autograph. Mike was a wild boy in his day, especially at the height of his career, and was known to live hard and knock a dude out in the streets if necessary.
Looks like he was also playing his own version of “punch-out” with unsuspecting fans. Can you imagine coming up to Mike to get an autograph back in ’87 and he just unloads a right hand to your chin? Maybe Tyson is the one giving DaBaby advice on how to handle stardom.
In any event, Tyson’s been pretty calm since his gutter, glory days. He’s just a middle-aged guy running his cannabis ranch, fighting in multi-million-dollar pay-per-view exhibitions, making various podcast appearances and finally just enjoying being Mike Tyson. So it’s always exciting when we get a first-hand account from the deep, sometimes dark life of Iron Mike, who’s one of the most compelling athletes in the history of sports.
“My life was just miserable, I was out of control,” the 53-year-old Tyson told Yahoo! Finance when discussing the peak of his legendary and controversial career.
Tyson has admitted that he was so out of control during the peak of his boxing succes that there were times when he punched fans simply for asking for his autograph.
“I was fighting with everybody,” Tyson told Yahoo. “If someone asked me for my autograph, I’d punch them in the face. It was just a mess.”
Tyson has had a long, layered career full of highs and lows. From run-ins with the law to physical assaults to his recent testimony about how marijuana use changed his life for the better after retirement.
He ascended to the top of the heavyweight championship totem pole, grappled with the demons of celebrity and struggled with his mental health.
“After I retired I started smoking,” Tyson said. “What a mistake that was — I should have smoked my whole career. I should have smoked when I was fighting because it put me in this different state of mind.”
“I’m very relaxed and the more relaxed you are, the better fighter you are, at least in my case.”
You want more from Mike?
It’s reported that before his fight against Roy Jones Jr., Tyson admits that he took psychedelics and was in a supreme state of calm.
“I think of it as an enhancer,” Tyson added.” It makes me better, even in the ring. The punches don’t hurt as much, it has a lot to do with my comeback the psychedelics.”
The Mike Tyson saga continues to be one of the captivating and remarkable life journeys of our time. The stories don’t stop, and the evolution of the man continues.
