Boxing legend Mike Tyson recently shared that his wife and children begged him to start smoking cannabis again after he quit for just five days. They were actually scared of how he acted without it. Tyson opened up about this on the Confidence of Champions podcast with hosts Billy White and Peter Lee Thomas.
According to Sportbible, Tyson’s wife, Lakiha Spicer, and his kids were completely freaked out by how intense he became when sober. “My wife and my kids would get scared,” Tyson revealed. “‘Please smoke, daddy’. Not that I did anything, [I was just] too intense not high. People walking by me, just looking, ‘Wow’. It’s just a whole different person.”
Tyson, who started his own cannabis brand called Tyson 2.0 in 2021, has always said that the drug made his life much better. He admitted, “If I didn’t smoke, I would have a bad day. I’m a real moody guy without it.” He also compared cannabis to his past drinking habits, saying that when he drank alcohol, he was “making a fool of myself.”
Operation Sports App
Your ultimate companion for sports gaming. Access in-depth coverage, thoughtful discussion, and a community built around the games—and sports—you love.
Your ultimate sports gaming companion.
Cannabis works as his personal peace pipe
He believes cannabis is the best “peace pipe” for keeping things calm. Tyson made an interesting point about how different substances affect people differently. He said if you give gang members liquor, they will kill each other, but if you give them weed, they start taking selfies together.
The amount of cannabis Tyson uses is shocking. Back in 2019, on his Hotboxin’ With Mike Tyson podcast, he claimed he goes through about $40,000 worth of weed every month. His co-host, former NFL player Eben Britton, said they smoke “10 tons of weed at the ranch a month.”
Tyson has been very open about using other substances too. He admitted that he used psychedelic mushrooms before his November 2020 fight against Roy Jones Jr. He said the mushrooms gave him a big advantage in the ring because he didn’t feel punches as much. Tyson even said he was mad he didn’t know about mushrooms earlier in his career.
Even more shocking, Tyson’s confession about his fentanyl use during the 1990s added another dark chapter to his story. Tyson told The Katie Miller Podcast that he used fentanyl “quite a few times” when his career was at its peak. Fentanyl is about 100 times stronger than morphine. Tyson said he used it as a painkiller for his toe, and when the patch wore off, he would start withdrawing and throwing up just like with heroin.
However, Tyson can be disciplined when needed. He said last year that he stopped using cannabis and having sex for six weeks while preparing for his fight against Jake Paul. Now he’s getting ready for an exhibition fight against Floyd Mayweather in 2026.
The fight will have eight two-minute rounds and is being organized by CSI Sports and Fight Sports. Tyson said the matchup is exciting and unpredictable, and he even joked that the fight will be “detrimental” to Mayweather’s health. Mayweather’s response to critics about the fight shows he has no regrets about accepting the challenge.
Published: Dec 4, 2025 03:30 pm