Mike Tyson has revealed he used fentanyl “quite a few times” during the peak of his career in the 1990s, describing the powerful opioid as being “like heroin.”
The former heavyweight champion, now 59, has been candid for years about his battles with substance abuse and addiction.
Speaking on The Katie Miller Podcast, Tyson admitted he turned to fentanyl as a painkiller while competing at the very top of the sport.
“It was a painkiller, and I used to use it to patch up my toe,” Tyson explained.
Mike Tyson was a force of nature during the prime years of his boxing career
|GETTY
“It was like heroin – once it wears off and you take the Band-Aid off, you start withdrawing, throwing up, just like if you were on heroin.
"It was illegal if it [was] caught in my bloodstream. It was a narcotic, my friend told me.
"It was brand new. I told my friend ‘could I use this?’ No one ever heard of it.”
Fentanyl is one of the most potent synthetic opioids in circulation, around 100 times stronger than morphine and 50 times more powerful than heroin.
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In the United States, it is legally prescribed for pain relief and anaesthesia but has also become linked to the country’s spiralling overdose crisis.
Tyson has previously admitted to competing under the influence of drugs.
In his autobiography The Undisputed Truth, he revealed he took marijuana and cocaine before knocking out Lou Savarese in 2000, and later confessed to using substances before his 2004 defeat to Danny Williams.
By 2020, he described himself as “on the verge of dying” from alcoholism, admitting he had lied about being sober.
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Mike Tyson lost to Jake Paul back in November | GETTY“I haven’t drank or took drugs in six days, and for me that’s a miracle,” Tyson said in an emotional interview at the time.
“I’m never going to use again.”
In recent years, Tyson has become an advocate for marijuana reform.
He has invested in cannabis businesses, spoken about how the drug helps him manage pain, and is now pushing for national legalization in the United States.
Tyson has also made headlines after confirming plans to fight Floyd Mayweather next year, a proposed exhibition that has raised concern among fans over his health and safety.
He previously lost to Jake Paul in November, looking a shadow of his old self in the process.
But Tyson is adamant that Mayweather, rather than himself, will come out of their contest worse off.
"It's going to be detrimental to his health, but he wants to do it, so it's signed and it's happening!" he said.
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| GETTYHe added: "This fight is something neither the world nor I ever thought would or could happen.
"However, boxing has entered a new era of the unpredictable - and this fight is as unpredictable as it gets."