Mike Tyson Keeps it Real and Stays Black

Guardian
November 16, 2013

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Mike Tyson speaks the truth about himself, a rare occurrence in a people scientifically proven to have vastly inflated opinions of themselves.

Mike Tyson once famously referred to himself as “the baddest man on the planet”. In his new autobiography, co-written with Larry Sloman, he explains why, going into detail about his addictions to drugs and alcohol and his violent past. Here are 10 of the most amazing claims he makes about his life in the book.

He admits to fighting while under the influence of drugs

Tyson admits to being on drugs during several fights in the 2000s. He says he took marijuana and cocaine before walking to the ring against Lou Savarese at Hampden Park in 2000, in what was his third comeback fight after a nine-month break, in no small part down to serving a four-month prison sentence for assaulting two motorists.

Despite this he beat Savarese in 38 seconds by technical knockout , which was the second fastest victory of his career.

He also admits to taking drugs before his shock defeat by Danny Williams in his 2004 comeback fight in Louisville, Kentucky.

He used to pass drug tests by using a fake penis

Tyson says that during periods of drug addiction he would use what he refers to as a “whizzer” in order to pass drug tests, which was a fake penis filled with clean urine.

He tested positive for marijuana in 2000 before his fight with Andrew Golota, which he blames on not having his whizzer to hand. It was carried from fight to fight by a member of his entourage.

tyson ignoring the refferee to punch through him
Iron Mike.

 

He looked for ‘divine intervention’ in an attempt to avoid prison

He writes that before his trial for rape in 1992, a friend he names as Calvin told him about a “hoodoo woman”, who said if he got a jar filled with $500, peed in it and then brought them to her she would pray for him. He responded by saying that it was even too much for someone who threw his money around like he did.

Other friends suggested he try a voodoo priest, who proposed that he wash in oils and drink special water. “I was drinking goddamn Hennessy. I wasn’t going to water down my Hennessy,” Tyson retorted.

He writes that he eventually settled on looking for help from a Santeria witch doctor, with whom he went to the courthouse with a pigeon and an egg. Tyson was to drop the egg and release the bird while yelling: “We’re free!”

He was sentenced to six years for the rape of Desirée Washington.

He had several relationships in prison

Tyson claims that while serving his sentence for rape, he started a relationship with his drug counsellor, beginning when he gave her $10,000 to fix the roof of her house.

In the book he writes: “She’d be calling me back three times a day … if anyone asked why I was putting so much time into the class she’d just say ‘He needs to finish his preparation for the test.'”

He also had relationships with a string of visitors from outside prison, before eventually he was caught by the guards. As a result, he says, all outside visitors were banned.

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Here’s a song about Mike and his struggle to stay black in a world of sellouts like Tiger Woods and Will Smith.