Mike Tyson has admitted smoking weed right before his exhibition fight against Roy Jones Jr in California.
The eight-round bout ended in a draw but many boxing fans were, well, "high" on Tyson's performance. He was the aggressor throughout and many felt he should've got the nod from the trio of unofficial judges.
All this despite the fact that Mike was smoking marijuana just before he got into the ring.
Iron Mike has been open about the fact that he uses weed as part of his daily life. And, in the post-exhibition press conference, he explained that that routine did not change even in the build-up to his contest with Jones.
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"I smoked every day," Tyson told the media, according to a report on BadLeftHook.com. "I never stopped smoking."
Iron Mike was then asked if he smoked right before the fight. "Absolutely, yes," the former undisputed heavyweight champ replied.
"It's just who I am, it has no effect on me from a negative standpoint," Tyson added. "It's just what I do, what I am, and how I'm gonna die. There's no explanation, there's no beginning, there's no end."
While there was VADA drug testing in the build-up to the event, cannabis - which is legal in California - apparently wasn't on the banned substance list. Tyson explained that, in his eyes, it is certainly not a performance-enhancing drug.
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Asked whether marijuana can numb the pain of taking punches, he replied: "No, it just numbs me, it doesn't numb the pain."
So there we go. The devil's lettuce was something of a theme throughout the event.
Snoop Dogg smoked weed during his live music performance early on in the broadcast. The hip-hop legend then sat in on commentary and produced some absolute gold as he compared Tyson vs Jones to "two of my uncles fighting at the barbecue!"
Also, a major sponsor of the pay-per-view event in the US was Weedmaps, a tech company serving the legal cannabis industry. Their brand name was painted on the ring, as well as in the locker room and press room.
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In 2016, the now 54-year-old Tyson set up his own company, Tyson Holistic Holdings, through which he sells an array of cannabis-based products and merchandise. It's believed that his 400-acre weed ranch makes Tyson around $500,000 per month.
So Iron Mike certainly isn't a hypocrite, as he's practising what the PPV was preaching. Whether his pre-fight reefer impacted on his entertaining post-fight interviews, only the Brooklyn banger can tell us.
Image credit: PA Images/Instagram @miketyson
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