Mike Tyson has revealed he decided to make his boxing comeback while tripping on toad venom, also saying the chain of events that followed led to the ‘birth’ of Jake Paul’s competitive career.
Tyson, 55, joined Joe Rogan for a joint as they sat down for the latest episode of The Joe Rogan Experience.
Rogan asked the fighter, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest heavyweight fighters of all time, what it had been like to step into the ring again to take on Roy Jones Jr in November 2020.
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“What was it like fighting again after all those years?” he asked his guest.
Tyson replied: "I did this toad, this DMT stuff and I lost the weight.
“I don't know what happened, I just said I'm going to do this.”
Tyson continued: “I did this toad and he said, ‘You've got to do this... you have to do it'.”
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When Rogan asked if it was the toad that told him, Tyson replied: “Yeah, ‘You have to do it'.
“[And] I lost the weight."
Tyson said he had planned for that first fight to be against former kickboxer and MMA star Bob Sapp.
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"And it started off with me at first fighting Bob Sapp,” he said, going on to explain how the younger Paul brother also ended up getting involved.
Tyson continued: “The fight with Roy Jones was supposed to be with Bob Sapp. So Roy Jones got involved, other fighters got involved, Holyfield got involved and then it turned into a fiasco.
“And then the young guy, Jake Paul, he got involved and that’s how the birth of Jake Paul became."
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In another interview last year, Tyson said he had been about 100lb overweight, having been drinking too much and taking drugs, including ‘that toad’.
The Bufo alvarius, also known as the Colorado River toad and Sonoran Desert toad, produces psychoactive substances from the toxins in its glands, allowing users to experience a short trip. While used in traditional healing rituals, it’s growing in popularity among the rich alongside the likes of LSD and ayahuasca.
“I did it as a dare,” Tyson told the New York Post. “I was doing heavy drugs like cocaine, so why not? It’s another dimension. Before I did the toad, I was a wreck. The toughest opponent I ever faced was myself. I had low self-esteem. People with big egos often have low self-esteem. We use our ego to subsidise that. The toad strips the ego.”
He added: “I ‘died’ during my first trip. In my trips I’ve seen that death is beautiful. Life and death both have to be beautiful, but death has a bad rep. The toad has taught me that I’m not going to be here forever. There’s an expiration date.”
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Topics: Mike Tyson
Jess Hardiman