Boxing

Tyson: I was a full-blown cokehead

ESPN staff

November 13, 2013

Mike Tyson used a fake penis to fool drugs testers © Getty Images

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Former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson has admitted to fighting while under the influence of drugs - and also stated he used a fake penis to hide any trace from testers.

Tyson tested positive for marijuana and was fined $200,000 in 2000, but speaking in his new autobiography Undisputed Truth - part-serialised in the Daily Mirror - the American explained how his reliance on drugs began at an early age.

"I was a full-blown cokehead," Tyson said, also revealing he first took cocaine when he was 11 years old. "The history of war is the history of drugs. Every great general and warrior from the beginning of time was high."

Tyson explained his decision to use a fake penis in order to avoid detection during post-fight drug tests, which he thought of before his bout with Lou Savarese at Hampden Park.

The 47-year-old spoke of how he would take drugs before a fight and then fill the fake penis with someone else's urine in order to escape punishment. One of Tyson's entourage would carry the fake penis with them before handing it to him after the fight.

Tyson claimed he had taken cocaine before his 2004 defeat to Danny Williams in Louisville, while also stating he was high at the time of his 2002 press conference brawl with Lennox Lewis.

"I lost my mind," Tyson said. "I looked over at him and wanted to hit the motherf*****".

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