Boxing icon Mike Tyson has revealed he used a 'fake penis' to circumvent drug tests at the height of his career. 'Iron Mike' was earning hundreds of millions of pounds for fighting at his pinnacle, which led to him developing a heavy cocaine addiction.
Tyson opens up about methods in new Netflix docuseries
Tyson opens up about the methods he used to avoid the boxing authorities in a new Netflix docuseries. TYSON, which premieres on Tuesday, unpacks the most chaotic period in his life after serving three years in prison for a rape sentence in 1992.
He has previously admitted to being on drugs for some of the biggest bouts of his career. He beat Andrew Golota via stoppage in October, 2000, before the fight was declared a no-contest after he tested positive for cannabis.
Only drug offense in 57-fight career
Surprisingly, that's the only fixture in his 57-fight pro career that led to a punishment being imposed due to a drug offence. And Tyson opened up about how exactly he got around the rules despite remaining a regular user of recreational drugs.
"A fake penis. That's how I beat the drug tests," he said during the fourth episode of the new Netflix series. It's detailed Tyson used a prosthetic called The Whizzinator, a lifelike model that can excrete clean urine with someone else's sample.
In the same conversation, Tyson contradicts himself by suggesting he wasn't subject to the same regulations as every other fighter, adding: "I didn't get no f***ing drug tests. When I fight, the rules change."
Past admissions of drug use
An infamous photo of 'The Baddest Man on the Planet' shows Tyson emerging from a party, believed to be in 1988, with white powder caked around his nostrils. That image demonstrated not only the fighter's heavy drug use but also the reckless nature in which he went about his business.
Opening up on the subject in the past, Tyson has revealed he would even use the urine of his child or then-wife to beat drug tests. The 60-year-old was married to Monica Turner at the time and used her samples before the pair had a revelation.
"I put my baby's urine in it," he said on his Hotboxin' with Mike Tyson podcast in 2020. "One time I was using my wife's and my wife was like, 'Baby, you better not hope that it comes back pregnant or something'.
"And I said, 'Nah, so we ain't gonna use you any more, we're gonna use the kid'. Because I got scared that the piss might come back pregnant."
The former world champion struggled with substance abuse throughout the most turbulent period in his career. Writing in his 2013 autobiography, Undisputed, he attributed some of the most outlandish moments of his life to the struggles he was enduring because of addiction.
This includes his infamous bite on Evander Holyfield's ear during their 1997 rematch. He has also confessed he was high on cocaine and cannabis when he bit Lennox Lewis on the leg during a 2002 press conference brawl.
"I was a f***ing nut back then," he conceded on his new documentary. "I don't know. Just being a d**k, you know? I'm a d**k sometimes."
