(This story first was published at USA TODAY.)
LOS ANGELES – Mike Tyson said he smoked marijuana right before he fought Roy Jones Jr. on Saturday in his celebrated return to the boxing ring at 54.
“Absolutely, yes,” he said during his post-fight news conference.
Tyson and Jones fought to a draw in an eight-round exhibition match at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The fight was scored by three former WBC champions.
After the bout, Tyson indicated he smoked again, apparently before he met with the media to discuss his first fight in 15 years.
“Listen, I can’t stop smoking,” he said. “I smoked during fights. I just have to smoke. I’m sorry. I’m a smoker. … I smoke every day. I never stopped smoking.”
Fighting in an exhibition rather than a professional fight apparently gave Tyson some wiggle room. The Voluntary Anti-Doping Association tested the fighters for performance-enhancing drugs prior to the bout, but marijuana reportedly was not on the list of banned substances.
Tyson said he stopped using cocaine about 2 1/2 years ago, but that turns out not to be the case for marijuana – even inside the ring.
“It’s just who I am,” he said. “It has no effect on me from a negative standpoint. It’s just what I do and how I am and how I’m going to die. There’s no explanation. There’s no beginning. There’s no end.”
Did the marijuana help numb the pain Saturday night?
“No, it just numbs me,” he said. “It doesn’t numb the pain.”
The bout proved entertaining, with Tyson looking fit and powerful and landing hard punches to Jones’ body. For his part, Jones flashed some of his old showmanship but also kept Tyson tied up for much of the fight as a means of survival.
Although Tyson said he didn’t know how much money the fight generated, but he assured his winnings won’t be spent the way they were in the past, when he squandered much of the $685 million that Forbes reported Tyson earned during his career.
“I’m here for a purpose,” he said. “I’m not here for my ego. My ego is taking the money, buying some planes, some nice houses, packing up a bunch of chicks and have some orgies and stuff.
“This is not who that is right now. That guy was just somebody that had to be. Eventually, he was a platform to become me.”
What Tyson cares about now, he said, are his family, his pigeons, his clothes and, yes, his joints. They must be easy to come by considering in 2017 the former heavyweight champion founded Tyson Ranch, a cannabis company.
He said he cares deeply about something else, too: charity. Although Tyson has offered few specifics, he said he’s focused on helping people less fortunate than himself.
“In a perfect world, I’m a missionary,” he said. “In a perfect world.”
In the real world, Tyson said he plans on boxing again, perhaps against Jones in a rematch. He also has expressed interest in fighting against top heavyweights like Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua or Deontay Wilder.
But there are other options.
“Maybe we do something in the south of France,” he said. “Monaco. In Saint-Tropez. We do something out there, one of the European fighters out there or something. Anything is possible. Sky is the limit.”
Mike Tyson says he smoked marijuana before Roy Jones Jr. fight: ‘It’s just who I am’
