Boxing icon Mike Tyson recently revealed a shocking truth about his career, admitting that he used fentanyl to manage pain.
“It was a painkiller, and I used it to treat my toe,” Tyson shared on Tuesday’s episode of the Katie Miller Podcast. “It felt like heroin — once it wore off and you removed the Band-Aid, the withdrawal would hit: vomiting, feeling terrible, just like being on heroin.”
“It would have been illegal if it showed up in my bloodstream. My friend told me it was a narcotic, completely new. I asked him, ‘Can I even use this?’ Nobody had ever heard of it,” Tyson explained.
Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for pain relief. However, it can be lethal in even small doses if used without a prescription.
Mike Tyson revealed how he relied on fentanyl during his boxing career.
Tyson’s late friend, Arturo Gatti, who passed away in 2009, had struggled with opioid use for years, as he previously shared in an interview with The Post.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 48,422 people died last year from illicit fentanyl use.
Mike Tyson lands a punch on Clifford Etienne in 2003.
Fentanyl is 100 times stronger than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin.
Tyson has long struggled with addiction, and this isn’t the first time fans have heard about the severe foot pain he endured during his career.
He even slapped Jake Paul across the face during the lead-up to their November 2024 fight after Paul stepped on his toe during the weigh-ins.
Now in his 50s, Tyson has focused heavily on his marijuana business, using it as an alternative to traditional pain-relief medications.
Boxing’s most feared fighter of the late ’80s and early ’90s is set to return to the ring for an exhibition bout against Floyd Mayweather in early 2026.
Last fall, he was defeated by Jake Paul in a highly publicized fight that faced widespread criticism.
