Boxing legend Mike Tyson has said he would be an “overweight pig” if he did not smoke cannabis as he “would not know how to get on a treadmill.”
Footage has emerged of Tyson making a big revelation about the importance of cannabis to his fitness.
In the clip, the former heavyweight boxing champion is taking questions on a live YouTube stream for his “Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson” podcast.
Host and former NFL star Eben Britton asks:
“Do you think professional athletes should be able to use cannabis as a way to heal the body and relax?”
The 53-year-old former boxer defended the use of cannabis:
“I’m talking from my experience only. I think it’s a good idea...It is a healing process that you have to go through. You smoke cannabis consciously on unconsciously. It’s a process to go through.”
The former heavyweight champion went on to admit:
“I wouldn’t know how to get on the treadmill if I didn’t smoke first. If I didn’t smoke, I would never train…I’d just be an overweight pig.
The American who was a unified heavyweight champion, winning his first at the record youngest age of 20 years old, retired 14 years ago. He made headlines earlier in October when he announced he was mulling setting up a cannabis farm in the Caribbean.
“Iron Mike” already has a cannabis ranch in California and Tyson Holistic Holdings, established in 2016, that sells marijuana strains, edibles and merchandise.
On 1 November 2018, the UK changed the law on medicinal cannabis, with medicinal cannabis products moved from schedule 1, meaning they have no medicinal value, to schedule 2, allowing doctors to prescribe them under certain circumstances. It remains illegal for recreational use. In the US, however, cannabis is allowed in 11 US states.