Mike Tyson joins The Katie Miller Podcast to discuss his family dynamics, recounting a traumatic ocean incident where his brother-in-law and nephew were presumed dead. He reflects on his upbringing in Brooklyn versus upstate New York, rejecting racial divisions in favor of judging character. Tyson advocates for cannabis legalization through his company, Tyson 2.0, arguing it is medicine while criticizing the black market's fentanyl risks and banking hurdles. He shares personal habits, past fentanyl use as a painkiller, and upcoming charitable work supporting battered women, concluding that meditation offers clarity superior to psychedelic experiences. [Automatically generated summary]
Sometimes my boys, they're bigger than me, so they push, you know, they're getting antsy a little, yeah.
One of your kids taking the great Mike Tyson on.
Oh, they definitely want to try me.
No doubt about it.
There's no doubt they will do that.
They're bigger than they're real big.
And yeah, they would try that.
Yeah.
Yeah, I don't play that stuff some big boat.
They could imagine on me like I'm a little kid.
No.
Hi, I'm Katie Miller.
This is my podcast.
And you might be wondering what I'm doing here sitting next to Mike Tyson.
But this conversation is meant to be the interesting questions, the stuff that in his long, very famous, very interesting career, he's never been asked.
He's done more interviews probably than I've been ever been alive.
So I want to hear from Mike Tyson about all of the things that makes him tick.
Okay.
And what his family and friends know and love about him.
So the world knows you as Iron Mike, the goat of heavyweight boxers, but I hear you're also a history buff.
I don't know about that.
I know a little bit about a little bit.
What's your favorite period of history?
Mervincian times.
I don't know, 400 AD.
Do you see any parallels between the way Alexander the Great conquered the world and the way you dominated boxing?
We both did it at 20.
Who would win in a fight, Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar?
It depends on what age, because Julius Caesar was a lot older when he was in control.
Alexander was just still a kid when he was king.
You know, he was too old.
If they were the same age, you'd have to pick Alexander.
Is that like you and Jake Paul in the fight?
No, it's different.
It's different than that because he was born to be a fighter.
Warrior Caesar wasn't born for that stuff.
What's your favorite recent TV show about history that you find to either be funny and good-hearted or historically accurate?
You know, history is funny because we really don't know what's accurate.
We just know what we read and what insight that we looked into.
So I'm just, I haven't seen any history shows that I like.
Not the Tudors?
Oh, you talking about those shows?
Yeah, I like both BC, Alexander the Great Times, Cyrus the Great, that kind of era.
Henry VIII.
He's pretty interesting too, yeah.
Which wife was your favorite?
Neither one of them.
He has what?
Eight of them?
Seven of them.
How many did he behead?
Divorce beheaded died.
Divorce beheaded survived.
Me and my wife are just watching the movie about the one that survived, weren't we, baby?
Weren't we watching the movie about Henry's wife that survived?
Yeah, we were watching it a couple of months ago, right?
President Trump recently had the greatest political comeback of all time.
I would argue you've also had some great comebacks in your career.
You're in the middle of what is another incredible comeback.
What advice would you have for other people who have been knocked down and getting back up?
Watching History Movies00:14:38
You know, it's very difficult, you know, to say that I can give somebody advice because it's really in you.
You just want to win more than anybody wants you to lose.
You have to have it in you.
And I believe sometimes you can hear something from somebody and it could ignite your enthusiasm as well.
But people have to have merit.
Things that matter, things that are said have to have merit and it has to matter to someone.
When you're in the gym working out, you know, everyone has the motivation.
They say to themselves, like, come on, go harder.
Just two more calories on the bike, just 100 more meters on the rowing machine.
What is the pump-up speech you give to yourself to keep going?
Oh, wow, I beat myself up.
You don't want to hear that, please.
I can't say that on television.
Is it like, come on, just a little bit stronger, or are you like cursing yourself out?
This is bad stuff.
Yeah, it's really bad stuff.
Because you work out harder, I would imagine, in the gym than just the average person more time.
This is true, but I have a tendency.
It's a tendency to be lazy.
So that's why I beat myself up.
What would you consider lazy?
Just not doing what I should be doing.
Anything that I'm not doing what I should be doing, that's lazy.
So what's the workout routine right now?
You know, during the day, they'll only do this one workout.
It's over, but just during the whole process, it's a day.
Like, I may leave here and do legs.
Because I already did arms this morning, back, so I'm going to do legs.
I'm going to leave here.
So in your typical day, I've heard you're a pretty schedule routine-oriented guy.
Pretty much so, yeah.
So when you wake up in the morning, what are you doing for breakfast?
Eggs and what else?
It may be eggs and chicken breasts.
For lunch?
For lunch, it could be that Mexican salad stuff.
And I might skip dinner.
Skip dinner?
Yeah.
Do you do dessert?
Yeah.
Periodically, I do, what was the custard pie?
A lemon custard pie.
Ooh, lemon.
Yeah.
Do you like a little bit sour?
Yeah.
No drinking.
No, no kind of alcohol or anything.
And so who is going shopping for you at the supermarket?
Are you going for yourself?
If I'm able to go, my wife doesn't allow me to go with her.
Why doesn't she allow you to go?
Too many people talk to me and stuff and she just hates this.
So it adds an extra 10, 15 minutes when you go?
It might be an hour.
So what's it like?
So you walk in, so you're walking into Whole Foods.
You're walking into Whole Foods or Publix and you're going through the line.
And how many people will stop you?
Do people come up to you every time?
Because you're one of the world's most recognizable figures.
I'm sure people turn around.
You're like, and you know that they're looking at you.
From experience, I learned how to handle it, but it could be overwhelming sometimes.
You know, you have to be like an experienced individual to really know how to handle that because it could be irritable.
And sometimes you could strike out at somebody because it's very, it's uncommon.
People that you don't know are very familiar to you.
They feel like they've known you and grown up with you.
And you're like, I don't know.
I'm them too.
I was like, when I was younger, he saw him.
Hey, hey, he looked at me.
He saw me.
Guys, I thought I was looking at the lights away.
He looked at me.
He looked at me.
It's a jerk.
So I understand people that does that.
You mentioned your wife.
What's been her role in your life?
You guys have been married for 16 years?
Yeah.
Yeah.
What's her role in my life?
Yeah.
I don't know.
Ask her what's not her role in my life.
In your comeback story and how she's been able to be there for you, what would you say is the best trait in how she's been able to help you?
I don't look at my life as a comeback story.
It was somebody that was doing bad for a moment and he got himself together.
You know, it's not really a comeback, just somebody that realized what he was doing was a waste of time and he just cleaned his life up.
You know, it's so cliche, you know, like what's this stuff?
Comeback and legacy.
These words are so used so much.
It's just tired of hearing them.
They don't even exist.
What do I care about a legacy?
I'm dead.
But when you pass, the people who will remember you obviously is for your legacy and everything you've done.
But it's also your favorite.
My family.
That's what that matters.
Family, you know, some of them may not have many things to say about it, but they're my family.
That one didn't matter what they say.
So, you have six kids?
Seven.
Seven kids.
Sorry.
What is the best part about being a father to them?
Wow, just being their father.
You know, just being there for them, even though some of them are difficult.
I have some difficult kids, you know, but I still love them.
And we just have a different relationship than some of my other kids, but everyone knows love.
What do you consider difficult?
Huh?
What do you consider difficult?
Not listening to me.
That's difficult.
What's been the hardest moment of parenting?
Just not listening to me.
And sometimes my boys, they're bigger than me, so they push, you know, they're getting antsy a little.
Yeah.
Do they get any physical altercations with you?
No, but I know when they start hugging me, wrestling, see how tough I am or something.
I don't tell them, I can't say I'm totally when I tell them, but I say, can you please let me go?
Yeah, I don't play that stuff to big boats.
They couldn't be hugging on me like I'm a little kid.
No.
One of your kids taking the great Mike Tyson on.
Oh, they'll definitely want to try me.
No doubt about it.
There's no doubt they would do that.
They're bigger than they're real big.
And yeah, they would try that, yeah.
What's the best family vacation you've taken with them?
Oh man, where did we go, baby?
Takeos was Turts and Keikos with the whole family.
Used to be crazy.
He just went out there.
And so listen, I got to tell you a tragic moment in that trip.
I don't know what happened.
They got lost.
My brother-in-law and my nephew, they got lost in the water.
And then we couldn't see them, so we thought they drowned or something.
And the water that we thought they drowned in, because it was in the middle of the ocean, the water was only this deep.
And I'm saying, how could it be that deep in the middle of the ocean?
And I don't know, but they just walked back to us.
But we thought they were dead.
We were crying.
We come flying them back.
How long?
I don't know.
How long was it, baby?
Yeah, I mean, they were all nervous.
And where were they?
It was just on one side that we couldn't see them, but then they started walking.
We thought they were walking on the water, but the water was like this deep.
Did you see the story about the Disney cruise where the kid, the three-year-old, had gone over the railing?
Never heard of it.
And then the dad jumps in after the three-year-old.
And there is the story about how the dad then treads water for 20 minutes, you know, with the three-year-olds while they're waiting for like the rescue ship to come pick them up or the rescue boat.
And so now my husband keeps being like, I don't know if I could tread water for 20 minutes.
Well, try for two minutes.
Yeah.
It's very complex.
It's hard to do.
Well, I guess you could do anything with your baby's involved.
Yeah.
That's true.
So how old are your kids now?
Wow.
The youngest one is what, 14, 16.
And then from 16, I got, how old is Miguel?
25, Miguel is 24.
And Amir is what, 29?
I have, yes, nobody's 40 yet, close.
What's your favorite parenting age?
If you remember when your kids were little to now, what's been the favorite age?
Right now.
Right now, I'm the best now.
Why?
Because I don't judge them anymore.
Before I used to judge them, you should be doing this.
No, you know who you are.
Let's just love each other.
Do you have grandkids yet?
I want them.
That's why I'm angry at my kids right now because they're lazy.
Not really lazy, but they're selfish.
That's the word, selfish.
Because they're not lazy.
That's one thing they're not lazy.
But they're selfish.
You don't even mean any grandkids?
I just can't understand because I would be the best grandfather in the world.
And I used to understand why wouldn't he do that?
I would think I was young.
I couldn't wait to have children.
But these guys, they don't want to do that stuff.
I have one of my daughters, Gina.
She's trying.
You know, she's going to get all the money.
I'm sorry to say that, guys, but she's going to get all the loot.
We dropped that kid.
When you started boxing, you were how old?
13.
And why'd you pick boxing, say, over basketball, football, soccer?
When I was boxing, I was probably 5'6.
I started boxing, so that wasn't going to be good for basketball or anything.
And I never went to school, so that would have been good.
I wouldn't have went to college.
So I became a fighter.
And boxing found me.
And I met a gentleman by the name of Bobby Stewart who was working there for the staff, and he started teaching me how to box.
And I learned to become better, and then he took me to Customato to take me to the next level.
And so you grew up in Brooklyn?
Yes, yes, Brownsville, Brooklyn.
And then you eventually moved, and that's where you started?
I moved upstate New York.
My mother signed the release paper to allow Customado to be my legal guardian.
And what was that transition like?
Wow, it was two different worlds.
I come from a totally 100% black world.
Anything I know is white is the police, the judge, the lawyers, social workers and stuff.
And I guess from that, boom, total 100% white world.
And it was complex because it was really strange because these people loved me too.
I had to absorb that as well.
How do you think that shaped who you are today going from living in a predominantly black community to living in a predominantly white community?
I'm just seeing the love everywhere.
I just have love for all the world.
It's just everything's good, man.
I don't believe in, you know, there's no religion, there's no business, all the things.
All it has to do with good people and bad people.
That's all it's about.
Are there people from those days that you still keep in touch with?
Absolutely, yeah.
What's that like?
Nothing.
We just hang out like every day.
We hang out every other day elsewhere on the street.
They still live here where you are?
New York.
Some in Florida, too.
And is it different the people you've met at that stage of your life before you were the great Mike Tyson to today?
Well, yeah, they don't look at me as this great Mike Tyson.
They see my flaws.
They've seen us destitute.
We stole and robbed together.
We understand each other.
We don't judge each other.
What's the craziest crime you committed that no one ever knew?
Wow, why would you ask me that?
Come on, probably implementations run out.
I don't know.
I used robbed, so maybe I snatched a pocketbook or something.
You don't have any good memories?
No, I'm bad memories.
I have bad memories.
Oh, God.
See, I mentioned that you've been with your wife Keith for 16 years.
What's the secret to a long-lasting marriage?
I've been married for five.
Bad memory.
Bad memories?
Yeah.
What do you mean?
Just forget things that are bad.
Oh, just floss on over it, keep moving.
Yeah, bad memory is the best way to keep a good relationship.
It's just forgetting and moving on, waking up new each day?
Every day.
With our family at, we have a special family.
Okay, we're going to play a game now.
Are you ready?
Yeah.
Would you rather?
What would you rather?
I think I'm sitting down with my daughter because she plays these games.
Would you rather die this way or die that way?
Yeah, exactly.
Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead, let's go.
Okay.
What would you rather give up for a year?
Marijuana, your pigeons, or your phone?
My phone.
Yeah, because I couldn't survive the other two.
Yeah, I have to give my phone if it sucks, but I have to give it up.
I'll use my wife.
Who would suffer the most when you give up your phone?
No one, because my wife lives with me.
I have my kids, so it wouldn't matter.
Would you rather dress like Alan from the hangover on the red carpet or be a guest on the view?
Dress like Alan on the red carpet.
That's a good choice.
I did the V already.
Oh, you did?
Yeah.
Who was the friendliest host?
The young lady, what's her name?
With the redhead, what's her name?
So does Joy Behart.
Joy Behart?
Yeah, I think I liked her.
Her father, her father and uncle flew pigeons too.
Really?
Yeah.
What would you rather get leaked to the media?
Spicy text messages with your wife or your browser history?
What's my browser history?
What do you search for on the internet?
That's cool.
I can do my browser history.
Okay.
Would you rather do psychedelics with a tiger or meditate in silence for a month?
Yeah, I have to meditate for a month.
That's really tricky with the psychedelics and the tiger, yeah.
Your tigers don't sleep in bed with you?
I don't know, but one of the psychedelics, she may think that I'm trying to steal me from her and kill me or something like that.
I don't know what she's going to think.
I wouldn't do that now.
Because you know they get jealous.
The tigers do?
They get jealous.
You can't, he can't come over and hug you.
So have you ever had a scary experience with a tiger?
Yeah.
What's the scariest?
Well, my friend's coming out.
He wanted to play.
He wanted to come near me and he wouldn't let the guy come near me.
And my wife, too.
He wouldn't let my wife come near me.
Not kidding, but I was like, did the tiger jump?
He's about to.
And there's like this chain held him back?
They get, no, I hold them.
They get only attached to one people, a tiger.
It's one people.
Because anybody else is it gets tricky.
I don't know why, but it gets tricky after other people get involved.
Did you have one tiger at a time or two?
Two.
I had two tigers and a lion.
And are they letting like free roam or no?
Cannabis and Fentanyl Risks00:16:49
Yeah.
I had the property to do it, so I let them go.
Is this when you live next to Wayne Newton?
Yes.
And what would happen with his horses?
No, they look over there, but they're not going nowhere.
Those tigers didn't want to eat his horses?
Yeah, they would eat his horses, but they wouldn't do that.
They listen.
Okay, back to the game.
Would you rather be forced to watch the notebook every Friday night or never be able to watch sports again?
I want to watch the notebook.
I love the notebook.
That's one of my best movies.
You just lost right there, baby.
You lost.
You lost big time.
We talk about the notebook all the time when we express ourselves as we talk about that movie.
It's his favorite movie, The Notebook.
Wow, it's one of my big time movies.
You thought you were going to get me, huh?
So, romantic comedies are your preferred genre?
That one.
That one.
Would you rather have your family arguments narrated by Morgan Freeman or acted out by puppets?
You're good, huh?
You're real good.
I could do Morgan Freeman.
Would you rather have control over the thermostat or the remote?
The remote.
Would you rather your kids grow up with your physical strength?
No, no, I want the thermostat.
I'm sorry.
I forgot about when I get cold.
No, I want the thermostat.
I didn't know what you're saying.
I said, the thermostat, okay.
That members get cold.
Okay.
Would you rather your kids grow up with your physical strength or your mental strength?
Mental.
Yeah.
They'd be able to handle adversity.
You know, kids nowadays, this generation, I hate to say, but it's just they give in the slightest struggle, you know?
Yeah.
Now we're going to change over to your marijuana company, Tyson 2.0.
Oh, that's the way to go.
We're joined here by Burke, who's the president and COO of Tyson 2.0.
It's great to be here.
And so, Mike, what was your first experience with cannabis?
Wow, it had to have been when I was young and I was crying, acting bizarre.
My mother's friend said, smoke on this.
And I don't know what happened.
I must have went to sleep or something.
So how old were you?
I don't know, probably 10, 9, something like that.
And when did you realize that it can be part of your healing journey and help you in such a profound way?
I've learned late in life.
You know, I was one of the typical kids.
A typical person I get to be used.
I just wanted to feel them constantly.
I wanted to stay that feeling simultaneously.
And as I got older, I learned about the spiritual aspect of it.
It's not meant to be abused.
You're not supposed to use it every second of the day.
And I become more of, I don't know, what do you call a beginner in learning, a neophyte, so to speak, a marijuana business.
Then I started learning and becoming more experienced.
And I wanted to save the business.
I wanted to be a part of it.
Marijuana is a bit, or any drug, I should say, is a bit of a taboo subject.
It's not a drug.
It's medicine.
That's what makes it taboo because people, when you think of it, you say drug.
Versus changing the lexicon around marijuana to saying that it's just, I mean, but I would consider antibiotic a drug in the same way that you're, you know, hoping to, I think, reschedule marijuana.
Well, that's a man-made drug, pretty much.
Everybody, the whole world, these big politicians, these big judges, are afraid of a little flower.
It's a little flower that someone's afraid of that's going to make you fall asleep if you overdose it.
A little flower, why is it such a big thing?
Why is this scheduled at the level was a level three?
Yeah, why is it scheduled so high?
It's never hurt anybody.
You're like, the worst thing that could ever happen to you from this little plant, you'll fall asleep.
Excuse me, if you allow me to say, it's in the same level, I guess, what is that stuff called?
Nikenami.
The stuff that's killing everybody.
Fentanyl.
Yeah, can you imagine marijuana and fentanyl being in the same category?
Well, technically speaking, it's still not even in the same category, right?
Like fentanyl is lower on the schedule, so.
Well, I was just giving it a benefit of the doubt, you know, but I guess there's no benefit in that.
And the administration is doing a great job of battling fentanyl, et cetera.
But to take it a step further, it's our mission to give cannabis justice, which is rescheduling and hopefully eventually get to the point of descheduling and federal legalization.
So Tyson 2.0 obviously is operating in the legal capacity.
Correct.
And you'd hope to get this legalized at the federal level and not just the state level.
What would you hope to have done regulatory in the regulatory perspective for cannabis?
Yeah, I think if there's a synonymous rule book that everyone can follow and it's not on a state-by-state basis, whether that be testing, age, et cetera, that's a great place to start the same way that there's synonymous rules with alcohol, tobacco, et cetera.
And I think the biggest thing that is stigmatized right now, when people think of federal legalization of cannabis, is the streets are going to be packed with smoke and everyone's going to be walking around high and their kids are going to be getting high.
It's silly.
It's a part of that Reaper Madness that Mike referred to earlier.
the same way you're not able to, in most places, spark up a cigarette inside and ruin someone's day.
We would expect the same thing to happen for cannabis.
This is for responsible adults looking for a healthy lifestyle that gives them the ability to take the edge off and really have a good life.
So I'd say from a compliance basis, what we would aim to achieve is really getting an understanding of what sort of roadblocks would prevent this from becoming normalized.
That's the biggest goal.
And what about kids?
You know, you mentioned about ensuring kids can't just light up on the street.
Yeah.
What do you say to the parents who would hope that their kids, while they're at least around their house, are not smoking or they have some control over that?
21 and up, babe.
Yeah, this all comes back to education.
And again, the ability to actually conduct research trials on the plant without these groups feeling like they can't because it's federally illegal.
The ability to study it is something that I think needs to be done.
And within that, based off of what we find there, it'll give us a compass of how to write that legislation, make sure people know the rules.
Have you had any conversations with the president or people in the administration about this?
No, but it's the administration.
I've talked to many people in the administration.
And I'm looking forward for good news.
Where do you think you are in terms of the path ahead and fight forward?
Please.
Please.
No, you please.
Yeah, I think the ability to make these meaningful changes by utilizing Mike's platform, his voice, everyone listens to him, respects him for everything that he says.
It's showing that the ability to have that platform and be able to open up the education around the plant that has been so misguided over so many decades, that's the first tranche.
And then the second tranche is, again, using all of that new education to invoke meaningful policy change.
And we're confident that we can be able to do that.
I used to look at it as human beings that are so influenced.
We watched that movie, we got so influenced, but what's that movie, Reafa Madness in 1938?
We saw that movie.
And we still, to this day, it still has the effect on people.
It still has the effect when you smoke weed, you got to go crazy and man, and kill yourself and kill some other people before you kill yourself.
And so who are your blockers right now to getting to where you need to be?
There's a thriving black market still.
I'd say that that's the biggest bogey that's in our way right now.
And the black market is thriving because of the fact that the legal operators have such an uphill battle because it's a state-by-state issue, that it gives the ability for these bad actors to come in and say, okay, well, we're going to be a part of this.
It's a profit machine.
They break the laws along the way.
And it makes even more of a robust challenge for the guys that are doing it the right way to actually come in and build a business out of it.
This is a state-grown business, something that comes from the USA.
It's something that the country should get behind and be able to participate in given the size of the industry.
How does that affect Tyson 2.0 and its profitability in terms of that large black market that's out there?
Yeah.
I mean, here's the thing.
Like, in down economies, right, you are going up against people that don't have the money to go in and pay these super high taxes at a state level going and buying legal weed.
So they resort to buying it on the corner.
And the problem with that is the testing doesn't come into play.
So you don't know if you're getting safe medicine at that point, right?
And we're already starting to see this huge influx of Chinese cartels coming in, popping up illegal grows and lacing cannabis with chemicals, sometimes even fentanyl, and it really hurting people.
And without an age gate in the black market, that's where the stigma continues to be rinsed and repeated with people that associate cannabis as a negative.
We just discovered that fentanyl doesn't work in cannabis, you know, but it's still being used to kill people.
So I mentioned earlier that, and where you corrected me, that marijuana is a bit of a taboo in a way.
Yes, because it was very popular by people of color.
You know, that's what marijuana, I guess, means, Mexican cigarettes, something like that to that extent.
And so it's been stereotyped by the people that used it.
You know, white people used it back then in the 20s and the 30s as well, but it wasn't as prevalent as it was with the people of color.
And so athletes are still being penalized for using cannabis to help themselves.
What would you say to sports leagues and to others who say in legal states they should back off?
No, what I would say, I would say, you know, there's people like Ricky Will, there's people that are willing to give up multi-million dollars career for this flower.
So, you know, you would have to tell these big owners that you're going to either lose to your guys over some flour, you know, and really lose money.
So if you don't make it, I think they did make it leave.
You can't get in trouble now anymore, I believe.
Why don't we?
Certain sports.
Certain sports.
Yeah, that little flower could prevent me from losing so much money and so much great plays because people are dropping out.
People want to smoke.
That makes them, that relaxes them.
That makes them tunnel vision.
They could play better when they smoke their marijuana.
It's just the truth.
And I wish that I smoked when I was fighting.
So you mentioned that you started smoking at age nine or ten.
How do you balance your advocacy for cannabis with you being a role model for younger fans?
I don't know.
This is what I do.
I smoke marijuana, and that's part of my life as a human being.
That's my journey.
Unapologetically, Mike Dyson.
Well, I don't like to look at it like that because when I hear unapologetic, that sounds like fuck you to me.
So I don't want to think of it like that.
It's just, I'm who I am.
Listen, I don't know.
Maybe I could, if I was a role model and an alcoholic and drink liquor, would I want them to do that?
No, I wouldn't want them to do that.
I just think, from my perspective, using cannabis, I think that's safer than using alcohol or anything, cocaine or anything from that perspective, or fentanyl, so to speak.
And I think that kind of dovetails into that education piece that's been lacking, right?
The inability to have trials and really understand the plan.
But that fentanyl stuff, I've done fentanyl before.
In the late 90s, when I first came here, it was for painkillers, it was a painkiller.
And I used to use it to patch on my toe.
But it was like terrible.
Once you take the, it wears off, you take the mandate off, you start withdrawing, throwing up, just like if you were on heroin or something.
How'd you avoid becoming addicted just because you did it once?
No, I did it quite a few times, but know what happened?
It was illegal if it caught in my bloodstream.
It was a narcotic, my friend told me, because it was brand new.
And I told my friend, hey, can I use this?
Because he was a commissioner.
Will I be able to use this?
No one ever heard of it.
And then he looked up and said, Mike, that's a narcotic.
You couldn't use it.
I didn't know that.
They thought it was a painkiller.
And so boxing kept you straight because you couldn't use it at the time.
No, but I wouldn't have used it.
Yeah.
Got it.
I would have used it.
What have you learned since starting a marijuana business?
That is very tough.
You know, we've been doing this for a long time.
And to get as far as we've gotten in this period of time, even though it was a long time, it could have taken a lot longer.
It could have taken a lot longer.
Isn't that the story, though, for anybody starting anything new?
Is that anything you think you're getting into, it's going to be a harder, longer road than what you thought?
This is more than something.
This is a whole new genre of something that's never been done before.
This is the prototype of legalizing cannabis.
Yeah, there's no true blueprint for it from an entrepreneurial level, right?
We're still battling up against it being federally illegal.
Operators that are plant touching, they deal with getting their bank accounts shut down overnight, inability to take out loans, et cetera, to scale their business.
So I would say that this industry does come with a lot more roadblocks and speed bumps than traditional CPG or what have you.
Have you had any trouble banking?
Ugh, tons.
Yeah.
Really?
Who's been the problem?
Please.
The big banks are very reluctant to take on cannabis business because again, it's still federally legal.
Um, so our, our hope in rescheduling first is to enact safe banking, which I don't even understand that.
I can't understand.
It gives the big banks the abilities to say, okay, we're willing to take this business on, right?
And again, the ability to actually participate as a legitimate industry is lacking at the moment, right?
But what we're building towards is being recognized as a powerhouse and again, a state-grown powerhouse of an industry.
Imagine if I've had, you know, because it's a cash industry.
So I have 20 million in cash.
I'm a good person, though.
I'm taking it to the bank because I want to pay taxes on this, help my, you know, community out.
If I go to that, they're going to arrest me.
I'm doing the right thing, right?
I'm not skipping taxes.
I can take that money there.
I'm not paying taxes.
I want to take it to the bank, pay my taxes, and boom, I'm in jail.
So those operators are forced to bank with smaller banks, much higher interest rates, et cetera.
And it creates a lot of friction to be able to stabilize your business that way.
So that's why you see these operators that essentially feel like they've won a golden ticket by getting a license.
And what they have to compete with is the black market.
They have to compete with the inability to bank, the inability to take out loans, scale their business.
What's mind-blowing to me is that you're Mike Tyson.
Everyone knows who Mike Tyson is, right?
Fighting Black Market Entities00:06:47
I keep saying this, but you're one of the most recognizable figures in the world.
And you would think that when you were starting a business, whatever that may be, that people would open the doors for you and call you back.
Listen, in some situations, they did.
But we're fighting the octopus in this particular business.
It's not just one individual.
We have a whole entity that we're fighting.
I mean, what blows my mind though is you think about how many people who try to start something and can't even get their calls returned or face insurmountable hurdles.
And when you're hearing this, quite frankly, what I keep coming back to is that You are having these issues.
What's that like for somebody else who is starting a very similar company who is having the same problems and then can't get their calls returned and are struggling?
Well, they're going to always have that problem because they're not me.
They didn't take the whole childhood and put it in the gym and become this guy, whoever he is.
Mike Tyson, Best Man, High Man, whatever the hell they call me.
That's what I did to become this guy.
Everybody's not doing that stuff.
What's your favorite nickname you've ever gotten?
I don't know.
Iron Mike?
Like, what is it?
I don't know.
Mike.
You don't have one that the fans called you?
You're like, man, that's it.
No, I never.
I don't know who called me Iron Mike.
Who wants to be I?
I think that's coin.
I am Mike.
I'd be like, I ain't man, Iron Mike.
A Marvel comedy.
We're going to finish this interview with the lightning round.
Some more fun questions.
What songs are on your playlist right now?
Wow.
Listen, Vandros.
Who else is on my playlist?
Phyllis Hyman.
I don't have too many new people.
I have old people.
Teddy Pentagraph.
Then I have rap.
Is that your workout playlist?
Yeah, I could work out on it, but I used to listen to it all.
That's what I listen to all day.
What shows are you watching on TV?
Whew, I don't know.
Me and my wife sit down and we watch the love movie.
Not movie, but we have a new show.
Huh?
Love Island?
No way, but just my wife likes these happy everybody loves each other show.
All positive shows.
What's the last great book you've read?
I'm trying to think.
It's definitely not Anna Carana.
All right.
I don't remember.
It could have been nothing.
I'm dead.
I don't remember.
But you read a lot?
I used to.
I used to read a lot.
I haven't read in years.
Do you listen to podcasts at night?
No.
Just love TV shows?
I have some books I haven't read now that I have on tape.
What's that stuff about, what's my man named John D. Rockefeller and his son, huh?
The occult.
I haven't gotten to too much of that.
Yeah, the occult.
Superhuman, supernatural stuff.
You've been fit your whole life.
You told me earlier you work out multiple times a day.
Couldn't put a number on it.
What do you think of GLP ones?
Ozempic and the like?
I think we need more research on it.
We need to do the Ozempic where you don't lose mass, and that's coming out now.
They just discovered how to do that because most people were complaining about losing mass and they used Ozempic.
And now I guess they're going to solve that problem.
You're a known animal lover.
Yes, yes.
I was talking about, you and my wife were talking about that today.
If you had to pick just one animal, which would it be?
One animal.
One animal.
Safe.
It would be a pigeon.
Yeah.
When did you develop your love for pigeons?
About nine years old.
What happened at nine?
That, like, that's where all of your core memories are?
Excuse me?
You mentioned that you started smoking at nine.
Come back to the number nine, I just...
That's what I remember of my life.
Action, you know, robbing, stealing, excitement in my life.
That's why.
Do you have memories that go back further than nine?
No, I don't believe so.
You once offered a zookeeper, was it $10,000 to let you fight a gorilla?
Who told you that?
It was on the internet.
Yeah, I don't know that story.
You don't know this?
Okay.
We'll continue.
It's on the internet.
Therefore, it must be true.
That's a possibility, yes, you're right.
What's the wildest rumor you've ever heard about yourself?
That AIDS.
And did you, what did you do at the time?
Did you push back on it?
Did you just let it go?
Or did you say that's not true?
Oh, they might think I did have it.
They stay away from me, Father, but it didn't keep them away from me.
What's the wildest rumor you've heard about you that is true?
I don't want to discuss it.
Yeah.
Why are you laughing at me?
I don't know.
What's next for you?
Me?
Oh, the sky's the limit, right?
Oh, I have Netflix stuff, some one-man show.
What else do we have?
I have cartoons coming out, Dirty Ike and the Brownsville crew.
I have quite a few things.
Going to country, visiting people, helping people.
And what else?
What about that charity that we have, baby?
Yeah, we have those foundations that my sister Miguel Tyson's running.
What's been the most impactful thing that you've donated money to or your time?
Just the battered women.
We have a bad woman syndrome.
It's bad women.
I'm a true believer in that.
Not necessarily always battered women, but women coming out of prison, don't have, can't take care of their family, don't have a car.
Just helping people in dire straits.
They really need help.
They want to be helped.
By them being helped, they can help other people, not people that are just going to be deadbeat.
How did you get into that specific?
My wife and her mother was really an exponent to that kind of lifestyle, so I always joined them.
You mentioned traveling.
Where's your favorite place in the United States?
Vegas for a second, Nevada.
Why?
I don't know.
That's what I know.
You know, I know New York, but I used to know Vegas.