Mike Tyson on why he used a wheelchair: Suffering from Sciatica, a nerve condition (2024)

“I have sciatica every now and then, it flares up. When it flares up, I can’t even talk. Thank god, it’s the only health problem I have. I am splendid now. Everybody in my house is truly blessed and we are all very grateful for whatever we have, Tyson told Newsmax TV earlier this month.

It was Tyson sitting in a wheelchair and with a walking stick in his lap at the Miami international Airport last month, which resulted in concerns about the former heavyweight boxer’s health. While Tyson did attend the US Open matches, the former boxer also attended a promotional event for his line of cannabis brand Tyson 2.0 in New Jersey where he promoted the legally allowed bitten-ear shaped edibles, taking inspiration from the much talked and controversial incident of him biting the ear of Evander Holyfield during the world boxing rematch in 1997.

Mike Tyson during weigh ins for a heavyweight exhibition boxing bout in Los Angeles. Mandatory Credit: Lynn Millspaugh/Handout Photo via USA TODAY Sports

The former heavyweight spoke about his old friend and former athlete Arturo Gatti, who got addicted to drugs due to an injury and later committed suicide at the age of 37 in 2009. Tyson has been advocating the use of cannabis, which are legally allowed for use in the US state of California. “Cannabis and other plant medicines have helped me get to this point where I am who I want to be. It all comes down to your mind and your head. Your mind and head can be the worst neighborhood in the history of the world. I feel like I am overrated. No one deserves this much love. Life is about properly using your ego. It’s important to have a good relationship with your ego. It can drive you to do great things if used correctly,” Tyson told the New York Post last week.

Last week, the 57-year-old also discussed his perception of money and other things in a podcast with rapper Fat Joe and radio host Angie Martinez on his podcast Hotboxin with Mike Tyson. In the one hour and 21 minute long video, the former heavyweight boxer is seen wiping sweat from his face with a towel multiple times. Dressed in a shirt and shorts, Tyson would also advertise a trimming product during the show.

“Money is a false sense of security. The more money you get, the less you think you can die. You don’t think somebody can kill you. You don’t think you can die from a driving accident. It makes you feel that you are good if you have a lot of money. I would tell you if you think that a lot of money will make you happy, you will never have a lot of money,” he would tell his guest Fat Joe on being asked about the value of money in his life.

While the talk covered drugs and overdose as Fat Joe talked about his brother becoming blind due to drug overdose, Tyson, who also grew up in the Bronx in New York and has known Fat Joe since long shared his views on drug use being a choice.

Mike Tyson attends a celebrity golf tournament in Dana Point, Calif. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)

“I don’t believe that. I am not a believer of that. I believe anybody, they manifest their destiny. I don’t believe they are weak or anything. I believe that they are pretty selfish. They want to stay in that perpetual mood of slavery. It’s perpetual. They get their first hit in a couple of weeks and they can’t get out. Coming out of it too takes a strong person to do. That’s all to do with my ego. I might be Iron mike. I would look myself in the mirror saying I am beautiful and working out. I wanted to have my life away from drugs. I didn’t do it alone. My family helped me and the ride was very bumpy,” Tyson said in the podcast.

The former heavyweight champion, was seen lighting a cigarette during the show but then put the cigarette down as he answered one of the questions on what the guests learn from him. “You know, what you learn from me if anything. You learn from adversity. Adversity makes the weak, weak and the strong, strong. I never in my head was bloody but it was never bowed. I kept fighting. I am never gonna give up. That’s just not who I am that’s just not”

As the conversation veered towards boxing and Tyson’s early days, the former heavyweight champion did remember boxing legend Muhammad Ali. Tyson talked about how boxers fight dementia and other physical and mental problems, most of which arising in later life of boxers.

“He aged early, you know. I remember seeing him shake, just not like anybody but a little shake. He just aged early in life. There are some boxers that die, they get hit like that. And then there are guys you can beat them all night and then they retire. They will have no dementia, no nothing and live a very healthy life. You know their hands might hurt, their ribs might hurt. They look so good, you would never think he was a fighter. Ali was articulate. It was just the luck of the draw,” Tyson would say.

Tyson, who became the youngest heavyweight champion in 1987 at the age of 20, had 50 wins during his career with 44 wins coming by knockout. The former champion, who owns a 420-acre weed resort in Southern California, last fought in an exhibition fight with Roy Jones Jr last year. During last month’s podcast after he was spotted at Miami Airport, Tyson had said, “We’re all going to die one day, of course. Then, when I look in the mirror and I see those little spots on my face, and I say, ‘Wow. My expiration date is coming close. Really soon.’”

During last week’s podcast, Tyson sounded philosophical midway in the podcast. “Being killed physically is getting killed psychologically. You die one time, you die a billion times if you smoke, if you are not a good person,” Tyson said.