Mike Tyson describes overdose and toad venom in Netflix series

Mike Tyson said a drug overdose left him bleeding from the nose, sweating and hysterical, an episode he called the low point of his life, in a four-part Netflix documentary that began streaming on Tuesday, Oct. 13.

OD'ing. I'm bleeding out, my nose is bleeding and I'm hysterical. I'm sweating.

The remarks were reported by The Sun. Tyson, a former undisputed heavyweight champion with 44 career knockouts, said in the series that he had overdosed plenty of times over the years, and that this one was more extreme than the others. Netflix released all four episodes of TYSON at once, on Oct. 13.

What the series covers

Floyd Russ directed the series, which runs roughly four hours and was released in full on Tuesday, GiveMeSport reported. It follows Tyson from a chaotic Brooklyn childhood to the heavyweight title at 20, through the controversies that followed, and revisits his return to the ring at 58 against Jake Paul.

The four episodes are titled Power, Greed, Trust and Human, according to FandomWire, which watched all of them. Alongside archive footage, the series carries interviews with Tyson, with relatives and with longtime associates, and makes room for both his sporting record and the allegations around his private life. His wife, Lakiha 'Kiki' Spicer, and his son Miguel are among those who appear, GiveMeSport reported.

Netflix put out the trailer on Sept. 17, with Tyson on camera calling himself 'addicted to chaos.'

The series also takes in his reign as undisputed champion from 1987 to 1990, his rape conviction and prison sentence, his substance abuse, his financial ruin and the 1997 disqualification against Holyfield, according to GiveMeSport.

The overdose account

Tyson did not date the overdose. He said he had done it plenty of times and that this one went further than the rest, naming it when he thought about the low point of his life. The accounts published from the series do not say where it happened, how old he was or whether he was treated afterwards.

Tyson, who is 60, has also described smoking toad venom as a way out of addiction. He told the New York Post in 2021 that he did it on a dare, at a point when he was using cocaine heavily, and that he had thought little of himself before it.

I was doing heavy drugs like cocaine, so why not? It's another dimension. Before I did the toad, I was a wreck. The toughest opponent I ever faced was myself.

In the series, Tyson says he has smoked the toad more than 100 times and has not used cocaine or alcohol since, The Sun reported.

Netflix's editorial site, Tudum, published an interview with Russ that dealt with his access to Tyson, the archive material in the series and the psychedelic sequence in the fourth episode.

What Tyson says about his drug use, and about stopping, is his own account, delivered to camera years after the events it describes. The published accounts of the series give no date for the overdose and no medical detail, and they do not say who supplied the venom.

Drugs and the law

Police in Scottsdale, Arizona, arrested Tyson for cocaine possession and driving under the influence in December 2006. He pleaded guilty in 2007 and was sentenced to probation and a day in jail.

The third episode, Trust, deals with the conviction that reshaped his career and his public standing. Tyson was convicted in 1992 of raping Desiree Washington, an 18-year-old Miss Black America contestant, and was sentenced to prison, serving approximately three years before his release in 1995. He has continued to deny the assault.

The episode revisits the case through Tyson's own recollections and through commentary from people familiar with his career, among them Donald Trump, who defends him. Robin Givens, the actress Tyson married, did not take part in the series, which revisits abuse allegations involving her.

FandomWire, which watched all four episodes, wrote that the series faces criticism for favoring Tyson's supporters and giving the conviction too little scrutiny. The second episode, Greed, covers the marriage to Givens, his association with the promoter Don King and the spending that came with his fame. He earned millions and later faced serious financial trouble.

From Brooklyn to the title

Tyson's childhood in Brooklyn was marked by poverty and by repeated arrests. Bobby Stewart, who met him at a juvenile facility, introduced him to boxing and then to the trainer Cus D'Amato, who became his mentor and legal guardian. D'Amato died in 1985, before Tyson won the title. He unified the major heavyweight titles in 1987 and dominated the division until Buster Douglas beat him in 1990.

Netflix's stake in Tyson

Netflix streamed Tyson's comeback against Jake Paul live from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Nov. 15, 2024, and billed it as the most-streamed live sporting event of all time, GiveMeSport reported. The documentary revisits that fight, which Tyson took at 58.

Russ's previous work includes Untold: Malice at the Palace and American Manhunt: The Boston Marathon Bombing. GiveMeSport described TYSON as part of a recent push by Netflix into the biggest sporting stories, following its Untold series. The documentary streams only on Netflix, and a subscription is required.

I had low self-esteem. People with big egos often have low self-esteem. We use our ego to subsidize that. The toad strips the ego.

The series lets Tyson narrate his own finances, his family and his recovery, with people from his circle alongside him. FandomWire, in its account of the four episodes, wrote that it wanted perspectives from beyond that circle, particularly on how his money disappeared.

Earlier versions of the story

Barbara Kopple's Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson was made in 1993, while Tyson was in prison, GiveMeSport noted. James Toback's Tyson, built almost entirely around Tyson's own reflections, premiered at Cannes before a US release in 2009. Spike Lee directed the HBO version of his one-man stage show, Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth, in 2013, and an HBO drama in 1995 cast Michael Jai White as Tyson.

Hulu's unauthorized eight-part drama Mike, starring Trevante Rhodes, arrived in 2022, and Tyson condemned it publicly, accusing the streamer of stealing his life story. He has played himself in The Hangover and its 2011 sequel, and appeared opposite Donnie Yen in Ip Man 3 in 2015.

The fourth episode, Human, returns to the 1997 Holyfield rematch, when Tyson bit his opponent's ears and was disqualified. Tyson told People before the series premiered that he is still embarrassed by it. The episode also covers his retirement, his family relationships and the death of his four-year-old daughter, Exodus, in 2009.

His son Miguel speaks in that episode about how his father has changed. The four episodes were released together on Tuesday, almost four decades after Tyson first won the heavyweight title. Anyone struggling with substance use can call the SAMHSA National Helpline, free and confidential, at 1-800-662-4357.