{"id":969481,"date":"2026-11-13T19:10:20","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T19:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/969481\/"},"modified":"2026-11-13T19:10:20","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T19:10:20","slug":"how-doing-psychedelic-drugs-with-mike-tyson-helped-documentarian-understand-the-baddest-man-on-the-planet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/969481\/","title":{"rendered":"How doing psychedelic drugs with Mike Tyson helped documentarian understand the baddest man on the planet"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Why did Mike Tyson<\/a> fight Jake Paul<\/a>? Floyd Russ says that it was the most innocent question that garnered the most unexpected response.\n <\/p>\n

\n He had asked the former world heavyweight boxing champion why he climbed back into the ring at the age of 58<\/a>. \u201cAnd he goes, \u2018The toad told me to. Anytime I have a big decision to make, I consult the toad.\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The American-born documentary filmmaker knew that his Netflix project to chronicle one of the most compelling, complicated and arguably most misunderstood athletes of the 20th century would be an adventure, but he surely couldn\u2019t have imagined that he\u2019d end up going on a psychedelic trip with the fighter once dubbed \u201cThe Baddest Man On The Planet.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cYou\u2019re dealing with a very emotional person, his life is a complete roller coaster,\u201d he told CNN Sports<\/a>. \u201cYou might get one Mike Tyson one day and another Mike Tyson the other day. You might even get a different Mike Tyson after lunch. That\u2019s something that we kind of prepared for, but it\u2019s also something you can\u2019t really prepare for.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The four-hour \u201cTyson,\u201d which dropped on Netflix last month, profiles Tyson\u2019s rise, fall and the subsequent rehabilitation of his reputation and brand. The film chronicles the extreme poverty and even depravity of his upbringing in New York, his hedonistic lifestyle<\/a> and ill-fated first marriage, the allegations of domestic abuse, the biting of opponents<\/a> Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis, the rape conviction<\/a> for which he still maintains his innocence, and the personal bereavements that have haunted much of his life.\n <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n In his role as the interviewer, Russ at times seems to play the role of Tyson\u2019s therapist, leading him back inside some of his darkest memories without getting sucked in himself.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIf he\u2019s crying, I\u2019m trying to keep it together,\u201d he said, \u201ctrying to move the conversation forward, making sure that we don\u2019t unravel.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n When Tyson was on the brink of becoming the youngest ever world heavyweight champion, he lost both his mother and his mentor and trainer Cus D\u2019Amato, and his emotions are rarely far from the surface.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI love the line that he has in the first episode, he\u2019s crying, he\u2019s like, \u2018What\u2019s wrong with me? Is there something wrong with me?\u2019\u201d Russ recalled. \u201c\u2018All these motherf**kers are going to think that I\u2019m weak,\u2019 when it\u2019s quite the opposite. To show your emotions is a strength.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Tyson\u2019s physical strength has been well documented. The laser-focused savagery with which he demolished so many opponents made him irresistible to the fans and the media in the 1980s and \u201890s. But Russ, who went toe to toe with Tyson over eight intense interview sessions spanning close to a year, says that it was Tyson\u2019s vulnerability that was so compelling.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cBehind that masculine figure, there\u2019s a fragile man. He\u2019s utterly fragile, and I think that\u2019s something that I find the most refreshing about him,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

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Netflix releases four-part documentary series on Mike Tyson\n <\/p>\n

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Netflix releases four-part documentary series on Mike Tyson<\/p>\n

3:01<\/p>\n

\n Russ says that couldn\u2019t think of a more \u201cepic subject\u201d to tackle as a filmmaker, and he quickly learned that his best strategy in each round of the interrogation was to emulate Tyson\u2019s famous fighting style: Get onto the front foot and take it to the opponent.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWith Mike, it\u2019s about respect,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you can challenge him, he will respect you. He\u2019s media trained in his own way, meaning he has no media training, and he will either like what you were talking about and respect you and go to an interesting place, or just shut down. If you just ask him all the questions he wants to be asked, he\u2019s not going to respect you.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n But if Tyson was going to drop his defenses and let him all the way in, Russ came to realize that he would have to do something more.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cHe was, like, \u2018If you do the toad with me, I\u2019m going to answer all your questions.\u2019 That was basically what it came down to, and I was put in a very interesting position,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cToad\u201d is shorthand for the psychoactive compound 5-MeO-DMT<\/a>, a Schedule I controlled substance, which is derived from the venom of the Sonoran Desert Toad.\n <\/p>\n

\"Tyson's<\/p>\n

\n Tyson\u2019s wife, Lahika \u201cKiki\u201d Spicer, describes it as \u201cego death\u201d and Tyson believes it has helped him face his many demons, kick a cocaine habit and be more present for his family. According to Russ, Tyson has sought out the treatment \u201chundreds of times.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cAt first, I thought it was a joke,\u201d he explained. \u201cHe\u2019s like, \u2018If it wasn\u2019t for the toad, you wouldn\u2019t be interviewing me. None of it, nobody would even be talking about Mike Tyson. I would probably be dead.\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n In the final episode of \u201cTyson,\u201d the boxer asks Russ to do toad with him.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if I can,\u201d the director is heard responding nervously.\n <\/p>\n

\n Russ says that Tyson mentioned it often throughout the project, and when Spicer called to say, \u201cMike would like to do the toad with you next week,\u201d he knew that he had a decision to make. Ultimately, Russ agreed, knowing that it would also seal the bond between them.\n <\/p>\n

\n Russ says that Tyson never talks about what specifically he experiences while under the influence of the drug, but he documented him inhaling the smoke via a pipe, lying back in a peaceful outdoor setting, grunting, sometimes laughing and sometimes shouting as if in a state of anguish. When it was Russ\u2019s turn, he said that he felt faint for 20 to 30 minutes, he felt as though he was transported to a different place, and then he calmly woke up.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt feels like you\u2019re reborn, basically. The way I describe it is if you could remember your own birth,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n There to greet him as he came around was the tattooed face of one of the once-most feared athletes in the world.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThere\u2019s Mike Tyson, like two feet to the right of me, looking back at me and he\u2019s just like, \u2018How are you doing?\u2019 And I just started laughing,\u201d Russ said.\n <\/p>\n

\n The scene is a metaphor for Tyson\u2019s own rebirth. A man who came from nothing, who had everything and then lost it all, who has spent his life trying to find himself, seems to finally be at some kind of peace.\n <\/p>\n

\n But that doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s able to watch the film of his life without experiencing some discomfort. Russ says that he hasn\u2019t spoken with Tyson since the film aired, but he\u2019s heard from Spicer.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt was not a matter of him liking it,\u201d Russ told CNN Sports of that conversation. \u201cIt was a matter of him being able to stand it. The first episode made him cry, she told me. If he liked it too much, then I would feel like I didn\u2019t do my job.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Why did Mike Tyson fight Jake Paul? Floyd Russ says that it was the most innocent question that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":969482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-969481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/969481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=969481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/969481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/969482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=969481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=969481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=969481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}