Dave Portnoy, the Barstool Sports founder, recently recounted his experience of being on Mike Tyson's podcast two years ago. On the 200th episode of his BFFs podcast, aired on November 21, Portnoy claimed that Tyson was under the influence while shooting his Hotboxin' podcast in June 2022.
"I did his podcast, and he was so high... they had another guy 'cause he could barely talk," Portnoy said.
Josh Richards, who co-hosts the BFFs podcast, added having heard that the professional boxer allegedly took mushrooms before going on his podcast.
The subject of Mike Tyson was brought up on Dave's podcast as the co-hosts (Josh, Dave, and Brianna) discussed the recent Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight in Arlington's AT&T Stadium last Friday, November 15.
Dave Portnoy claimed Mike Tyson walked with a cane
As Portnoy shared his experience of being on Tyson's podcast, Brianna Chickenfry asked her co-host what their conversation was like back then. To that, Dave replied:
"Nothing, it was almost like there was a third guy kinda running the thing. It was an athlete [current Tennessee Titans defensive end Sebastian Joseph-Day], but Tyson was out to launch. He just wasn't there. He walked with like a limp, he has a cane."
Elsewhere on the BFFs podcast, Dave Portnoy also claimed that he found the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight "awful to watch" for multiple reasons. Portnoy's first complaint was about the frequent live stream buffering on Netflix, possibly because of the large number of people joining the stream to watch the fight.
"They had like, I think they said 60million [viewers] which is insane. I guess I had no idea how many people have Netflix. It doesn't surprise me... it was free, it was built up," Portnoy said.
Portnoy further said that he was confident that Jake Paul would emerge victorious in the fight from the beginning. He said he wanted to bet his "entire net worth" on the 27-year-old.
He also called Mike Tyson "scary" and "the most dangerous man on the planet" and added that Tyson's days of glory were "far gone" now.
Portnoy called the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight a "con-job marketing"
As Dave Portnoy continued to talk about Tyson's fight with Paul, the Barstool Sports founder added:
"It was the greatest... I called it con-job marketing, but I would do it if I were either of them. Jake got $40million, Tyson got $20million. Neither of them are in danger, but it's exactly what I thought."
Josh Richards chimed in the conversation, asking about another infamous Tyson stunt from the past, where the 58-year-old bit Evander Hoyfield's ear during a match.
Answering Richards, Portnoy claimed he had discussed the incident with Tyson's ex-trainers and found out that the boxer would allegedly do something crazy when he "thought he couldn't win" or would "get scared in the prime."
"It was almost a way to like get out of a fight."
Besides voicing his opinion about the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight on his podcast, Portnoy also wrote about it on his X handle, calling it "one of the great cons of the century."
Five days after the Tyson vs. Paul fight was live-streamed, Netflix tweeted about it, amassing over 108 live global viewers, which made it the "most streamed global sporting event ever."
The streaming giant has also addressed concerns over buffering and pixelated images, promising to fix them before the upcoming NFL Doubleheader on Christmas.