Tyson admits to using cocaine

Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson pleaded guilty Monday to charges of drug possession and driving under its influence, stemming from a traffic stop last year as he was leaving a nightclub.

Tyson quietly acknowledged to a judge that he had cocaine and was impaired when he was stopped for driving erratically in the Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale on December 29. He pleaded guilty to a single felony count of cocaine possession and a misdemeanor DUI count and faces up to four years and three months in prison when he is sentenced November 19. A felony charge of possession of drug paraphernalia and a second misdemeanor DUI charge were dropped as part of a plea agreement.

Defence lawyer David Chesnoff said Tyson has been clean and sober for eight months. “It’s obvious this was a crime he was committing against himself,” Chesnoff said.