In his new autobiography the former world heavyweight champion makes a series of jaw-dropping revelations

Mike Tyson once famously referred to himself as "the baddest man on the planet". In his new autobiography, co-written with Larry Sloman, he explains why, going into detail about his addictions to drugs and alcohol and his violent past. Here are 10 of the most amazing claims he makes about his life in the book.

He admits to fighting while under the influence of drugs

Tyson admits to being on drugs during several fights in the 2000s. He says he took marijuana and cocaine before walking to the ring against Lou Savarese at Hampden Park in 2000, in what was his third comeback fight after a nine-month break, in no small part down to serving a four-month prison sentence for assaulting two motorists.

Despite this he beat Savarese in 38 seconds by technical knockout , which was the second fastest victory of his career.

He also admits to taking drugs before his shock defeat by Danny Williams in his 2004 comeback fight in Louisville, Kentucky.

He used to pass drug tests by using a fake penis

Tyson says that during periods of drug addiction he would use what he refers to as a "whizzer" in order to pass drug tests, which was a fake penis filled with clean urine.

He tested positive for marijuana in 2000 before his fight with Andrew Golota, which he blames on not having his whizzer to hand. It was carried from fight to fight by a member of his entourage.

He looked for 'divine intervention' in an attempt to avoid prison

He writes that before his trial for rape in 1992, a friend he names as Calvin told him about a "hoodoo woman", who said if he got a jar filled with $500, peed in it and then brought them to her she would pray for him. He responded by saying that it was even too much for someone who threw his money around like he did.

Other friends suggested he try a voodoo priest, who proposed that he wash in oils and drink special water. "I was drinking goddamn Hennessy. I wasn't going to water down my Hennessy," Tyson retorted.

He writes that he eventually settled on looking for help from a Santeria witch doctor, with whom he went to the courthouse with a pigeon and an egg. Tyson was to drop the egg and release the bird while yelling: "We're free!"

He was sentenced to six years for the rape of Desirée Washington.

He had several relationships in prison

Tyson claims that while serving his sentence for rape, he started a relationship with his drug counsellor, beginning when he gave her $10,000 to fix the roof of her house.

In the book he writes: "She'd be calling me back three times a day … if anyone asked why I was putting so much time into the class she'd just say 'He needs to finish his preparation for the test.'"

He also had relationships with a string of visitors from outside prison, before eventually he was caught by the guards. As a result, he says, all outside visitors were banned.

He kicked his former promoter Don King in the head

On a trip to try to make amends with his former promoter, Tyson flew in King's private jet down to Florida in 2003 but says he spent the entire journey doing drugs.

Tyson went into a rage, partly fuelled by jealousy over the money he had earned King, and partly due to drugs. He claims he attacked King during negotiations over a $20m deal for King to become Tyson's promoter again.

He says of the incident: "Don picked us up at the private airport in his Rolls. We were driving down to Miami from Fort Lauderdale on the I-95. Don said some innocuous thing and all that jealousy and rage spilled out of me and I kicked him in his fucking head."

He fought with autograph-hungry fans

Tyson says that on more than one occasion if he encountered any obsessive fans who followed him around or asked for an autograph when he was in a bad mood he would "kick his ass".

He expresses regret for doing so, referring to himself at this time as a "disrespectful ignorant monster".

Another example came in 2003, when he said: "If I wasn't on coke, probably nothing would have happened. But I was, so I chased them into the lobby and up the escalator. We got to the top of the escalator and I knocked one of them out with one punch.

"The other guy was hiding behind the front desk and I pulled him out and hit him. He was spared when hotel security came."

He was on the verge of quitting before the Tony Tucker 'Ultimate' fight

A month before one of the most famous fights in his career, in 1987, he almost quit altogether. Tyson says he disappeared from training camp and partied in Albany for two weeks straight.

In a nightclub, he told friends he was going to retire. But his manager, Jimmy Jacobs, called him and said that they would be sued if he backed out of the fight, talking him out of it. He says: "I should have retired then but I didn't have control of my own life." He went on to beat Tucker to become undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.

He lost millions through failing to keep track of his money

Despite earning huge amounts of money for fights in his heyday, Tyson was declared bankrupt in 2003.

At one point he left $1m in a Louis Vuitton holdall and had forgotten about it after a "rough night" in Las Vegas. Fortunately one of his friends found it.

Another time a woman unsuccessfully sued him after she was bitten by one of his tigers in 2000.

She was an animal enthusiast who climbed over the fence to see his pet, Kenya, who bit the woman. He says he felt sorry for her and gave her $250,000.

In 2000 he started the year with $3.3m and earned more than $65m but he spent all of it, including $2.1m on cars.

After retiring, he weighed close to double his current 15st 10lb

Following his retirement in 2005 he carried on partying. Due to a diet of ice cream, Oreos and alcohol, at his heaviest he weighed 172kg (27st 2lb).

He writes initially that he is a much healthier 100kg (15st 10lb) due to a strict diet, working out and staying sober. Sadly, in a poignant postscript to the epilogue, written after the core of the book had been finished, Tyson reveals that he began drinking again in April of this year, writing: "I'm a vicious addict and, if I don't follow my steps, I'm going to die." He came clean to the press in August about his addictions.

Only an audience stopped him from going too far in a street fight

Tyson says the boxer Mitch Green confronted him in a Harlem street in 1988, two years after their fight at Madison Square Gardens, claiming Tyson's promoter Don King owed him money.

The result was a brutal street fight which ended up with one of Green's eyes being completely closed in the brawl following a punch by Tyson. In the book he says that the fact a crowd had gathered around the two of them stopped him from hurting Green further.

Undisputed Truth by Mike Tyson with Larry Sloman (£9) is published by Harper Collins and will be available in the UK on 21 November. To download click here