Legendary boxer Mike Tyson has astonishingly claimed in an interview that he had to sleep with a prison counsellor in order to get his sentence reduced.

The Baddest Man on the Planet is widely regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time and had a successful in-ring career, during which, he won several heavyweight titles. 

However, Tyson's life in and out of the ring has never been short of controversy. The pinnacle of that was probably in 1991 when he was arrested.

Despite Tyson pleading his innocence, he was convicted and sentenced to six years in prison. He spent fewer than three years at the Indiana Youth Centre, however, before being released in 1995.

In an interview with VLAD TV last year, the 54-year-old spoke about his life in prison, saying that he was supposed to spend four years and needed to pass the GED (General Educational Development) in order to reduce the term, something which was helped by dating a counsellor.

“I got in trouble like the first six months and stuff, cursing, getting written up. And then by that time, I got the hang of the place. ‘Hey, I know how to do this.’ Next thing you know, I’m dating one of the counsel workers now, she’s letting me have sex with her now.

“So I’m going good. But the first six months I was getting write-ups, I have to pay that year back. … I’m like a star pupil prisoner. Trusty, everything. Then, ‘Hey Mike, remember the first six months you were a prick?’ Boom. They gave me another year.

“So by passing the GED they took that year away. So I flunked the f****** GED … and got mad, and so I had to start dating this counsellor and stuff, giving her money and doing really some nasty stuff to her, and she let me pass this test.”

Iron Mike then revealed that his prison sentence was eventually cut down by a hell of a lot.

“I came in with 50-something [years] … They cut it all the way down to three years,” Tyson concluded. “I was doing 69 at first—they gave me 63, no. Then they took 10 off, then it was 53. And then they gave me 10, I had to do three, I got seven on parole, I guess, yeah.”

Tyson returned to the ring and made a fine comeback by regaining his WBC title, beating Frank Bruno in 1996. He later won the WBA title by defeating Bruno Seldon in the same year. The Baddest Man on the Planet then called it quits on his boxing career in June 2005.

Following his retirement, Tyson starred in a few films and TV shows that included the Hangover series, IP Man 3, Rocky Balboa and Law and Order. He also formed the Mike Tyson Cares Foundation in 2012.

Since then, he's returned to the boxing ring to fight fellow legend Roy Jones Jr in an exhibition bout. That ended in a draw at the end of last year.