Can Mike Tyson become a heavyweight in New York's marijuana industry?

Last weekend, fans of Mike Tyson, one of the greatest boxers ever, lined up in the hundreds at New York dispensaries to meet him and support his latest business move: selling weed in his home state.

With the recent release of his Tyson 2.0 line, Mr. Tyson, 57, has become the most visible newcomer to the celebrity wave in the state's cannabis industry. Although actors, athletes and musicians have profited from pot over the past decade with product lines and endorsement deals as legalization swept the United States, the tide is only rising in New York. And Mr. Tyson is one of the biggest names yet to test how far fame can carry a brand in a market that is developing into one of the largest and most competitive in the world.

At the Conbud Apothecary on the Lower East Side, he greeted fans with handshakes and hugs as they purchased a selection of smokable flowers packaged with names like Tiger Mintz and Knockout OG. He barked playfully as he posed with a dog named Dottie and her owner, and he complimented a woman who, against her sons' advice, wore a “Chrithmith” shirt that made light of his lisp.

Within hours, the dispensaries that introduced his cannabis brand to New York had sold more than $40,000 of his flower and expanded their position in a market dominated by unlicensed competitors. And that was without the popular gummies shaped like Evander Holyfield's ear, which Tyson infamously bit into during a 1997 fight – one of only six fights he lost.

“The cannabis is just doing incredibly,” Mr. Tyson said in an interview. “You can't even believe it.”

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Mr. Tyson presented his new release as a homecoming of sorts, joining other New Yorkers who rely on their local bona fides. They include Method Man, a member of the influential hip-hop collective known as the Wu-Tang Clan, and Abby Rockefeller, an ecologist and the scientist of one of the most powerful families in America. Ms. Rockefeller is one of the largest investors in Hudson Cannabis, the producer that Mr. Tyson's Grows weed on her farm in the Hudson Valley.

Cannabis brands backed by big names are receiving mixed reception. While they tend to do that surpass traditional brandsthey can't compete with the biggest brands that sell millions of dollars worth of weed every month. In California, the country's largest market, only nine of the 30 best-selling brands are owned or endorsed by celebrities, including Tyson 2.0, actor Seth Rogen's Houseplant and musician Carlos Santana's Mirayo, according to Headset, a data company that specializes in is with cannabis.

Mitchell Laferla, one of the company's analysts, said what ultimately drives consumers in newer markets like New York is value, and that's where famous brands are struggling. The consumers who spend the most money are looking for the highest potency at the lowest price, and well-known brands vary in quality but generally have a higher price tag. In California, the average cost of a typical 3.5-gram bag of flowers is about $23.14, while Tyson 2.0 sells for about $28.44, a 23 percent difference.

The success of Tyson 2.0 can be attributed to Mr. Tyson's hands-on approach to customers and his business, the company's aggressive expansion into new markets such as New York and Maryland, and product quality, Mr. Laferla said.

“Maybe your name will encourage someone to give it a try,” he said. “But it's your brand and the quality of your product that keeps people coming back.”

Yuvraj Singh, the president and CEO of Strain Stars on Long Island, said customers are already coming back for Mr. Tyson's weed. His customers bought $30,000 worth of Tyson 2.0 flower on the first day of sales, and the cannabis line is already one of the store's top five bestsellers.

“Word has it that it's a very nice, clean high,” he said.

Coss Marte, Conbud's co-owner and CEO, said his pharmacy has also had repeat customers after selling $10,000 worth of Tyson 2.0 in an hour, about as much as the pharmacy typically makes in a day.

Mr Tyson has highlighted the therapeutic role of cannabis in his transformation from a brash boxing champion to a disciplined businessman. Less than a decade ago, he said in an interview, he was broke and struggling with a cocaine addiction. Now he owns one of the most successful celebrity cannabis brands in the country.

He said his goal is to cement his legacy as a cannabis pioneer. “That's more important to me than making money,” he said.

Mr. Tyson was born poor in Brooklyn before discovering a talent for boxing a reform school above. He quickly became a teenage phenomenon, eventually winning 50 of his professional fights, mostly by knockout.

But his reputation was tarnished by his in-ring antics, such as biting Mr Holyfield's ear, and legal troubles, including a three-year prison sentence for a rape he still denies. He revealed his cocaine addiction in 2014 and says cannabis helped him get clean. He now lives in Las Vegas and owns a cannabis ranch in California.

His personal story appeals to many of his fans, who are eager to support him. “He's had a hard time, and I can imagine that,” said Tony Pedroza, 26, a boxing fan from Brooklyn who lined up to meet Mr. Tyson in Manhattan.

Moneefa Jones Tucker and her husband, Troy Tucker, drove from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to support him. She said they had followed Mr Tyson since the start of his boxing career and admired how he had developed.

“His head is nice and calm now from the weed,” she said. “This suits him, and he looks great too.”

Kristina Lopez, co-founder and CEO of House of Puff, an artistic accessories brand, said celebrities can have an impact on cannabis far beyond the box office as “secret weapons” in the fight to legalize and normalize cannabis use.

Rapper Jay-Z, for example, has helped the public reimagine cannabis as part of the good life with Monogram, his luxury cannabis line, she said. And Cynthia Nixon, the actress best known for her role on “Sex and the City,” was a vital force in promoting legalization as a racial justice issue during her primary campaign against former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in 2018 .

“Their real strength is not just in sales,” Ms. Lopez said. “It's about how they can change the game about what people think about cannabis, and how they can influence market dynamics, and potentially even influence legislation.”

Even high-profile politicians have joined the industry as advisors, investors and lobbyists. In 2018, John Boehner, the Ohio Republican who once served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, joined the board of directors of Acreage Holdings, a multi-state cannabis company with four medical dispensaries in New York. Mr. Boehner, who staunchly opposed legalizing cannabis during his 12 terms in Congress, has said it is time for a change in federal policy. (At the time, such a change would have earned him a $20 million payday.)

It was the opportunity to raise awareness about how the criminalization of marijuana fueled racial inequality, which attracted Fred Brathwaite, better known as Fab 5 Freddy, to the industry. In the 1980s, he was a street performer who counted Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol as friends, and later became the host of “Yo! MTV Raps,” a popular cable show that took hip-hop off the streets and broadcast it to millions of American homes.

He is now co-owner and CEO of B Noble, a cannabis brand named after Bernard Noble. Mr. Noble, who is black, became a national symbol of the country's draconian drug laws after he was sentenced to 13 years in prison in Louisiana for the equivalent of two joints.

B Noble, founded in partnership with Curaleaf, the country's largest cannabis company, is selling weed packaged as a pair of pre-rolled joints in a nod to Mr. Noble's arrest. Ten percent of the profits go to organizations that help people who reenter society from prison. Mr Brathwaite said the company has donated $400,000 so far.

“This is how I think more people should function,” he said. “It could make the world a better place, as corny as that sounds.”