Mike Tyson
(Picture: Getty Images for OneOf)Mike Tyson had an altercation with a passenger after the man threw a water bottle at him during a flight, the boxing star’s representatives said on Friday.
A video emerged which appears to show Tyson, 55, repeatedly punching a fellow passenger on a Jet Blue flight from San Francisco to Florida on Wednesday.
It is alleged the man was left with a bloody forehead following the incident.
A representative for the former world heavyweight boxing champion said the passenger had been aggressive.
“Unfortunately, Mr Tyson had an incident on a flight with an aggressive passenger who began harassing him and threw a water bottle at him while he was in his seat,” Tyson’s spokesman said.
See the moment Mike Tyson beat down an airplane passenger ... footage obtained by @TMZ_Sports https://t.co/5qCbOdxP31 pic.twitter.com/Bf7zmyiux6
— TMZ (@TMZ) April 21, 2022
Video taken from a mobile phone, obtained by TMZ, appears to show the former heavyweight champion hitting a man who was allegedly pestering him.
Authorities have launched an investigation into the incident.
San Francisco police attended the scene at around 10pm on Wednesday following reports of a “physical altercation” on a plane at the airport’s domestic terminal, officials said.
“Officers arrived and detained two subjects that were believed to be involved in the incident. One subject was treated at the scene for non-life-threatening injuries.
“That subject provided minimal details of the incident and refused to cooperate further with the police investigation,” police said in a statement.
Both were released pending further investigation, the statement said.
Sarah Burchfield, a passenger on the flight, said she saw the man who Tyson punched at an airport bar earlier, appearing loud and quarrelsome.
“When I boarded the flight, I thought: ‘Oh, no, that drunk guy is on our flight,” Ms Burchfield told SFGate.
Ms Burchfield said when she boarded she passed Tyson’s seat in the first class section of the plane.
“The belligerent guy was sitting right behind him and I saw they were interacting,” she said. A short time later, she heard the confrontation in first class, she added.
Another witness claimed the man greeted the boxing legend as they boarded the flight, but things turned ugly when the man kept repeatedly trying to speak him, according to reports.
It is alleged Tyson asked the man to be quiet before losing his cool and punching the man numerous times in the head.
“Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey Mike, come on, stop that,” a man is heard saying on the cell phone footage.
A separate video shows the same man with blood on his forehead following the alleged attack.
“My boy just got beat up by Mike Tyson,” said the man shooting the video. “Yeah, he got f***ed up,” he added.
San Francisco police said the video has been shared with the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, which has jurisdiction over the airport.
Sheriff’s officials said “we are not releasing information on the incident because it is an active investigation”.
Since his retirement from boxing, Tyson has worked as an actor, podcaster and cannabis entrepreneur.
He was in San Francisco for the annual 420 cannabis festival in Golden Gate Park, where he was promoting his cannabis brand Tyson 2.0, SFGate reported.
Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion in history in 1987 at the age of 20. During his career he had 50 wins, 44 of them by knockout.
