Ex-boxing great Mike Tyson repeatedly punches passenger on US plane, video shows
- Former heavyweight champion had an ‘incident on a flight with an aggressive passenger’, Tyson representatives said
- Police in San Francisco said they were investigating, passenger treated for non-life-threatening injuries
US authorities on Thursday were investigating an incident in which former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson was recorded on video punching a fellow first-class passenger aboard a plane at San Francisco International Airport.
The video shows Tyson leaning over the back of his seat repeatedly striking the unidentified man in the head, drawing blood. The footage was first shared by TMZ, which said it was recorded on a Jet Blue plane bound for Florida.
“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,” representatives for Tyson said in an email to Associated Press.
TMZ reported that the passenger had asked for a selfie with the 55-year-old fighter, then kept talking.
Prior to the physical altercation, the man is seen on the video standing over Tyson’s seat, waving his arms and talking animatedly while the former boxer sits quietly.
San Francisco police responded Wednesday around 10pm to a “physical altercation” on a plane at the airport’s domestic terminal, officials said.