A video shot Wednesday night aboard a JetBlue flight appears to show former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson punching another passenger.
Footage obtained by TMZ Sports shows Tyson sitting in first class, waiting for the plane to take off from San Francisco to Florida while a very excited man behind him keeps trying to engage the boxer in conversation.
A witness told the website that Tyson took a selfie with the fan ― who was identified in the video as “George” — and was patient with him for quite some time while the man kept talking to him.
Eventually, though, Tyson reportedly told the guy to relax. The passenger didn’t stop his antics, according to the footage, and Tyson reacted by punching him several times.
Tyson reportedly walked off the plane just seconds later while the man received medical attention before going to the police.
It is unclear whether Tyson was arrested or faces charges for the incident, since San Francisco police, San Francisco International Airport, JetBlue and the boxer himself haven’t commented on the incident.
Representatives for Tyson later confirmed the incident to TMZ. “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,” they wrote in a statement.
The Federal Aviation Administration says federal law prohibits airline passengers from assaulting other passengers or crew members. In addition, passengers are subject to civil penalties for any misconduct that “can threaten the safety of the flight by disrupting or distracting cabin crew from their safety duties.”
SFGate said Tyson was in the city yesterday to promote his cannabis brand Tyson 2.0 at a 420 celebration. His company’s flagship product is a line of edibles shaped like ears with a bite out of them, a reference to that time in 1997 when Tyson bit Evander Holyfield’s ear during the WBA Heavyweight Championship.