Former boxing champion Mike Tyson was seen repeatedly punching a passenger on a plane before its departure from San Francisco International Airport in the US. According to reports, Tyson was irritated by the man's continuous attempt to talk to him and got into a physical altercation. A video of the incident, first shared by TMZ, went viral on social media platforms. The video shows Tyson leaning over the back of his seat repeatedly striking the unidentified man in the head, drawing blood. “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 The Associated Press.
San Francisco police responded Wednesday around 10 pm to 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 Thursday. Both were released pending further investigation, the statement said. Another passenger on the flight, Sarah Burchfield, 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,” Burchfield told SFGate. 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 said.
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. ”Retired from boxing, 55-year-old Mike Tyson has appeared in several movies as himself and as an actor. He is also a 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. He will be next seen in Liger which stars Vijay Deverakaonda and Ananya Panday in lead roles. The movie is bankrolled by Karan Johar's Dharma Productions.