Authorities were investigating an incident Thursday in which former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson was videotaped punching a fellow first-class passenger aboard a plane at San Francisco International Airport.
Video shows Tyson leaning over the back of his seat and repeatedly punching the unidentified man in the head, drawing blood. The footage was first shared by TMZ, which said it was taken on a JetBlue plane bound for Florida.
“Sadly, 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 officials said in an email to the Associated Press.
Before the physical altercation, the man can be seen on video standing over Tyson’s seat, waving his arms and speaking animatedly while the former boxer sits quietly.
San Francisco police responded to a “physical altercation” on a plane at the airport’s domestic terminal around 10 p.m. Wednesday, officials said.
“Officers arrived and arrested two people believed to have been involved in the incident. One person was treated at the scene for non-life threatening injuries. This subject provided minimal details of the incident and refused to further cooperate with the police investigation,” police said in a statement Thursday.
Both have been released pending further investigation, the statement said.
Another passenger on the flight, Sarah Burchfield, said she saw the man Tyson hit earlier in an airport bar appearing loud and argumentative.
“As I got on the plane, I was like, ‘Oh no, this drunk guy is on our plane,'” Burchfield told SFGate.
Burchfield said as she boarded, she passed Tyson’s seat in first class on the plane.
“The warlike guy was sitting right behind him and I saw them interacting,” she said. A short time later she heard the argument in the first class, she said.
San Francisco police said the video was shared with the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, which has jurisdiction over the airport.
Sheriff’s officials said, “We are not releasing information about the incident because it is an active investigation.”
JetBlue did not immediately respond to an email asking for more details.
Since retiring from boxing, Tyson, 55, has worked as an actor, podcaster and cannabis entrepreneur. He was in San Francisco for the annual 420 cannabis festival at Golden Gate Park, where he was promoting his Tyson 2.0 cannabis brand, 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 KO.
In the 1990s, Tyson served three years in prison after being convicted of rape. He has protested his innocence in this case.
Tyson was briefly banned from boxing after biting off part of Evander Holyfield’s ear during a fight in 1997.