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Mike Tyson repeatedly punches a passenger mid-flight, a video shows

A video reportedly taken by a passenger on a JetBlue flight shows Mike Tyson punching another passenger.
TMZ
A video reportedly taken by a passenger on a JetBlue flight shows Mike Tyson punching another passenger.

A flight from San Francisco International Airport to Florida was disrupted after former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson assaulted a fellow passenger, a video appears to show. The video of the altercation was shared first on TMZ.

In the video, Tyson is seen leaning over his seat as he repeatedly lands punches to the unidentified man's head. Another person tries to push Tyson off the man. The beating lasts for a few seconds.

Representatives for Tyson told NPR via email, "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."

According to TMZ, prior to the assault, Tyson had agreed to take a picture with the passenger at the beginning of the flight on Wednesday. But the "overly excited" man continued to bother the former boxer during the flight, despite requests from Tyson to "chill."

The video shows the passenger's forehead, which appears to be bloodied as a result of the punches.

NPR's request for comment from JetBlue went unanswered.

In 1987, at age 20, Tyson became the youngest ever heavyweight champion. He became one of the sport's most revered boxers — but that fame came with controversy and negative headlines.

In 1992, Tyson was convicted of rape, for which he served three years in prison. Tyson has long maintained his innocence on that charge.

And in 1997, he was disqualified from a fight after biting off a portion of the ear of his opponent, Evander Holyfield.

In a 2017 interview with NPR, Tyson said he was a changed man and tries to stay away from others.

"My life is my family life," he said at the time "I don't have no life outside of that. I don't have no night life, that's over."

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Jaclyn Diaz is a reporter on Newshub.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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