As many people who have been on terrible flights can attest, there’s nothing quite like being stuck in an uncomfortable situation so many thousands of feet in the air without the option to get away from it all. But while most of us suffer through such ordeals without engaging physical reactions, such was not the case for former boxing champ and toad venom enthusiast Mike Tyson, who apparently unleashed a flurry of punches on a dude who allegedly would not stop bothering the athlete-turned-actor while waiting for a late-night flight from California to Florida.
According to TMZ, who obtained multiple videos from passengers inside the plane, Mike Tyson was at first calm and collected upon entering the aircraft. However, his mood apparently changed for the worse rather quickly due to the passenger sitting in the seat directly behind him. Others from the same fight claim that the unidentified man was “extremely intoxicated” and wouldn’t stop pestering Tyson and provoking him.
To “Iron” Mike’s credit, he reportedly took a selfie with the guy, and was initially patient as the over-excited passenger kept trying to bring Tyson into a conversation. At some point, the former champ’s patience ran thin, and he told the guy to back off. After this salient advice was ignored, that’s when Tyson allegedly turned in his seat and started throwing blows at the guy’s face and head, which was left bloodied after the incident.
The video below captures moments from before, during and after the topic at hand, with the passenger's alleged intoxication seemingly on display, though we don't get to see much of Tyson telling the dude to back off before things got violent.
Following the seemingly brief round of punches, Mike Tyson reportedly got up and walked off of the plane. The bloodied man is said to have received medical attention at that point, and soon spoke with police about the matter. At this time, it’s unclear if the cops reached out to Tyson, or if there will be any kind of follow-up charges filed.
Just because he starred in The Hangover obviously doesn’t mean Mike Tyson is super-cool with drunk people getting all up on his last nerve, and he doesn’t need a tiger around to make his fury clear. In fact, I think everyone would be wise to take the advice that the former champ gave to his son Amir Tyson: "Just chill out, man." Granted, that was in reference to the younger Tyson wanting to duke it out with Jake Paul in the boxing ring, but it's universally applicable all the same.
It's likely that more details will surface from the pre-flight shocker, probably a lot quicker than we'll hear more news about Jamie Foxx's film-turned series dedicated to Mike Tyson.
