Sheesh! Looks like the man Mike Tyson punched last year while on a flight is now demanding that the former boxer pay him nearly half a million dollars for the incident!
As we previously reported, last year Mike Tyson was caught on video punching fellow JetBlue passenger, Melvin Townsend III, who taunted and provoked the boxing legend during their flight from San Francisco to Florida. In the viral clip posted by TMZ, Tyson was eventually seen getting up from his seat and launching a number of hard-hitting blows at the man, with his representative later claiming that the supposed victim had also thrown a water bottle at Mike, which was what ignited him to react after being tormented for several minutes.
RELATED: Mike Tyson Breaks His Silence On Plane Passenger’s Bloody Beatdown: ‘He Was F***ing With Me!’
While responding to this new demand, Tyson’s lawyer referred to the whole situation as a “shakedown” and made it clear that the man will not be receiving any payments. The victims lawyer, Jake Jondle claims Tyson could have used other remedies to diffuse the situation on the April 2022 but instead “he chose physical violence” and “viciously assaulted” Townsend, according to TMZ. The lawyer also added that the man suffered a “serve headache” after receiving punches from Tyson and “is still suffering with the effects of the assault to this day.”
The San Mateo County District Attorney previously announced that the boxing legend wouldn’t face criminal charges for the incident due to Melvin’s conduct during the flight, as seen in the videotapes DA Steve Wagstaffe said he reviewed over the last two weeks. It was ultimately decided that Mike would not be faced with misdemeanor battery because the footage they had seen showed Melvin acting rather irrational. “We now deem the case closed,” Steve said. “The conduct of the victim leading up to the incident, the interaction between Mr. Tyson and the victim, as well as the requests of both the victim and Mr. Tyson” resulted in his decision.
Melvin has previously been convicted of grand theft, burglary, possession of controlled substances, and fraud, as revealed in the Florida state records, which detail his criminal history. When he and Mike first boarded the plane, Melvin had approached the father-of-six for a selfie, which he happily accepted. But it was soon after Mike had taken his seat when things turned left, and Melvin, who was believed to have been intoxicated at the time, started to misbehave on the flight.
Fellow boxer Tyson Fury appeared in a recent episode of Piers Morgan Uncensored, talking about the incident and why he believed that anyone going up against Mike was quite frankly asking for a beatdown. “Mike Tyson is a real O.G., and you can’t mess with Mike because you don’t know what he’s going to do,” he said.
RELATED: Whew! Mike Tyson Punch Victim Has Extensive Criminal Record!
“The fun police will be on Mike to get canceled but how long can you prod a lion with a stick? He’s not the man you want to prod. If he’s man enough to prod Mike Tyson, touch him and abuse him, then man up and take a punch in the face.”
