A fellow passenger heckled Mike Tyson in the JetBlue fight in 2022. Other fellow passengers took a video of the incident, circulated widely on social media. Melvin Townsend, the heckler, has now filed a lawsuit against Tyson and $450,000 in damages.

Townsend demands $450,000 in settlement from Tyson. However, Tyson’s attorney, Alex Spiro, has stated that the move was just a ‘shakedown’. The video circulating on social media showed Townsend repeatedly heckling Tyson. Tyson responded with his fists after repeated heckling. The incident happened when Tyson and Townsend traveled from San Francisco to Florida.

Townsend’s pre-litigation letter states that Tyson was at fault for the incident. Jake Jondle, Townsend’s attorney, claimed that his client was just an eager fan and Tyson’s response with violence was unwarranted.

Moreover, Jondle stated that Townsend faced severe damages after the incident. This includes pain in the head and neck and also depression. Furthermore, the notoriety of the incident also caused a loss of job opportunities for Townsend. Tyson, after the incident, regretted his actions on a Jimmy Kimmel show.

Tyson was recently in the corner of Francis Ngannou when he fought Tyson Fury. His presence was one of the reasons why Ngannou performed well at the crossover bout. He was also present cage-side to watch David Benavidez TKO Demetrius Andrade. Benavidez and Tyson shared a moment after the conclusion of the fight. Tyson once predicted that Benavidez would become the best boxer and even defeat the likes of Canelo Alvarez.

In the recent podcast episode with Dwayne Johnson, Joe Rogan spoke a lot about combat sports. It came as no surprise to see Tyson mentioned. Rogan is a close friend of Tyson. They have appeared on each others’ podcasts and are staunch supporters of legalizing Marijuana.

In the podcast, Rogan described Tyson as a combination of three legendary heavyweight boxers. This is what Rogan said of a prime Mike Tyson:

Tyson was on another level. He was just the new destroyer, he was the new Sonny Liston, he was the new Joe Louis, he was the new Jack Dempsey. It was just something special. And combined also because of his trainer, Cus D'Amato, who had all the videos of those guys, so he watched all those guys and studied their movement.

Joe Rogan via JRE

Rogan felt that when Tyson became champion, he was a phenom. He states Prime Tyson was a combination of Sonny Liston, Joe Louis, and Jack Dempsey. The reason for it was due to Tyson’s coach and foster father, Cus D’Amato. Tyson studied the movements of all those boxers from D’Amato and came up with a distinct style.