A passenger who was punched in the face by Mike Tyson threw a water bottle at him before the confrontation, his representatives have claimed.
Mobile phone footage shows Tyson, 55, hitting a man in a seat behind him.
Reps for the former world heavyweight champion said: “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.”
A source close to Tyson said the man was “extremely intoxicated” and “wouldn’t stop provoking” him.
The incident happened after Tyson boarded a flight at San Francisco International Airport heading to Florida. He apparently left the aircraft shortly after the confrontation.
The other passenger had cuts to his forehead, photographs showed, but “refused to cooperate” with a police investigation.
A witness said he and his friend were boarding at the same time and Tyson, nicknamed Iron Mike, was happy to take a selfie with them.
It appears he quickly lost his cool when the man in the seat behind tried to talk to him.
San Francisco police responded on Wednesday at around 10pm to a “physical altercation” on a plane at the airport’s domestic terminal, officials said.
“Officers arrived and detained two subjects that were believed to be involved in the incident. One subject was treated at the scene for non life-threatening injuries,” police said.
“That subject provided minimal details of the incident and refused to cooperate further with the police investigation.”
Both were released pending further investigation.
Since Tyson retired from boxing, he has worked as an actor, podcaster and cannabis entrepreneur.
He was apparently in San Francisco for the annual 420 cannabis festival in Golden Gate Park, where he was promoting his cannabis brand Tyson 2.0.
Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion in history in 1987 at the age of 20. During his career, he won 50 fights, 44 of them by knockout.