Mike Tyson facing six-figure settlement demand stemming from airplane incident

Mike Tyson is facing lofty demands from a man he punched on an airplane last year.

Josh Kosman and Olivia Land of the New York Post report this week that Melvin Townsend, the man struck by Tyson on a JetBlue flight in April 2022, is demanding a sum of $450,000 from the heavyweight legend. Townsend’s attorneys have sent Tyson’s attorneys the pre-litigation settlement demand, citing “injuries and damages” Townsend allegedly suffered when he was “viciously assaulted” by Tyson on the flight.

“As a former undisputed heavyweight champion, the potential to cause severe injuries to another person goes without question,” Townsend attorney Jake Jondle wrote in the demand. “There were several other remedies available to Mr. Tyson, but he chose physical violence.”

Jondle says that Townsend suffered a severe headache and neck pain in the immediate aftermath of the incident and that Townsend is still experiencing the effects today. The six-figure sum that Townsend is demanding would go toward his ongoing medical care, Jondle adds.

Tyson’s attorney Alex Spiro is refusing to cooperate with the settlement demand, calling it a “shakedown.”

“I have received a shakedown letter related to some instigator’s harassment of Mike a year ago and the aftermath,” Spiro told the New York Post. “There will be no shakedown payment.”

The 57-year-old Tyson was seen on cell phone video repeatedly punching Townsend on the flight from San Francisco to Miami. Tyson’s representatives said that Townsend was extremely intoxicated and kept bothering Tyson, at one point allegedly throwing a water bottle at the boxing great. It was later revealed that Townsend had a lengthy criminal record and served jail time on multiple occasions.

Local prosecutors reviewed the incident but announced weeks later that they would not be filing any criminal charges against Tyson. With Townsend’s big settlement demand and Tyson’s apparent refusal to pay it, the stage is now set for Townsend to formally file a civil lawsuit against Tyson over the airplane incident.