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Mike Tyson, the former heavyweight boxing champion, is facing a pre-litigation settlement demand of $450k from a man named Melvin Townsend who he punched on a JetBlue flight from San Francisco to Florida in April last year. The lawyer of Melvin Townsend is seeking a settlement for “injuries and damages,” which the lawyer of Mike Tyson blasted as a “shakedown.”
When the incident happened in 2022, the lawyer of Mike Tyson stated that his client reacted violently with hefty punches on a reportedly intoxicated Melvin Townsend, for throwing a water bottle at him after he requested the man to calm down. However, in the letter for the pre-litigation settlement demand, the Townsend lawyer has claimed that his client was “excited” to see Tyson face-to-face, which led to him discussing the marijuana industry and psychedelic mushrooms with the former champion.
The letter from Melvin Townsend’s lawyer cited the appearance of Mike Tyson on Jimmy Kimmel’s show after the incident, wherein the 57-year-old was quoted as saying, “Hey listen, I'm usually good at these things. I was wrong, that should've never happened. That's me back in my primitive child stages, I shouldn't of done that, but I was just irritated, tired, high, and pissed off. S*** happens.”
It was also claimed in the letter that Melvin Townsend, who was without medical insurance at the time of the incident, had to pay significant costs for treatment on his stomach, along with visits to neurologists, psychologists, and a back pain specialist. He has allegedly suffered pain in his head and neck, loss of consciousness, concussion, contusion on the head, and many other health issues in the aftermath of the punches from Mike Tyson.
There will be no shakedown payment: Mike Tyson’s lawyer
In response to the pre-litigation settlement demand from Jake Jondle, the lawyer of Melvin Townsend, the lawyer of Mike Tyson, Alex Spiro, was quoted as saying, “I have received a shakedown letter related to some instigator's harassment of Mike a year ago and the aftermath. There will be no shakedown payment.”
