Former heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson punched a fellow airline passenger after the person "threw a water bottle at him," Tyson's spokesperson has said.

Video taken on the plane shows Tyson leaning over his seat as he lands repeated punches an unidentified man.

A spokesperson for the boxing Hall of Famer confirmed Tyson had an "incident with an aggressive passenger" who was "harassing him".

Police were dispatched and temporarily detained two individuals. 

One person was treated at San Francisco International Airport for non-life threatening injuries.

That subject provided minimal details of the incident and refused to co-operate further with the police investigation," a spokeswoman for the San Francisco Police Department said in a statement. 

Both people were released "pending further investigation". The department did not identify either of the individuals involved.

The attack occurred on board a JetBlue fight on Wednesday night, before it set off from San Francisco to Florida.

According to TMZ, Tyson had agreed to take a picture with the passenger at the beginning of the flight. But the man continued to harass Tyson, despite requests from Tyson to "chill"