LAS VEGAS, United States (AP) — Retired boxer Mike Tyson may be famous for his aggressiveness, but he showed his compassionate side last week when he came to the rescue of an injured motorcyclist who had crashed on a Las Vegas interstate.

Attorney Stephen Stubbs said his client, 29-year-old Ryan Chesley, was on Interstate 15 in Las Vegas at about 9:30 pm Tuesday when a taxi cut him off and he went down.

Stubbs said Chesley was lying on the ground when he looked up and recognised Tyson, who was yelling at people not to touch Chesley.

“He thought he was hallucinating,” Stubbs said. “He thought he was in some other world.”

Chesley, who had broken bones and torn ligaments, could still use his right hand and snapped a cellphone picture of the heavyweight boxer. As soon as paramedics arrived, Tyson “just left, like some kind of superhero”, Stubbs said.

Mike Tyson’s assistant, Steve Lott, said the fighter received a fruit basket with a handwritten thank you note from Chesley on Friday.

“Thank you so much for looking over me after my accident,” said the note, which Lott provided to The Associated Press. “It has to be the most reassuring thing in the world to have Mike Tyson telling people not to touch me.”

Half the fruit in the basket had been consumed by Monday, Lott said, and the pistachios were a particularly popular item.

Chesley will need surgery, but has since been released from the hospital, Stubbs said.