On Sunday evening, Australian surfer Mick Fanning was attacked by a shark on live television while competing in an event in the 2015 Samsung Galaxy World Surf League Championship Tour in South Africa. Fanning kept his cool long enough to remember how to fend off such an attack: start throwing punches.
“It came up and got stuck in my leg rope,” said Fanning in an interview with an Australian news site. “I instantly just jumped away. It kept coming at my board and I was kicking and screaming. I just saw fins; I didn’t see teeth. I was waiting for the teeth to come at me. I punched it in the back.”