The Sports Xchange

Tennessee Titans wide receiver Justin Hunter, initially charged with felony malicious wounding for his involvement in a bar fight in July, has had the charge reduced to misdemeanor assault and battery.

His trial will begin next Tuesday in Virginia Beach, Va., the Commonwealth’s Attorney office said Friday.

In a statement regarding the altered charge, the Commonwealth’s Attorney office said, “Based upon subsequent interviews with witnesses, it is the Commonwealth’s position that the evidence better supports the charge of assault and battery.”

The charge stems from an incident in Virginia Beach’s oceanfront resort area on July 3. Hunter initially was accused of “malicious intent, stabbing, cutting and wounding” in a brawl that hospitalized one person.

Hunter allegedly started the fight when he interrupted a conversation a man was having with someone else. Hunter allegedly punched the man in the face twice, and the man suffered a broken jaw and a cracked tooth and was taken to a nearby hospital.

Hunter, 24, was Tennessee’s second-round pick in 2013. He has caught 46 passes for 852 yards and seven touchdowns. He missed the final four games last season after suffering a lacerated spleen against the Houston Texans.