Julius Francis fought Mike Tyson and Vitali Klitschko and was British heavyweight champion before becoming a security guard.

A former Mike Tyson boxing opponent embarked on a career as a security guard and knocked out a man after a fracas.

Julius Francis was British and Commonwealth Heavyweight champion from 1997 until 2001 and fought both Tyson and Vitali Klitschko in losing efforts.

The former European heavyweight kickboxing champion had the biggest payday of his career when pocketed £350,000 for his bout against Tyson in 2000.

He hung up his gloves in 2006, finishing with 23 wins, 24 losses and a no contest.

16 years on though and Francis showed his punching power was very much still there in a viral clip.

In a video which widely circulated on social media, Francis was seen dropping a man, wearing a blue durag, after a situation at BOXPARK near Wembley Stadium.

According to BOXPARK founder and CEO Roger Wade, who backed Francis, the individual had been abusing, spitting on and hitting customers and staff for 15 minutes.

He pushed barriers in an attempt to get at a man outside and when he approached Francis in a confrontational manager, the bouncer didn’t hesitate to whack him square in the face with a deadly right hand.

The man’s friends could be heard asking Francis, 57 at the time, why he had lashed out.

Police attended and reviewed CCTV footage but decided against taking any action.

Image: Getty
Image: Getty

However, according to Francis, he did have his licence to work suspended.

“I was taken to the police station and was there for about four-and-a-half hours,” he told TMZ Sports.

“But they said no further action would be taken in this case because of statements from my manager and people who were are at the door.

“They looked at our CCTV and saw what happened.”

“The security authority industry called the SIA actually suspended my licence to work.

“I can’t work at the moment, so I’m trying to get that sorted so I can get back to work as soon as possible.”

Former heavyweight world champion Fury praised Francis, hailing his “great right hand”.