Heavyweight star Julius Francis wants to take a rematch with Mike Tyson over any potential fight with YouTube star Jake Paul.
Francis recently came back into the headlines after knocking a customer out cold during a heated altercation while working as security at London venue BOXPARK. He previously fought legendary heavyweight Tyson back in 2000 where he lost via second round KO in Manchester.
And the former British champion has claimed he would return to the ring if a "decent" financial offer was on the table. “I'm going to put it out there. I've never liked talking about money, but they could put up with a decent offer,” said Francis when asked about a Tyson fight by TMZ. Then, who knows. I'm going to put it out there. I’m going to say we can have a rematch.
"I don’t know if anybody will watch it, but I'm going to say, yes. I have a daughter that tells me ‘You're not going to fight again,’ and I think to myself ‘Who would I fight?’ Obviously, people name Jake Paul or the other [Logan] Paul or whatever and it's a mega fight blah blah blah, but them guys, they're not in my category.”
Francis shared the ring with some of the division's most prominent figures during his career including Vitali Klitschko, Audley Harrison and John Ruiz. He walked away from the sport in 2006 and hung up his gloves but has now opened the door to a comeback.
Any potential ring return will now have several added sets of eyes with his popularity soaring after the video of him dealing with a rowdy customer went viral. Francis was working during a shift as security at BOXPARK when an aggressive customer confronted other members of staff.
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The former heavyweight burst from the periphery and landed a one-punch KO on the heckling person which saw his friends immediately rush to attend to him on the ground. A video of the incident later became hugely popular with the Metropolitan Police opening an investigation into the incident, before deeming no further action was needed.
However BOXPARK founder Roger Wade leapt to the star's defence and revealed he would not be losing his job with the company. Current heavyweight champion Tyson Fury also came out and publicly backed Francis after the incident took place. "I saw the video, great right hand by the way," Fury said whilst on Piers Morgan Uncensored. "This is what happens when you’re cheeky, rude, getting in peoples faces. What do you expect?
"If you keep kicking a dog, it's going to bite you isn’t it? This guy is p****d up off whatever and had a few drinks, getting cheeky. These guys are doing their job and he's attacking them, so he's been chinned. It's a life lesson, isn’t it? Never go out and be cheeky to big men because you're probably going to get chinned sooner or later."
