A BOXER who once fought Mike Tyson is now working as a security guard at a Croydon department store, the Advertiser can reveal.
Former British heavyweight champion Julius Francis lasted two rounds when he took on the legendary American fighter in Manchester in 2000.
Now the Peckham-born pugilist, who went on to mixed martial arts (MMA), keeps watch at Croydon Village Outlet.
Francis, 49, declined to comment when contacted by the Advertiser but a former employee said: "One day this well-built security guard walked past and I was convinced I knew him from somewhere.
"Someone told me he was a former boxer so, that night, I looked for clips on YouTube and there he was getting knocked out by Mike Tyson. I couldn't believe it. I wouldn't shoplift with him about, that's for sure."
Francis turned professional in 1993 and went on to win four British heavyweight title fights.
In 1998, he fought future world champion Vitali Klitschko but was stopped in the second round.
At the age of 35 he got a shot at Tyson, which earned him around £350,000. The Mirror newspaper was so convinced of his defeat that it paid for an advert on the soles of his shoes.
He was knocked down five times before the fight was stopped.
Francis, who had lived in South Norwood, then took up MMA, but lost his only bout.
