Julius Francis wants to rematch Mike Tyson more than two decades on from the first one.
Former British professional boxer Julius Francis found himself in the spotlight recently on social media. A video of him knocking out a troubling punter did rounds on platforms online. The renewed fame sparked talks of a showdown with Mike Tyson in an exhibition bout as opposed to a competitive one.
The former European heavyweight kickboxing champion has expressed his willingness to the idea.
Julius Francis wants to rematch Mike Tyson
In an interview with TMZ Sports, Julius Francis shared his thoughts on returning to boxing, even if for an exhibition outing. He acknowledged the presence of exhibition boxers in the space such as Jake Paul but dismissed a possible clash.
“I think to myself, who would I fight? Name me a fighter who would I fight. Obviously, people say, oh Jake Paul or the other Paul whatever and it’s a megaphone. But you know them guys, they’re not in my category.”
When asked about the prospect of facing Mike Tyson in a megafight next, Francis expressed his interest in the idea and seemed to be more in favor than against it.
“I put it out there. If there’s a promoter that’s willing to promote such a fight, and I never liked talking about money, but they could come up with a decent offer, then who knows?
“I’m going to say I’m going to put it out there, I’m going to say yes, I will say yes. We could have a rematch. I don’t know if anybody will want to watch it but I’ll say yes.”
Francis opens up on what happened after the video
Francis talked about the reaction he received to the recent infamous video of him knocking out a punter while working security.
“I felt vindicated by the way that the social media, people on social media, and everything we’ve got behind me to say that, ‘we appreciate what you did. You were in the right, the guy deserved it,’ and all this kind of stuff. I felt vindicated and it showed me that people do still think about me and do appreciate what I did during my boxing career.”
He revealed that he was arrested by the police following the incident. The police declared that they will be taking no further action in the case after investigating the statements from the manager and the CCTV recordings.
Apparently, Francis’ license was revoked by the SIA (Security Industry Authority), the regulator of the UK’s private security industry.
“They have actually suspended my license to work so I can’t work at the moment anyway.”
With Francis out of work at the moment, a match with Tyson could be on the cards if interest is strong from both parties.
