Julius Francis warned about potential rematch with Mike Tyson – EXCLUSIVE

Julius Francis’ proposed rematch against Mike Tyson is of no interest to Dave Coldwell. The boxing trainer is not a fan of the new trend of ex-fighters coming back to compete in exhibition bouts and believes it tarnishes their legacies.

Francis recently rose to internet stardom after a video emerged online of him knocking out a troublesome customer during a security guard shift at BoxPark Wembley. The former British heavyweight champion turned back the years to land a perfectly timed right hand on the punter who had been pushing and shouting at staff.

Using his newfound platform, Francis took the opportunity to call out his former opponent Mike Tyson for a rematch 22 years after their first encounter. But Coldwell is not keen to see a second fight.

Talking to Express Sport, he said: “It’s not my sort of thing, I mean Tyson is a middle-aged man, Julius I’m not sure how old he is but he’s not boxed for a long long time, there’s no interest from me. I mean, what does it prove? He fought Tyson when they were both fighters and he got knocked out.

“Listen, it’s their lives and that’s fair enough but if you’re asking me am I interested in it, no I’m not – not at all. I mean, from when Roy Jones got beat by Glen Johnson, I never watched Roy Jones again. So, I’ve never even to this day, apart from a short clip from Enzo [Macranelli] on Twitter of their fight seen him box. Once they get to a point like that it doesn’t interest me because I think these guys are legends of the sport and I think ‘why? You’re a legend’ so yeah, stuff like that doesn’t bother me.”

Francis fought the ‘Iron Mike’ in a non-title fight back in January 2000. At the time, he was the reigning British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion and had already faced the likes of Vitali Klitschko and John Ruiz in previous bouts. However, despite Tyson being far past his best, he was able to stop Francis in the second round. No formal agreements have been reached to stage a rematch although there have been murmurs of an approach.