Man knocked out by former heavyweight boxer who once fought Mike Tyson and now works as a bouncer

Bouncers can be pretty tough individuals by anyone’s reckoning – especially ones that used to be professional heavyweight boxers.

A man found this out for himself after ending up on the end of a knockout punch during an altercation outside Boxpark in Wembley.

He came up against Julius Francis, who used to be a British heavyweight champion.

Francis's impressive career saw him fight the likes of Mike Tyson and Vitali Klitschko before retiring in 2006.

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The 57-year-old is now working as a bouncer and he knocked out a man during a scuffle outside the venue, with footage of the event going viral.

A video of the moment the fight took place was uploaded to social media by talkSPORT's Michael Benson.

A man wearing a blue durag is involved in a confrontation in front of a crowd and can be seen squaring up to various people outside of the Boxpark entrance.

Things quickly get heated as the man in the durag pushes up against the barriers to confront someone.

Then, he heads towards Francis who is further away from the venue.

As the pair draw closer to one another, Francis throws a punch at the man and knocks him down to the floor.

His friend moves him into a recovery position as he lies on the concrete, clearly out cold.

The violent altercation was caught on video@GloryGloryTott/Twitter

Francis then walks away from the man before being confronted by a number of men in the crowd.

The man behind the camera can be heard saying: "Why? There was no need.”

It soon went viral on social media, and it provoked a big reaction on Twitter.

After one called it a “sucker punch” one responded by saying: “That’s wasn’t a sucker punch bro. Little bud was shoving and throwing punches. He had to see it coming.”

Francis went up against Mike Tyson in 2000Getty

Another social media user said: “Cant imagine him having job after this footage went viral. Kid deserved it but no doubt Francis will get his p45 for that.”

One more added: “Nope the aggressor went to raise his has, he's a professionally trained fighter...he did what he's trained to so...defend himself.”

Boxpark founder and CEO Roger Wade later put out a statement about the incident, saying "I stand with Julius."

“Woke up to a viral story about one of our security team. Julius Francis, is ex heavyweight boxing champion, he is one of the nicest people I have ever met and helps train young underprivileged kids boxing in his spare time.

“My understanding is that Julius and our security team spent 15 minutes stopping this man from abusing, spitting and hitting our customers and staff. They carefully escorted him from the premises under constant provocation and violence. Finally the person approached Julius in a confrontational manner and he defended himself."

Wade added: “Acts of violence and abuse to any staff members should never be tolerated. How would you react if someone approached you violently? What you do next if you were in my shoes? #istandwithjulius.”