JOHNNY NELSON has revealed a tense encounter with Mike Tyson in a hotel lift after calling him “fat boy” before their proposed fight.
Tyson in 2000 had decided to take his career over to Britain and signed a three-fight deal with Frank Warren.
He had already beaten Julius Francis and was about to fight Lou Savarese with cruiserweight champion at the time Nelson lined up to be the third opponent.
With a fight all but signed, Nelson was ringside in Scotland to watch Savarese be taken out in 38 seconds.
And after receiving verbals from Tyson, the Brit made the ill-fated decision to bark back.
Nelson, 53, told Sky Sports: “He knew it was me next and that’s where the intimidation started.
“Before then, we were pretty jovial and polite with each other, but when he knocked out Savarese he shouted down at me: ‘You sure you want some of that? We’re going to eat you!’
“I was sat at ringside with my wife and I was thinking, ‘No, not in front of my missus mate’.
“Steve ‘Crocodile’ Fitch was next to him and he’s giving it: ‘Yeah, we’ll mess you up’.
“I’ve got to style it out, I’ve got to be cool, and I’ve got to make out I really fancy this fight.
“I needed a one-liner and all I could think of was, ‘Get yourself fit, fat boy’.
“People looked at me as if to say, ‘What?” Even my wife looked at me and said: ‘What?’
“When it came out of my mouth, I thought ‘Idiot.’ You could see Mike looking as if to say, ‘What did he call me?’”
HOTEL HELL
Nelson then lifted the lid on how he found himself on the verge of an altercation with Tyson after bumping into each other later that night.
He said: “We ended up back at the hotel, me and my wife, and we were on our way to a party downstairs.
“It must have been around 2am. Mike was staying in the penthouse suite on the top floor. I think he had to change lifts between floors.
“We’re in the lift and the door opens. It was Mike, Crocodile, and his manager. I thought s**t. Mike is looking at me and I’m looking at him.
“I went, ‘You getting in?’ He went, ‘Yeah’. His manager put his hand in front of him and went, ‘No, we’ll get the next lift’.”
“The door is closing and Crocodile is mouthing behind him, doing the cut-throat sign.
“Just before it shut, I gave him a farewell gesture, and my wife was not impressed.
“We got downstairs and we walked straight back upstairs and didn’t go out.”
Tyson – who is gearing up for a sensational comeback aged 54 – would fall out with Warren and not box in the UK again.
And Nelson would never make the move up to heavyweight, instead retiring as WBO cruiserweight champion in 2005.
He remains good friends with Tyson – who will challenge a shark on Discovery Channel – as they still laugh about their cancelled fight.
Nelson added: “Mike and I are friends now.
“I didn’t see him again while he was still fighting, but afterwards he’s been over here quite a few times for events.
“He asks me: ‘Tell the story about how we were nearly going to fight’, and he always starts laughing.”
