British boys show Tyson how to behave

As Mike Tyson continues to count the cost of his brawl with world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis, two British fighters have proved it is possible to be enemies inside the ring but behave impeccably outside it.

Neither Takaloo nor Ryan Rhodes could keep a straight face when they went head-to-head at The Sports Cafe in the Haymarket to publicise their clash for the World Boxing Union's light-middleweight championship at York Hall, Bethnal Green on 2 March.

It will be no laughing matter when Rhodes, the former British champion, and Takaloo finally meet in the ring.

But there was mutual respect as Rhodes saluted Takaloo, the defending WBU title-holder, by admitting: "Tak is a good fighter and I'll have to be at my best to beat him."

In response Takaloo, whose family fled Iran to settle in Margate when he was six years old, said: "Ryan knows this is his last big chance. That's why I've trained hard. I can't afford to leave anything to chance."