Boxing: Fame and fortune beckon for conqueror of Mike Tyson

Danny Williams, the British boxer whose shock victory on Friday over Mike Tyson catapulted him to international celebrity, has a future as one of the richest boxers in the world, his promoter said yesterday.

Williams, 31, from Brixton, south London, knocked Tyson out in the fourth round of the fight in Louisville, Kentucky, after surviving a ferocious onslaught in the opening round. The career of Tyson, 38, is all but finished.

Until his fairy-tale victory, few outside boxing had heard of Williams, a devout Muslim. Those who did know of him had dismissed his chances of ever breaking into the big time. Williams could now tilt at the world title.

Williams's inauspicious start - he was pushed towards the gym by his father and used to be so nervous before fights he would cry - had him marked down as an also-ran.

When Tyson's camp invited him to be the fall guy in the first match of the former "invincible" champion's comeback matches, Williams was happy to accept a career-high purse. "I said I would get him after the fourth round, but we didn't quite make it that far," he said after the fight. "I proved people wrong. They have to take me seriously now. I was sure I was going to win."

Promoter Frank Warren said yesterday: "Hopefully it will set him up for life. He can capitalise on all the hard work, overcoming all the self doubt and establish himself as one of the best heavyweights on the planet - and hopefully one of the richest."