Former-footballer-turned-boxer Curtis Woodhouse went to extraordinary lengths to put a Twitter user who abused him in his place.
The 32-year-old, who switched to boxing in 2006, lost his English light-welterweight title to Shayne Singleton on a points decision on Friday night.
He subsequently received taunts from ‘Jimmyob88’ a Twitter user who described Woodhouse as a ‘disgrace’.
Woodhouse, angered by the jibes, asked his followers if they could help him locate the user in real life, offering a £1,000 reward for information.
Having discovered he lived in Sheffield, Woodhouse set off and drove around 70 miles to find him, even tweeting a picture of the street he believed Jimmyob88 to live in.
“Right Jimbob, I’m here,” Woodhouse tweeted, “Someone tell me what number he lives at or do I have to knock on every door #itsshowtime.”
Although he didn’t end up actually meeting the troll, Woodhouse settled for simply giving him a serious scare.
“Just had a call from somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody and @jimmyob88 has asked what he can do to make me go away!”
The user himself was also chastened, tweeting the boxer to say: “I am sorry it’s getting a bit out of hand, I am in the wrong I accept that.”
But the incident quickly became a talking point on Twitter, with Woodhouse drawing praise from an unlikely source in Joey Barton.
“I'm not an advocate of violence but what @woodhousecurtis has just done is hilarious!” Barton wrote, before telling him “You’re my hero.”
Lennox Lewis and John Prescott were also among the people who tweeted their amusement at the events.
And Woodhouse himself was able to see the funny side, adding afterwards: “Just found out you can block people!! Could have let me know earlier, I could have saved 20 quid in petrol!”