It’s not every day that you see a heavyweight champion boxer wandering around the streets of the North East – but that was the reality for some patrolling patrol officers in Newcastle on Friday (July 8) afternoon when Tyson Fury was spotted in the city centre.

The boxer, nicknamed ‘The Gypsy King’, was seen greeting fans and cutting a cool figure in a yellow ‘Tyson Fury’ t-shirt and a pair of red shorts.

He is understood to be in the North East, due to his UK-wide ‘One Massive Party’ tour that he is currently doing, and Gateshead’s The Fed was listed as Thursday (July 7) on his tour list.

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Mr Fury is also scheduled to be in Sunderland this evening (July 8), Stockton on Saturday (July 9), and Hartlepool on Sunday (July 10).

During his visit of the region, several people have shared images to their social media of the 6ft’ 9 boxing stars – but it’s not just members of the public posing for photos with him.

After cheekily asking him for a photo, a member of Northumbria Police’s patrol team has shared an image to the police force’s official Facebook page.

The Northern Echo: 'Tyson Fury' and a Northumbria Police officer. Picture: NORTHUMBRIA POLICE'Tyson Fury' and a Northumbria Police officer. Picture: NORTHUMBRIA POLICE

Alongside the snap, there is the caption: “We’ve welcomed a very special new recruit to the #TeamNP family today.

“We reckon heavyweight champion of the world Tyson Fury would be a total knockout – fighting crime and helping run rings around criminals.”

The Northern Echo: A fan shared this image on Tyson Fury's Instagram page. Picture: MARCO.BARNEYA fan shared this image on Tyson Fury's Instagram page. Picture: MARCO.BARNEY

Despite believing that they’d first spotted the heavyweight champion, he is known to have several look-a-likes following him around wherever he goes, with Northumbria Police adding: “We know the boxer was due in our region this weekend and whether this is the man himself in Newcastle city centre or one of his well-known lookalikes – the job already has him hooked.”

Whether it’s a look-a-like or the real man, Tyson Fury shared a picture of himself dressed in the exact same outfit on his official Instagram page this afternoon – further sending fans to question whether they were meeting the sports star or a very good impersonator.

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