From Dempsey to Louis, Marciano to Ali, the great heavyweights have captured and inspired public imagination in a way that few other sporting figures could ever contemplate. Theirs is a mystique which transcends sport and, one way or another, Mike Tyson belongs among them.

How else can the extraordinary interest be explained in tonight's potential mismatch, when he takes on the British heavyweight champion Julius Francis at the MEN Arena in Manchester?

The bars of the city, where Becks, Giggsy and the rest normally produce the staple diet of conversation, are suddenly filled by boxing experts. A ticket for Tyson's British debut is a prized possession, and no one seems remotely bothered that Francis will do well to see his way through the three minutes of the first round.

When Tyson's mental state was being professionally evaluated prior to the decision to re-licence him, after his ban from boxing for chewing off a lump of Evander Holyfield's ear, much was made of his low level of self-esteem. The circus of his life had seemingly reduced him to little more than a caged and crazed dancing bear, whose most relentlessly damning critic was himself.

In Las Vegas, his most recent fight against Orlin Norris ended in bizarre and controversial circumstances, with Norris either unwilling or unable to continue when he was felled by a Tyson punch thrown after the bell to end the first round. But more worrying to those who pay Tyson his huge purses, and seek to sell his contests on television, were the ticket sales at that arena. Thousands had to be given away to conceal what would otherwise have been yawning banks of empty seats.

Taking Tyson to Europe has been described in some quarters as a gamble; in fact it was the only remaining option that could turn out to be commercially viable.

For Frank Warren, who has reemerged as a massive influence within boxing on the back of this promotion, tonight represents a pivotal moment one year after he lost a Stg£7.5m legal battle against Don King.

Francis's manager Frank Maloney, whose business alliance with Panos Eliades and Lennox Lewis is rumoured to be distinctly frosty, if not yet at the point of total disintegration, has been happy to cosy up to Warren, helping a promotion which Eliades almost scuppered by making a counterbid to stage the fight.

As Don King and Bob Arum, dominant figures in American boxing for more than two decades, near their 70th birthdays, there remains a real possibility of a power vacuum developing which would leave Warren in a strong position to capitalise, especially through his close ties with the American television network, Showtime.

Defeat for Tyson would be a setback, and one from which his career would not recover.

Francis, the 35-year-old British champion, will go into the ring in the best physical shape of his life after a month's training at the Aldershot army barracks. Eleven uniformed soldiers will escort him through the arena before Tyson, as always bare-chested with his trademark black shorts and boots, makes his familiar no-nonsense march to the ring.

Unless the squaddies choose to stand and fight with Francis, Tyson should prevail quickly and spectacularly. Francis has pride, but his style is tailor-made for the old champion.

James "Buster" Douglas beat Tyson by forcing his ill-prepared opponent back with his insistent jab. Holyfield twice prevailed, once when Tyson resorted to ghetto cannibalism but previously by outpunching and outgaining his man. Douglas and Holyfield both found a way to confirm Tyson is a relatively ordinary fighter when he is forced on to the back foot.

Francis possesses neither the technical ability of Douglas nor the weight of punch and speed of Holyfield. On the streets of London he had a hard upbringing and a tough guy reputation, but such macho antecedents will count for nothing now.

Realistically, despite Maloney's suggestion that Tyson is only a 6 to 4 favourite even though the bookies say he is 16 to 1 on, Francis can hope for little more than to emerge from this contest with his self-respect undamaged. He says he will not be intimidated. Maybe. But bravery could lead him to take more punches than the squeamish would care to see, and there is the uncomfortable feeling that he could be on the receiving end of a brutal beating.

If he wins, Francis, a genuinely nice guy, will be made for life. But the only way he can hope for such an outcome is somehow to get through the early rounds and test Tyson's fragile self-confidence, or perhaps provoke a fresh display of outrageous behaviour which would cause Tyson to be slung out by referee, Roy Francis.

But it is a forlorn hope, and Tyson, at his heaviest ever weight of 15st 13lb, has dreams of his own - to one day regain the world heavyweight title. Lennox Lewis has decided to stay on a beach in Jamaica rather than take a seat at ringside. By the end of this evening, Francis may wish he had joined him.