BOXER Curtis Woodhouse hit back at a Twitter troll before claiming he had turned up in the man's street.
The former Hull City player, of Driffield, was being verbally attacked by the user @jimmyob88, who calls himself The Master, after the boxer lost his English light-welterweight title on Friday.
Curtis, who quit professional football to take up boxing, reacted after the troll began calling for him to retire in the wake of his defeat.
The Master tweeted: "What is funny is you put so much effort in, sacrificed all of that time and failed to defend your Mickey Mouse title.
"Retire immediately, you are a complete disgrace.
"Haha, you lost you silly mug, fight a 10-year-old next time if you want to actually win."
He called Curtis a "laughable joke" and the pair became locked in a Twitter battle.
The boxer lost his fight against Shane Singleton in controversial circumstances, after being docked a point for hitting on the break.
It ultimately cost him his title during the tenth round.
The former footballer, who has almost 17,000 followers on the social networking site, tweets under @woodhouse curtis.
His supporters read the abuse being posted online by the troll and began to show their support for Curtis.
The boxer then decided to take it a step further, tweeting: "My dad always told me you have to be able to walk it how you talk it."
He asked his followers: "I'll give £1,000 to anybody who provides me with an address and picture of this man. Knock, knock."
He threatened to drive to the man's house to confront him over the abuse before posting a photograph of the man's street sign.
He claimed he was waiting to confront the troll, when The Master began backing down.
He said: "I am sorry it's getting a bit out of hand, I am in the wrong, I accept that."
He claimed it was just "harmless fun" and he didn't think Curtis would take the insults seriously.
The Master posted: "Chill out pal, I was only doing it so you would bite back."
After saying he had stood on his street waiting for the man to emerge, Curtis tweeted: "He never came out to play so I'm going back home. It was maybe a bit daft what I did today but sometimes enough is enough."
Twitter users following the war of words posted praise for Curtis.
One user called him a "hero" and posted: "Big claim to make but I honestly think this @woodhousecurtis stuff today is the best thing to have happened on Twitter. Ever."
As word of the story spread celebrity names began to pay tribute to Woodhouse, who started his career at Sheffield United before Birmingham City paid £1million for his services in 2001. Former world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis tweeted: 'Ha! I LOVE this story about @woodhousecurtis paying a visit to a #keyboardwarrior on Twitter.' And former Hull Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott - who once famously punched a heckler for throwing an egg at him - tweeted: 'THIS is how we deal with things in Hull. Boxer @WoodhouseCurtis tracks down a Twitter troll to his street!' Professional footballer Joey Barton, who has more than two million followers on the site, said: "I'm not an advocate of violence but what @woodhousecurtis has just done is hilarious."
He called him a "hero" and said he wished he could see the troll's reaction.
Curtis Woodhouse was unavailable for comment at the time of going to print.
Visit www.thisishull.co.uk for the conversation.
