Associated Press

Pittsburgh — A would-be robbery suspect was beaten up when he found out the hard way that a convenience store clerk on the University of Pittsburgh campus is also a former Golden Gloves boxing champ.

The boxer, Eric Sydnor, tells KDKA-TV he just did what he had to do when 45-year-old Leverett Johnson walked into the convenience store with a gun Saturday night.

Putting it simply, Sydnor says, “He got slammed.”

Police say Johnson was still in the hospital Tuesday, recovering from the beating Sydnor administered.

Sydnor was the Western Pennsylvania Golden Gloves champion two years ago and still boxes out of a gym in nearby Sharpsburg.

He tells KDKA, “The fact that I’m a boxer had nothing to do with anything. It’s just what’s right and what’s wrong.”

Johnson doesn’t have an attorney listed in court records.