A gang of Russian thugs paid the price for picking on the wrong guy, after a verbal confrontation in a bar turned into a full knock-out.

Nicolai Vlasenko, 29, returned from the bathroom to find a group of men harassing his wife to get her to join them at their table in a bar.

Vlasenko, a professional boxer and martial arts expert, was caught on CCTV knocking out three of the thugs outside a bar in Starokorsunskaya, south-west Russia.

K.O.: A group of thugs started on the wrong guy in a bar in Starokorsunskaya, south-west Russia

The men are said to be part of a local gang which has been blamed for a rise in petty crime in the small Russian town.

When Vlasenko told the men to leave his wife alone, the self-declared leader, Leonti Yevdokimov, 33, suggested that he might want to continue the discussion outside.

'There were at least ten of them, led by the two who thought they were real big shots,' eyewitness Eldar Vinogradoff, 27, said.

'One of them took off his shirt and started squaring up to the boxer, and I don't think he even knew what hit him when he went down like a bowling pin. A second man tried to kick the boxer and he was floored instantly as well.

'Then a third man joined in, and he was left staggering and on the point of collapsing after taking three blows to the head and not landing once himself.'

Smackdown: After professional fighter Nicolai Vlasenko defended his wife who was being harassed by the local gangsters, the group continued their beef with the boxer in the street outside the bar

Bad move: When members of the gang make a move on him, Vlasenko knocks them to the ground

Knocked out: The CCTV footage shows Vlasenko taking out three members of the gang with ease

Hero: The local gangsters complained about the incident, but after watching the CCTV, police have decided that they will not be taking any action against Vlasenko

CCTV cameras outside the bar show how the rest of the group back away after the first three are knocked out cold, instead rushing to the aide of the floored thugs.

The gang later then hired a lawyer to file a complaint to the local police that they had been attacked.

However police have said they are taking no action after the CCTV images showed that the man was clearly acting in self-defence and that he had been on his own against nearly a dozen people who were on the other side.

The lawyer for Vlasenko said: 'My client wasn't prepared to allow them to harass his wife.