Coronation Street Des Barnes actor Phil Middlemiss looks unrecognisable as he poses by boxing ring

CORONATION Street actor Phil Middlemiss looked unrecognisable as he posed by the boxing ring.

The star played played bookie Des Barnes for almost a decade on the soap from 1990 until 1998.

Phil, 59, looked worlds away from his acting past as he took to social media with a snap in the gym.

The former soap star posed alongside former WBC interim heavyweight champion Dillian Whyte in the boxing ring.

Sporting a black t-shirt, workout shorts and Hugo Boss sandals, he clutched his phone and gave a thumbs up gesture of respect as he cosied up to the boxing star.

He captioned the photo: “Revenge is sweet congrats champ.”

This comes after the actor previously opened up after he found himself embroiled in a massive global bribery scandal.

While the former TV star was in Africa for work, he says he accepted an offer from Airbus to help them selling aircraft to Ghana.

But he ended up being falsely accused of being involved in corruption over the £50 million sale of three C-295 military planes to the the West African state.

Phil previously spoke about the ordeal on Good Morning Britain and always denied wrongdoing.

The former soap star had also previously been cleared by UK investigators.

Phil originally made his Corrie debut in 1990 together with Amelia Bullmore as newlyweds Des and Steph Barnes.

Amelia left the soap a year later, but Phil continued to play bookie Des until 1998, when the character was killed off.

After leaving the cobbles, Philip took on the role of David Buckley in ITV1’s Where The Heart Is. He has also appeared in Celebrity Come Dine With Me.

In April 2016, the telly star was declared bankrupt. It came after he racked up a huge tax bill he could not pay off.