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19th October 2023
06:14pm BST
Eddie Hearn was in stitches at Roy Keane's reaction to the news that he had suggested that Wayne Rooney should fight YouTuber Jake Paul in a boxing match.
Hearn proposed the idea to Rooney, who grew up involved in the sport of boxing, and whose father was a boxer, suggesting that the fight could even take place in Old Trafford.
In a world where actors can fight music stars in charity matches, it's not that hard to fathom, and could be something that we potentially see in the near future.
Speaking on the latest episode of Stick to Football podcast, Hearn explains where this plan came from.
“After every big fight — and he won’t mind me saying this — especially with a YouTuber, sometimes Wayne Rooney will fire me a message”, said the 44-year-old.
“I actually said to Wayne, who had a very limited amateur pedigree but could still fight, imagine the shape you’d get in, I told him. Wayne Rooney against Jake Paul at Old Trafford, imagine that.”
Gary Neville couldn't help but interrupt at this point to remind everyone of the last time the public seen Rooney involved in boxing.
“Did you see him against Phil Bardsley?” — a reference to an old clip of Rooney getting knocked out after by the fellow ex-pro in his kitchen, which got a huge laugh around the table — Hearn insisted that the retired footballer could get in some serious shape with the right training.
"A lot of people in his position, like, to get back in shape, we talked earlier about 'I'm a Celebrity' and stuff like that, but it's almost like its own TV reality experience, but for 12 weeks of training - he would be in unbelievable shape.
"I know that most footballers follow the boxing, and secretly, they would all love to have a go. Everyone thinks they can have a fight."
Not one to let Neville make all the jokes, Keane was straight in with a rather blunt observation that had Hearn and the rest of the panelists in stitches.
"How can you expect Wayne to train when he didn't do that when he was a player?" joked Keane.
This of course alludes to the fact that although Rooney had bag fulls of talent in his playing days, he was never one to take his preparation to seriously and was known to put weight on over the summer in the off-season.
Regardless, with his new job as Birmingham City manager, it seems unlikely that he will be stepping into the squared circle any time soon, but never say never.
