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31st March 2023
05:15pm BST
Eddie Hearn says Wayne Rooney occasionally texts him after a drink - and asks him to set up boxing fights.
The promoter claims the footy legend - known to be a keen fighter - sends messages asking him to "make" bouts.
But Hearn, 43, says he then wakes up in the morning and asks if the 37-year-old is serious - and doesn't hear back.
Asked if any footballers could make it in the ring on That Peter Crouch Podcast on Thursday, Hearn said: "Rooney can fight. I've spoken to Wayne.
"When Wayne has a drink he'll message and he'll start going, 'I'll fight him, I'll fight him'. And I get excited.
"Sometimes I get a message from Wayne going, 'Make me and so and so. Make that fight'.
"I'll look at it in the morning and go, 'F hell. This is massive'. And then I'll message him and go, 'Few glasses of red or…?'. And he won't reply. And I'll go, 'Damn'."
Rooney boxed while growing up and once famously celebrated a goal by pretending to get knocked out after a kitchen sparring video emerged.
While his love for the sweet science is well known, most people have only ever seen him take part in the sport once and that was when a video of him being ‘knocked out’ by Phil Bardsley went viral in 2015.
Footage shows the two former teammates trading blows in Rooney’s kitchen.
Bardsley, who was playing for Stoke City at the time, catches Rooney square in the face with a left jab, sending him crashing to the floor where he stayed as the video abruptly ended.
Days later, Rooney led his side to a Premier League victory against Tottenham and celebrated when he scored by shadowboxing before falling to the ground.
In 2019, Rooney spoke about the fight video, saying that he got up after the video stopped recording, and the pair went back at it.
“When we finished, the two of us were just sitting there. My nose had gone and Bardo’s got blood pouring out of his mouth.”
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