Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney drunkenly ‘messages’ Eddie Hearn to ask for boxing bout
- Lewis Oldham
- 31 March 2023
Matchroom supremo Eddie Hearn has revealed that Manchester United and England legend Wayne Rooney “sometimes messages” him asking for a boxing fight.
Hearn has been doing the rounds this week to promote this weekend's fight between Anthony Joshua and Jermaine Franklin at the O2 Arena in London.
He recently appeared on the Peter Crouch podcast and was asked if he thought any footballers could move into boxing given the continued growth of the influencer scene.
Hearn subsequently revealed that Rooney has been known to approach him and suggest fights he could be involved in.
"Rooney can fight, I've spoke to Wayne," said Hearn. "When Wayne has a drink, he'll message me and he'll start going, 'I'll fight him and I'll fight him', and I get excited.
"Sometimes I get a message from Wayne saying, 'Make me vs so and so, make that fight'. I'll look at it in the morning and go, 'This is massive'. So I'll message him back, 'Few glasses of red or [are you serious?]' Then he won't reply and I'll go, 'Damn'. But Wayne can fight."
Rooney has regularly attended marquee boxing events and he was infamously filmed fighting with former Man Utd teammate Phil Bardsley in 2015 in the kitchen of his home in Cheshire.
🗣Wayne Rooney: "When the boxing video was coming out, I went to see Van Gaal. I said ‘This story’s coming out about me and Phil Bardsley fighting in the house', and he pissed himself laughing. He found it hilarious." pic.twitter.com/HHpA1UXcYT
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) May 31, 2019
In 2019, Rooney reflected on the incident when speaking with Hearn. He admitted that he and Bardsley fight "quite regularly".
"Growing up, I remember my dad used to give us the gloves in the house," Rooney revealed.
"It is something I have always loved doing. The night with [Bardsley], we got home and we put the gloves on. It is something that we do quite regularly - but that one got out!
"After I went down, the video stops but I wasn't knocked out. We got up and carried on.
"I remember when we finished and the two of us sat there. My nose had gone and [Bardsley] had blooding pouring out of his mouth.
"We were both looking at each other, saying: 'what are we doing?' But Bardsley is the same. He has brought up in Manchester the same way I have in Liverpool. We both love boxing."
