Anthony Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn reveals that Wayne Rooney drunkenly sent him a text and asked him for fights.
Hearn is presently getting ready for his big man Anthony Joshua’s comeback to the boxing ring against Jermaine Franklin at the O2 Arena this Saturday night, April 1.
In view of Joshua’s return, Eddie Hearn appeared on this week’s edition of That Peter Crouch Podcast. The conversations revolved around the heavyweight boxer and his next bout with America boxer Jermaine Franklin.
Anyway, the discussion then changed to the developing market for YouTube and Celebrity boxing just as many have seen in recent times.
Crouch asked Hearn: “Could any footballers go into it?”
Eddie Hearn replied: “Rooney can fight, I’ve spoke to Wayne.
“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.”
The Old Trafford great is presently a manager of DC United in the United States Of America’s Major League Soccer.
Rooney is a popular fan of boxing and he sat ringside for Tyson Fury’s win over Derek Chisora on the 3rd of December, 2022 at the Tottenham Hotspur ground.
Rooney was also notoriously knocked out by fellow player Phil Bardsley after video footage emerged of a kitchen sparring video.
The Englishman recreated the incident in Manchester United’s 3-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in 2015
Wayne Rooney days after the incident then amusingly re-enacted the knock-out blow while celebrating a goal for Manchester United.
The Englishman created that celebration in Manchester United’s 3-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in 2015.
Rooney speaking in a BBC Podcast with boxing promoter Eddie Hearn in 2019 spoke about what resulted in the celebration:
“Growing up, I remember my dad used to give us the gloves in the house,” says Wayne, on his lifelong passion for boxing. “It is something I have always loved doing. The night with Bardo, 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 Bardo had blooding pouring out of his mouth. We were both looking at each other, saying: ‘what are we doing?’ But Bardo is the same. He has brought up in Manchester the same way I have in Liverpool. We both love boxing.
“I remember when it was coming out, I remember going in to see Louis van Gaal. He was the manager at the time.”
Rooney further said:
“I said, ‘listen, this story is coming out about me and Phil Bardsley boxing in the house’ and he found it hilarious!”
He added: “I think what was perfect was when I scored and the celebration. I didn’t even plan it. When I scored it just came to me”.
Anthony Joshua goes up against Jermaine Franklin on Saturday as the Englishman looks to get back into reckoning in the sport.
AJ lost in back to back bout against Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk and that led to him relinquishing his IBF, WBA, WBO and IBO belts.
