WAYNE ROONEY once challenged British boxing royalty at a boozy wedding – and thankfully survived to tell the tale.
Rooney is an avid fight fan and even boxed growing up before breaking into Everton’s first team at the age of 16.
And the Manchester United legend – infamously knocked out by Phil Bardsley in an alcohol-fuelled kitchen sparring session – still fancies himself.
Rooney was not even put off sizing up Joe Calzaghe – the unbeaten Welsh great widely regarded as Britain’s best-ever boxer.
Paul Stretford – Rooney’s long-time agent – was also working with Calzaghe at the time of his wedding.
And Stretford said on the Wayne Rooney Show: “So I was looking after Joe at the time. So Joe came to the wedding, Wayne’s there of course.
“And we’ve had a few drinks and he offers Joe Calzaghe out. I’m stood there talking to them both and he goes, ‘Alright Joe.’ ‘Alright Wayne?’ ‘Could have you.’
“I’m looking and I’m thinking, ‘You’re joking me.’ He’s going, ‘No, just calm down…I just want to do a bit of shadow boxing with him.’
“So we go out and we go onto the green outside where we were – middle of my wedding.
“So we go out and Joe’s going, ‘Don’t worry, it’s nothing.’ So he goes out, first thing, so Joe’s just sort of stood there. He’s [Wayne’s] in, to the ribs.”
Joe Calzaghe’s career
Fights: 46
Wins: 46
Losses: 0
KOs: 32
World titles: WBO super-middleweight title, IBF super-middleweight title, WBA super-middleweight title, WBC super-middleweight title
BEST FREE BETS AND BETTING SIGN UP OFFERS
Rooney added: “I seen him, he was a bit vulnerable, he’d had a few drinks. Might give him his first defeat.”
Everton fan and former world champion Tony Bellew said: “As a fighter, they never react to stuff like that.
“But he’s only just challenged the greatest fighter Britain’s ever produced. Fantastic.”
Calzaghe retired as a two-weight champ at super-middleweight and light-heavyweight – undefeated in 46 bouts.
On the football pitch meanwhile, Rooney won FIVE Premier League titles with United and lifted the Champions League in 2008.
In retirement, he has moved into coaching but is yet to take up a new role since being sacked by Plymouth in December.
Rooney has since launched his own BBC podcast and had Stretford and Bellew on as guests ahead of his 40th birthday.
Summarising the Calzaghe situation, Stretford said: “But that’s Wayne, eh?”
And Bellew, 42, added: “It is. He’s lively and yeah, he’s even more lively if he’s had a pint – as most men are, to be honest, to be fair.
“We’re all the same, we’re all children who have never really grown up. And Wazza’s one of the biggest children I’ve ever met.”
