Wayne Rooney is reportedly prepared to become the latest high-profile celebrity to sign up for a Misfits Boxing event and has been in talks with Eddie Hearn previously.
Rooney, who was recently sacked after a short stint in charge of Birmingham City, is a big boxing fan and has been seen at big fights involving Tyson Fury and Amir Khan over the years.
He also walked out with Ricky Hatton for the Manchester-based fighter's bout against Jose Luis Castillo in 2007.
He performed one of the most iconic celebrations in Premier League history when he shadow-boxed at the corner flag before falling over after Manchester United's 3-0 win over Tottenham in 2015.
Wayne Rooney has been a boxing fan all his life
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The celebration was in retaliation to a video that went rival of Rooney jokingly sparring with Phil Bardsley before the striker was knocked out.
Now it's being reported that Rooney wants to fulfil a childhood fantasy by fighting on a boxing undercard.
First reported by the Mirror, Rooney is said to have held talks with Misfits Boxing promoter Kalle Sauerland.
The 46-year-old co-runs the boxing series, which was founded by YouTuber KSI and has proven to a big hit with sports fans all over the world.
The boxing event has featured OnlyFans models, MMA fighters and YouTube stars in the past.
But Rooney would arguably be the biggest name to fight in the crossover series and Hearn has revealed the former England international text him asking to set up a fight with Jake Paul.
Hearn said last year: "I’ve actually spoke to Wayne a few times about the Jake Paul fight.
“Normally, if he has a couple of glasses of red [wine] he’ll fire in a message to me at night going, ‘Listen, I wanna fight that geezer.’
“Wayne can fight, he had a couple of amateur fights - but him against Jake Paul at Old Trafford, that’s actually a makeable fight.”
Wayne Rooney was sacked by Birmingham in January
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KSI has also been called out personally by Rooney with the 38-year-old clearly thinking about the prospect of stepping into the ring.
KSI said: "It's funny. I hope he doesn't get annoyed that I've said this, but Wayne Rooney hit me up saying, 'Hey, we should fight.'
"I said, 'No'. I just don't want to do that, but if Wayne Rooney is down it would be good to have him in the space."
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Wayne Rooney would reportedly like to fight Jake Paul
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But former British boxer Carl Froch doesn't want to see Rooney step into the ring.
He said last year: “I don't know why Eddie Hearn is talking about Jake Paul versus Wayne Rooney, Rooney's a football manager. I don't like the way some boxing promoters are going down the route of crossover fights because a former football player versus a YouTuber is a load of rubbish and I don't get it.
“I don't get why a proper promoter is talking up a match between Wayne Rooney and Jake Paul. But does that tell us something about the state of boxing at the minute? Would Wayne Rooney v Jake Paul be the biggest fight that Eddie Hearn can make at the minute?"
