Wayne Rooney’s 4am text message to KSI about boxing fight

Highlights

• KSI has leaked a text message that he received from ex-footballer Wayne Rooney, asking him for a boxing fight somewhere down the line.
• The former Manchester United striker messaged the influencer at 4am one morning, pitching the idea of the two having a scrap.
• Rooney has, however, stated on a recent episode of The Overlap that he’s currently only interested in his managerial career following his dismissal from Birmingham City.

YouTube star-turned-boxer KSI has leaked a text message that former Manchester United and England captain Wayne Rooney sent him one morning at 4am, asking him for a boxing fight.

After being dropped as Birmingham City manager, Rooney is said to be considering a one-off stint in boxing and has reportedly had talks with KSI’s promotion Misfits to get the ball rolling. Not only that, however, he’s also spoken to Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, who has recently spoken about the ex-striker’s love for the sport.

Eddie Hearn on Wayne Rooney boxing

Hearn recently said: “Rooney loves it. He’s been boxing in amateur clubs. Wayne would love to do a charity fight.” He even suggested him fighting KSI’s American rival Jake Paul somewhere down the line could be a possibility.

Hearn clearly backs the Manchester United star as well, saying: “Rooney had a very limited amateur pedigree but could still fight… Wayne Rooney training, and I said to him ‘Imagine the shape you could get in as well. You’ll get right back into shape.’”

The text message Rooney sent KSI

KSI revealed on the Sidemen podcast that the text was sent at almost 4am on the 5th of December 2022, reading: “Hi mate, what you think on me and you having a boxing fight. I think we could generate a lot of money. You up for it. We could sell out a stadium with right support and both make good money.”

After reading the text message word for word, the internet sensation then went on to say: “It would be great to see him fight someone, and if he annihilates that person, then yeah, fine, let’s fight.” It’s clear that KSI only wants to fight Rooney if he will be serious competition, which is fair enough.

After the news originally broke earlier this month about Rooney’s interest in boxing, he himself cleared up his thoughts on the matter, saying on an episode of The Overlap podcast: “Obviously, Misfits have been in, and that’s been all over the news or whatever, but listen, I want to focus on getting back into management. That’s my focus. I’ve seen all [the headlines] over the last couple of days, but my main focus is getting back into football.”

For now, however, it seems that Rooney is pausing his pursuit of a managerial role to cover tonight’s Manchester United game at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground, as a pundit for the BBC. When speaking about the opportunity, he said: “Watching the BBC’s coverage of the FA Cup every year was always very special growing up.

“I’m so excited to be joining up with the team to cover what will undoubtedly be an action-packed tie in this historic competition. Having played and managed the competition, it’s great to be on the other side of the camera this time, and hopefully I can bring some of that FA Cup experience to the coverage.”