KSI claims he rejected offer to fight Wayne Rooney after Man Utd icon called him out

Former England and Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney has long held an interest in boxing, so much so that he once offered to fight internet personality KSI.

It’s unknown as to when the offer came about, but KSI made the revelation during his pre-fight press conference on Thursday. The 29-year-old—real name Olajide Olayinka Williams ‘JJ’ Olatunji—is scheduled to fight mixed martial artist Dillon Danis at Wembley Arena on January 14.

“I hope he doesn’t get annoyed that I said this, but Wayne Rooney hit me up being like ‘oh, we should fight,’ and I said no. I just don’t want to do that,” KSI told reporters on Thursday. “I don’t know, if Wayne Rooney is down of course I think it would be good to have him in the [content-creator boxing] space.”

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Do you think KSI will beat Dillon Danis on January 14? Let us know in the comments section.

The social media star went on to say “Wayne Bridge is another person that’s been interested in the space” as the lines between sports continues to blur. KSI is 3-0 as a professional and previously fought fellow influencer Logan Paul on two occasions, drawing their 2018 clash before edging the American via split decision the following year.

Rooney, 37, ended his playing career while player-manager at Derby County last year before assuming the head coach job full-time. He oversaw the club’s relegation to League One while they were in administration before finally resigning as manager in June 2022.

He’s since returned to Washington D.C. and is now at the helm of former employers D.C. United. He re-joined the club halfway through their 2022 campaign but couldn’t prevent the Black and Red posting the worst record of all 28 MLS teams.

‘Wazza’ was involved in boxing as a youth and even accompanied Manchester City supporter Ricky Hatton to the ring for his light-welterweight world title fight against Jose Luis Castillo in 2007. There are less fond boxing memories for Rooney, too, after a video of former team-mate Phil Bardsley ‘knocking him out’ in the kitchen of his Cheshire mansion went viral in 2015.

As for what’s to come for KSI, the Londoner won’t be content if he defeats Danis, who failed to show for Thursday’s press conference. Instead, he agreed his hopes are fixated on one day lining up a bout against his most bitter rival.

“That has always been the goal, Jake Paul,” he continued. “That’s the reason why I’ve come back into boxing, to show everyone that Jake Paul is nothing.

“It could be Wembley Stadium, it could be any stadium in the UK. It’s going to happen. We’re negotiating at the moment and we’re working on making sure it’s one of the biggest fights of all time.”

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