Wayne Rooney is set to help out Tyson Fury ahead of his next fight, with the former Manchester United and England captain accepting the WBC Heavyweight world champion's offer of a sparring session.
Fury is poised to face Oleksandr Usyk next year in a potential unification bout and Rooney has accepted the offer to join Fury four weeks ahead of the contest. It follows mutual praise between the pair, with well-known boxing fan Rooney starting the exchange by calling for Fury to be knighted in the wake of his win against Derek Chisora last week which saw the self-styled Gypsy King extend his unbeaten career record.
Speaking to talkSPORT the England and United record goalscorer said: “I think he’s the best we’ve seen in a long time, and I don’t think anyone will beat him. I think he’s an absolute legend for what he’s done for boxing. He’s entertaining, his skills are incredible, and his mentality is incredible.
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“If I’m being honest, I probably think he should be knighted because he hasn’t been afraid to go abroad, he’s won titles abroad, defended them abroad and he epitomises everything that boxing is.”
Fury is a well-known United fan and has revealed his admiration for the former United skipper, offering a sparring contest while comparing Rooney to Usyk in a continuation of his comments about the size of the Ukrainian former cruiserweight world champion.
Fury responded: “Wayne Rooney is a proper legend, and I grew up watching him as a youngster for England and [Manchester] United. So, that’s [an] amazing, amazing speech from him.
“He’s a massive boxing fan, he comes from a boxing family as well. So, hopefully, we can have a little spar in the future sometime. I do need someone smaller to prepare for Usyk. Wayne, if you’re listening, get on the blower, son!”
Following these comments, Rooney appears to have accepted the offer having seen the quotes from Fury, with a private conversation appearing to have taken place. In a further interview, he told ITV : "I spoke to Wayne [Rooney] last night and he's well up for it. But he's a right-handed person, so he's got to switch up to be southpaw left-handed.
''So, we're going to bring Wayne in for preparation for Usyk.''
Oleksandr Usyk's assistant coach and team manager Sergey Lapin believes it could be a good thing, telling Vegas Insider: "As for Wayne Rooney sparring Fury, I think it’s a cool idea. Wayne can soften Tyson up for us, he looks like he can throw a punch."
The fight between Fury and Usyk is yet to be agreed upon, but the Ukrainian's appearance at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on December 3rd appears to demonstrate the willingness of the pair to enter the ring against one another. Any fight is expected to take place in the early months of 2023, with a fight to take place in February or March.
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