Mike Tyson told by Wayne Rooney to stop punching him in ribs during dinner meeting

Wayne Rooney has revealed he once told Mike Tyson to stop punching him after feeling the power from the boxing legend.

The Manchester United legend is an avid boxing fan and managed to find himself sharing a dinner table with one of his idols.

Getty

And their meeting ended up taking an awkward turn, with Rooney recalling the story on the latest episode of his BBC podcast.

He discussed his love for boxing and watching heavyweights such as Tyson, Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield when he was younger.

Mike drop

Before the England icon then explained: “I was lucky enough to meet him [Tyson]. I went for food with him in Manchester.

“I was just in awe of him really. You see him and his presence. You could still see the edge was there.

“As I was sat there, he leaned back and he was hitting me in the ribs.

“In the end, I’m sitting there eating my food and I’m like: ‘OK mate, OK mate, leave it there now.’

“He was with a girl and I can remember he just leaned over me, got his fork, picked the steak up and put it on this other plate and ate her steak. I was just like: ‘Stay out of it.'”

Rooney was then questioned on how the meal with Tyson came about in the first place, considering the two’s differing careers.

To which he stated: “He was doing a talk in Manchester and one of his managers got in touch as asked if I wanted to go for food with him.

“I think they’d seen I’d spoken about him and my admiration for him. So, of course I went!”

Getty

Shared admiration

Rooney may well have been starstruck by sharing dinner with Tyson, but the iconic boxer was likely starstruck too.

Speaking in 2020, Tyson’s ex-sparring partner Joe Egan said: “Wayne Rooney, in particular, was one of the stars Mike wanted to meet because he had so much admiration for Wayne.

“So when Mike was over for an after-dinner speech in the UK about more than 15 years ago, in Manchester, I was with him.

“The table that had been reserved for the team was given to the Carrington training ground staff because the team was stuck in traffic after an away match. But on another table, there was Wayne’s wife, Coleen, and her family.”

Egan added: “Wayne was over the moon to meet Mike and Mike was over the moon to meet Wayne.

“An ex-boxer himself, Wayne loves and follows the sport of boxing and he’s a very good fighter himself.

Wayne Rooney - Instagram

“Because they’re both superstars, Mike wanted to speak to Wayne about the pitfalls and the problems that the young superstars could encounter.

“So Mike imparted a little bit of advice and gave him some inside knowledge on things to watch out for when you’re a rising superstar.

“Wayne really appreciated his advice and concern.”