PHOTO: Bildbyrån
They were teammates at Manchester United for one season.
Now comes a most unexpected proposal to Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Wayne Rooney.
– I want to see Zlatan against Rooney in a fight, says former boxer Paul Malignaggi.
Last year took Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s long football career ended and after much speculation he agreed to a new job at the end of 2023. “Ibra” chose to remain in Milan and take on the new assignment as an advisor to the club’s American owners.
Proposal for Zlatan
42-year-old Zlatan also has many other projects besides the leadership role to keep himself busy after his playing career. But now comes the most unexpected proposal to the Swedish world star.
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It’s the former boxer Paul Malignaggiwho is now a boxing analyst, who wants to see Ibrahimovic step into the ring for a sensational boxing match – against Wayne Rooney(!).
Fight Rooney
The Englishman has had a checkered time after retiring from football in 2021. The former goalscorer has been trying to break through as a manager but was recently sacked at Birmingham after just a few months in the job.
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Now comes new information that “Wazza” has actually been in negotiations to make his boxing debut. Malignaggi now admits that Rooney would do well as a professional boxer and that a match against Zlatan in particular would go down in history.
– I like the idea, Wayne has always been a physical forward. Rooney has the physique and skills as he is very strong and athletic. He is also a big boxing fan, when I met him he immediately knew who I was. There are some footballers who would really do well in the ring and they are Wayne Rooney, Romelu Lukaku and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. So I like it, says Paul Malignaggi in an interview with Lord Ping.
READ MORE: Beautiful revelation about Zlatan Ibrahimovic – which really says it all about the former football star: “Nice to see”
“Break all records”
Ibrahimovic and Rooney played together at Manchester United for one season and a match between the old teammates had broken all sales records and attracted millions of viewers.
– Rooney should do like Jake Paul and start boxing against another footballer. Jake Paul started by facing retired NBA players to avoid going straight into the ring against a professional boxer. If Rooney has to choose another footballer, it should be Zlatan. It would easily break all kinds of records, a million would easily have bought “pay-per-view” tickets to see such a match, says the former boxer in the interview.
– Think about the marketing, with videos from their football careers and you can easily sell them as fighters. Wayne vs Zlatan I would really like to see.
Wayne Rooney grew up in a boxing family, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic has often talked about competing in taekwondo as a youngster. The Swede has also often been to watch UFC galas live.
Would you like to see a boxing match between “Ibra” and Rooney? Share the article and have your say!
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