Wayne Rooney suggested his own love for boxing extends to his four children after buying them their very own ring for Christmas.
Taking to Instagram, the Birmingham City manager’s wife Coleen shared a photo of sons Kai, 13, Klay, 10, Kit, seven, and five-year old Cass fully kitted out in boxing gloves and shorts individually personalised with their names.
The four boys were pictured side by side after setting up the ring in their home gym, somewhat appropriately on Boxing Day.
Captioning the shot, Coleen, 37, wrote: ‘Happy Boxing Day everyone! Not sure the ring was a good idea for Christmas. Hope everyone had a lovely day.’
The four boys appear to be following in the footsteps of their father, whose own love of the contact sport is well documented.
Wayne Rooney suggested his own love for boxing extends to his four children after buying them their very own ring for Christmas (L-R: Klay, Kit, Kai and Cass Rooney)
In 2015 the former Manchester United and England striker, 38, was knocked out cold by ex-teammate Phil Bardsley during a sparring session at Rooney’s Cheshire mansion.
With only a small space in which to work in Rooney’s lounge, the pair traded light blows for just under a minute before Bardsley, at the time a Stoke City player, sent Rooney reeling.
In video footage that was later obtained by The Sun, the former striker is filmed lying motionless under a chair for several seconds before the clip cuts out.
‘Wayne had everybody worried when he hit the floor like that,’ a source told the newspaper.
‘He made such a thud when he went down and he was just on his back with his eyes closed, not moving.
‘People were scared he had really banged his head and done some lasting damage. Everyone realised it was a stupid thing to do, but they just got carried away.’
Bardsley’s wife, Real Housewives Of Cheshire star Tanya Bardsley, later hit back at the furore caused by the release of the video, tweeting: ‘Seen the sun, 2 mates havin a laugh video doesn’t show Wayne jumping straight up and laughing with Phil.’ [sic]
The video is believed to have been filmed on February 22 2015, the day after Manchester United lost 2-1 at minnows Swansea City.
The four boys appear to be following in the footsteps of their father (pictured right with professional boxer Paul Smith), whose own love of the contact sport is well documented
Wayne with boxing legends Lennox Lewis and Amir Khan in an undated Instagram photo
Rooney was wearing a pair of white Adidas gloves while Bardsley pulled on a pink pair. They appeared to be sparring gloves rather than the smaller, less padded sets worn in professional fights.
Neither man had a headguard on and while Bardsley was wearing shoes, Rooney appeared to be in his socks.
After touching gloves, they circled each other before Bardsley threw a left hand. Rooney pawed back without connecting.
Bardsley was the more aggressive throughout, and tried to go for Rooney’s body, pushing him back. The pair separated but again Bardsley came on strongly, landing a right uppercut.
Rooney tried to respond but missed wildly before his former team-mate threw the shot that sent Rooney backwards, narrowly avoiding a chair as he hit the deck.