{"id":187046,"date":"2025-06-15T18:52:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-15T18:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/187046\/"},"modified":"2025-06-15T18:52:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-15T18:52:12","slug":"england-legend-had-me-hiding-away-in-training-ground-boxing-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/187046\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018England Legend Had Me Hiding Away in Training Ground Boxing Match"},"content":{"rendered":"

Duncan Ferguson is an Everton<\/a> legend, helping the club win the 1995 FA Cup. His physical presence up front meant he was able to dominate opponents, making him easily one of the hardest Toffees players in football history<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fantastic in the air, Ferguson was no slouch with the ball at his feet either. In two spells at Goodison Park, he scored 72 goals in 272 games. Yet despite his reputation, it was the big Scot who admitted to hiding away in a boxing match with another former international.<\/p>\n

Off the field, Ferguson was not shy about occasionally putting on boxing gloves for a quick spar. Most players would avoid going into the ring with the Scot, although one teammate had no issue with it despite only being a teenager at the time. Not only that, he actually got the upper hand in the contest due to their background in the noble art.<\/p>\n

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\"Everton's<\/p>\n

\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\t\t
\n\t\t\tFootball Hardman Duncan Ferguson Named His 3 Toughest Opponents
\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Two English icons and a Liverpool legend makes up the former Everton striker’s top 3 of toughest opponents. <\/p>\n

English Teenager Had Ferguson ‘Hiding’<\/strong><\/p>\n

Few players had the nerve to take on the known hardman<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ferguson’s later years at Everton coincided with the emergence of one of the greatest strikers in football history<\/a>. It was Wayne Rooney<\/a> who had no qualms going toe-to-toe with the Toffees’ hardman<\/a>. As Ferguson recalls in his recently released autobiography (per Mail Sport): “I do remember us putting on the boxing gloves one day and having a spar. We were in the gym lifting weights. It was an off-the-cuff thing and I have to say he was a handy fighter.”<\/p>\n

Rooney was known for his bullish strength. Yet he was only 16 when he boxed Ferguson, who was not keen on a rematch<\/a> with the young Scouser.<\/p>\n

“I remember getting punched right in the forehead by him. He was wearing the right glove and I was the one hiding away. We only did it once – I never wanted to do it again. Like I say, he was handy.”<\/p>\n

Rooney grew up an Everton fan who very much worshipped Ferguson from the Goodison Park stands. By 2002, Rooney had broken through into David Moyes’<\/a> first team. Not long after their time together in the ring, they were playing alongside each other for Everton. Coming on for the last 30 minutes in a League Cup tie away to Wrexham, Rooney hit the ground running. His two late goals saw Everton win 3-0.<\/p>\n

\t\t<\/p>\n

\"Maradona\"<\/p>\n

\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\t\t
\n\t\t\tDiego Maradona Claimed England Legend Was ‘Better Than’ Ballon d\u2019Or Winner in 2007
\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Maradona was clear in his assessment.<\/p>\n

Rooney would go on to be a great player of the British game<\/a>. He was not overawed by his later move to Old Trafford. Today, he is considered one of the greatest British Manchester United players in football history<\/a>. Everton certainly was a great place for Rooney to learn his trade. Yet Ferguson remains humble in his role in helping to develop Rooney.<\/p>\n

“We hit it off on the pitch from the start – he did what I told him to do. But about three weeks later he was telling me what to do.”<\/p>\n

Statistics in this article are courtesy of Transfermarkt<\/a>. Correct as of 15-06-25.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Duncan Ferguson is an Everton legend, helping the club win the 1995 FA Cup. His physical presence up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-187046","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}