Jack Wilshere takes up BOXING after retiring from football last year and names a ‘dream fight’ against a Premier League star.
The 31 year old appeared on social media this week throwing some punches as he reveals his love for boxing.
Since hanging up his boots last year, Wilshere has gone into coaching and has taken up as role as the manager of Arsenal’s under 18s.
Our newest elite club member @JackWilshere smashing the pads 🥊
Hit the link in our bio to hear from the midfield maestro himself 👆⚽️ pic.twitter.com/l41WkvooTX
— The George Groves Boxing Club (@GGBoxingClub) June 30, 2023
However, the former England midfielder’s competitive spirit has clearly not diminished in retirement as he now supplements his coaching duties with sessions at The Fit Factory gym in London, run by brothers Andreas and Chris Evangelou.
And its not just for fitness, either.
Wilshere revealed that he has been sparring and has contemplated taking a fight, with a prospective opponent already in mind.
Speaking on the The George Groves Boxing Club podcast alongside the former WBA super-middleweight champion, Wilshere named an ex-teammate when asked which footballer past or present he would like to meet inside the ropes.
‘I’d like to do it with someone I know. You know Aaron Cresswell? I played with him.
‘I can always remember him sort of floating around the training ground sort of putting his hands up pretending to fight people.
‘I think I’d like to have a go with Cresswell. He’s a similar height to me as well, similar weight.’
The 30-year-old joked that he would show no mercy to the Hammers left-back if they faced off against each other: ‘I’ll hammer him. I’d hammer everything to do with him, his mum, everything. His mum’s getting it.’
Wilshere’s desire to step into the ring with Cresswell may stem from a prank pulled on upon his arrival to the Hammers in 2018.
Working in tandem with then-club captain Mark Noble, the pair set Wilshere up for what was ostensibly a interview about his arrival at the London Stadium.
However, the entire thing proved to be an elaborate prank, with Cresswell and Noble feeding the interview questions to ask the unsuspecting Wilshere as they watched on from another room.
After being unknowingly subjected to his initiation at the club, the pair appeared to put Wilshere out of his misery and admit that the whole interview had been an elaborate joke.
“It has been an unbelievable journey filled with so many incredible moments and I feel privileged to have experienced all that I did during my career,” Wilshere said in his retirement announcement on Twitter.
“From being the little boy kicking a ball around in the garden to captaining my beloved Arsenal and playing for my country at a World Cup. I have lived my dream.
“In truth it has been difficult to accept that my career has been slipping away in recent times due to reasons outside of my control whilst feeling that I have still had so much to give.
“Having played at the very highest level I have always held such huge ambitions within the game and if I am truthful, I did not envisage being in this position at times.
“However, having had time to reflect and talk with those closest with me I know that now is the right time and despite the difficult moments, I look back on my career with great pride at what I have achieved.”
Speaking to the Independent back in April, Wilshere said on coaching: “I love it, honestly,” he said of his first year in coaching.
“It’s given me back the real deep love for football and I didn’t know I’d lost it to be honest. I came back here last year and I was coaching a bit, training a bit.
“Then I had a decision to make. Do I want to go to Denmark? I loved it, I loved the country, the people, but I didn’t love it as much.
“When I came back here, and it might be because it’s Arsenal, I feel like people here genuinely care about me, which is nice.
“I love it. On the grass, trying to beat teams, trying to work out a way to play against teams, trying to develop an individual.
“Obviously, it was a different world I was entering. The corporate world, all the emails – but now I’m in a place where I’ve worked that out, I’ve structured my day better. The coaching stuff I absolutely love.”
