Stallone is afraid of Mike Tyson

The action hero turned down a request to star in Rocky Balboa as he feared Tyson would kill him.

Action superstar Sylvester Stallone turned down a request from Mike Tyson to star as his opponent in Rocky Balboa because the actor feared the former boxing champ would kill him.

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Stallone did not warm up too easily to getting in the ring with Tyson, reports contactmusic.com. Explaining the denial, Stallone said: "I am still too young to die."

He added: "Mike wanted to fight me in this film but I thought it was a bad idea. I know I'm not that young, but I'm still too young to die.

"I said, 'Thanks, but I don't think that would be a very good idea. Thank you very much.' But he kept calling the office saying he wanted to be in the film fighting me. Eventually, I relented and said he could be in the audience. Then I never heard from him. Suddenly, when I turn up in the ring he's there at the side.

"I turned round and said to the crew, 'Can you make sure you keep that son of a bitch out of the ring. If he gets in he'll kill me.' The man's a killer."