CEFN Fforest’s Rob Turley may have been beaten but he picked up a lot of new fans during Saturday’s televised clash with Carl Frampton, including football megastar Wayne Rooney.

The Manchester United and England striker was hooked by Turley’s career-best performance on the Sky Sports bill, taking to Twitter to show his appreciation.

It’s an unexpected coming together of sport’s haves and have-nots and, as he recovers from the brutal bout at Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena, Turley is finding it all hard to believe.

“It’s crazy that Wayne Rooney was talking about me on Twitter,” said the 24-year-old.

“I’m an Arsenal supporter so I’m not his biggest fan but the fact that he knows who I am is a strange feeling.

“But it just goes to show what being on a high-profile bill can do and hopefully I can use this as a platform.”

Rooney, who revealed over the weekend that he has undergone a hair transplant operation, was particularly taken with Turley’s bleached blonde hairstyle.

“Apparently he said he was going to get a Rob Turley haircut when he comes to Swansea next season,” said Turley.

“We’ll see about that – I don’t think he’s got enough hair to do it!”

Rooney aside, the Welsh super-bantamweight was pleased with his performance despite the result against the highly-rated Frampton.

“I was very happy,” he said. “It was definitely the best performance of my career, even though I lost.

“I’m still sore and I can’t chew my food properly but I’m proud.

“They thought he’d walk right through me but I came up the hard way through small hall shows and I showed I’m no pushover,” he added.

“Sky weren’t even going to let me walk on to my music until we kicked up a fuss. I was like meat being fed to the lion but I proved I’ve got a really good chin.

“Frampton and his manager Barry McGuigan were full of praise and if he moves on to a British title I’d like to go for his Celtic belt again.

“I only want eight or 10 round fights now.”