Hollywood legend Sylvester Stallone once rejected an opportunity from Mike Tyson as he feared for his life.

Stallone rose to fame when he starred as Rocky Balboa in the Rocky film franchise, which was first released in 1976.

Since its first release, the franchise has become a real hit amongst fans and the popularity has not faded away to this day.

Whilst filming the films, Stallone worked with real fighters like Antonio Carver and Dolph Lundgren, but he rejected the chance to work with heavyweight legend Tyson.

It was reported that Tyson asked to star as one of the possible antagonists for Stallone in one of the films.

However, Stallone rejected the chance, he told Contact Music, via Boxing Scene: “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.”

After all the calls, Stallone told Tyson he could land a cameo at ringside.

Stallone added: “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 around and said to the crew, ‘Can you make sure you keep that son of a b***h out of the ring. If he gets in he’ll kill me.’ The man’s a killer.”

Tyson was originally set to take on YouTuber turned boxer Jake Paul on July 20 but the fight has been rescheduled after the 57-year-old suffered a medical scare.

Instead, the fight will now take place at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on November 15.