New York, Sep 6 (IANS): Sylvester Stallone found himself as a victim of a "sick" death hoax this weekend, but dismissed the rumours with a fun photo on Monday, media reports said.

Without referencing the hoax that quickly spread across social media, Sylvester brushed it off with a cheeky smile and boxing pose, proving he's as fit as ever, Mirror online reported.

"With the incredibly powerful unified light heavyweight champion, Sergey "Krusher" Kovzalev "...Whatever he hits, he destroys" @sergeykovalev (sic)," the actor captioned the photo.

Fans of the Rocky and Rambo action movie legend were thrown into a state of shock this weekend as a cruel rumour circulated on social media which appeared to confirm his death.

A fake news story -- allegedly from US news site CNN - was being shared on Facebook, with fans clicking on the spam article, which then shares it on their page for their friends to see.

However, Stallone - who has ignored the prank -- has been active on his own social media accounts.

On Friday, he shared a silly selfie with his daughter Sophia as they enjoyed a meal together, captioning it: "A wonderful quiet dinner together with my daughter.

Fans were confused when the hoax broke, with one writing: "Is Sylvester Stallone dead or it was just a hoax? #StalloneDead? (sic)"Fans were confused when the hoax broke, with one writing: "Is Sylvester Stallone dead or it was just a hoax? #StalloneDead? (sic)"

The star was the victim of another cruel hoax four years earlier.