Mickey Rourke To Reignite His Boxing Career With Fight In Moscow

At 62, he might be pushing pensionable age, but Mickey Rourke has still got some fight left in him.

The actor-turned-boxer-turned-actor-again is training for a five-round bout in Moscow at the end of the month against 29-year-old fighter Elliot Seymour.

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Speaking to the Russian website Sovetsky Sport, he said: “Boxing is a serious part of my life. It taught me respect and determination, patience and concentration. I always dreamed of fighting a match in Russia.”

The fight will apparently take place before the bout between Russia’s Ruslan Provodnikov and Mexican slugger Jose Luis Castillo on November 28.

Russian sports manager Maxim Kornilov told the TASS news agency: “Given his age 62 years old - he is in a perfect shape. He continues training for the fight now.

“Mickey did appear in spars with young boxers and we’ll wait and see his performance on the prize-ring. I think he’ll cope with the task because he has a wealth of experience.”

Rourke has returned to his former trainer Freddie Roach, the veteran coach of the likes of Mike Tyson and Oscar De La Hoya, in preparation for the fight.

The actor trained under Roach when he quit acting for boxing back in 1991.

In that time, Rourke recorded 27 wins – 17 by knockout – and just three defeats, but the pugilism put paid to his bad-boy good looks.

After he hung up his gloves in 1994, his next appearance in the ring was in Darren Aronofsky’s ‘The Wrestler’ in 2008, for which he won the Golden Globe for Best Actor.

But Rourke may have his work cut out for him - Seymour has lost only one out of nine fights since 2009.

Image credit: Scan Sport/Rex Features

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