The Mickey Rourke boxing match released recently showed the 62-year-old actor winning an exhibition boxing match in Moscow against a 29-year-old opponent. The recent Mickey Rourke boxing match is reportedly the first time that the Academy Award nominee has returned to the ring in 20 years.
The Wrestler star defeated former California Golden Gloves Elliot Seymour, a man 33 years his junior. In the video of the Mickey Rourke boxing match with Seymour, Rourke can be seen sending his opponent to the canvas twice in the second round before the referee stopped the fight.
While some may consider the latest Mickey Rourke boxing match a great feat for an old man who hasn't been in the ring a long time, Russia's top boxing expert, Alexander Belenky, dismissed the Mickey Rourke boxing match "victory."
Seymour, a former amateur boxer and veteran commentator, said the match Mickey Rourke boxing match against Seymour is just a public relations sham and was "just good PR action," according to the Daily Mail. This reportedly echoed several other boxing experts' claims that the fight had been fixed.
Others say that the recent Mickey Rourke boxing match had been planned to offer the former actor an opportunity to make money by defeating the younger boxer.
The actor, known for his role in the film "The Wrestler," in which he won a Bafta and Golden Globe in 2008, beat Seymour in just two rounds. Nominated for an Oscar for his role in the movie "Milk", Rourke had been an amateur boxer before he found a career in Hollywood movies such as "9 1/2 Weeks."
"Mickey Rourke boxing - I'm too old for going to the circus," Belenky said of the Mickey Rourke boxing match held in Moscow this week. "This 'performance' is just a good PR action."
He added that Seymour was "a born loser" who has "won only once in the last ten years."
Andrey Bazdrev, former press secretary to the Russian Professional Boxing Federation, echoed Belenky's opinion on the Mickey Rourke boxing match and described it as "open clownery."
"The promoters won't speak about it openly, because if they do they would not have sold the tickets," he said.
Other critics weren't all too convinced of the entire thing as well.
"(His participation) was first of all a performance, The Wrestler movie in real life," said commentator Dmitry Klipin.
"And don't forget about the financial background of his come-back. It is hard for me to say anything about the strength of 29-year-old Seymour but I think this opponent was especially chosen for Rourke, considering his age and physical abilities," added Klipin.
"Meat-mincing is not good for a man on pension," he concluded stating his opinion on the Mickey Rourke boxing match.
USA Today's Micah Peters also said, "I wasn't there, but if I were I'd probably send a sternly-worded letter to the commissioner, petitioning for some amount of my money back."
While ESPN's Dan Rafael said, "It was pathetic."
According to the Mickey Rourke boxing match organisers, the boxers were receiving "large amounts of money" in fees. However, they declined to provide futher details.
Ahead of his fight, Rourke expressed his gratitude and announced his fight was with 29-year-old Seymour.
"I'm very happy to be back to the boxing ring. Thank God for letting me do this", he said.
He did not however, go into detail about his motivations for returning to the ring. Despite this, he told Russian TV boxing had "sort of saved me from myself".
The actor reportedly had to lose more than 33lbs (15kg) for the fight. He now weighs 179.2lbs (81.3kg), which is the same as his rival. Seymour is placed at the 256th in the United States and before the Mickey Rourke boxing match, he was recorded as having one knockout and nine losses in 10 bouts.
In the 1990s, Rourke returned to boxing as a professional and was undefeated in eight fights. He ended up having six wins and two draws, reports the BBC.
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