Actor Mickey Rourke shocked the boxing world (and Hollywood) last month when he won a match in his return to fighting at age 62. Rourke defeated 29-year-old Elliot Seymour after the referee called the fight following several knockdowns.
Just days after the bout, a report claimed Seymour was paid to take a dive against Rourke. On Monday, TMZ caught up with Seymour and asked him if that is true.
“I was told specifically to go down in the second (round),” Seymour admitted. “They told me to come out in the first round, throw some jabs, feel it out. In the second round, catch a body shot and go (down).”
Seymour said he was specifically instructed to not hit Rourke in the face at all. The most surprising revelation was that Seymour does not believe Rourke knew the fight was fixed.
“As far as I know Mickey had no knowledge of this,” he said. “He was in the dark. … He didn’t have anything to do with the fix being in. That was all his people.”
You can watch a video of the fight here.
The body shot Rourke delivered that ultimately ended the fight did not seem all that devastating, so we wouldn’t be surprised if Seymour is telling the truth. But there are a few things to consider.
For starters, Seymour admitted that he was initially angry with Rourke’s people for “dragging their feet” on paying him. He says he was paid $10,000 to go to Russia and promised another $5,000 when he returned to the US.
In addition, Seymour — who is 1-9 in his professional boxing career — said he is hoping to schedule a legitimate fight in the future. If he wants to continue his boxing career, it is important that he convince people he could have beaten a 62-year-old man if he wanted to.
