Mickey Rourke
ollywood actor Mickey Rourke (R), 62, fights with US professional Elliot Seymour, 29, in Moscow on November 28, 2014, as Rourke revives his boxing career at the age of 62 taking to the ring. Rourke was an amateur boxer before his Hollywood career took off and he became a sex symbol star in films such as '9 1/2 Weeks.' He returned to boxing as a professional for eight matches in the 1990s, causing damage to his face that necessitated surgery and changed his appearance. ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/Getty Images

MOSCOW – 62-year-old actor Mickey Rourke returned to the boxing ring on Friday night after a 20-year hiatus from the sport that pulled him away from the silver screen in the prime of his career. Rourke fought a five-round exhibition fight against 29-year old Pasadena native, Elliot Seymour, at the Moscow Concert Hall in Russia. Rourke defeated Seymour by knockout in the second round after dropping Seymour to the canvas with a couple of body shots.

The fight was Rourke’s first fight since 1994 when he went 6-0-2 during a three-year pro boxing career that took him away from acting during the 1990s. The exhibition fight was the first of four planned fights Rourke wants to put on in Russia as Rourke mourns the death of his Chihuahua and deals with personal demons.

“I’ve got some things going on in my life so that boxing has sort of saved me from myself,” Rourke told a Russian television channel before the bout. “And for a man like me, it’s better to live in fear than go on in shame.”

Rourke wore a Stetson cowboy hat and a red-and-gold robe in the ring with shiny gold boxing gloves and red shorts with the words “Marielito” inscribed on them. “Marielito”, was Rourke’s nickname during his professional boxing career in the 90s, and is Spanish for “always handsome.”

Mickey Rourke 2
Hollywood actor Mickey Rourke, 62, greets the audience before fighting US professional Elliot Seymour, 29, in Moscow on November 28, 2014, as Rourke revives his boxing career at the age of 62 taking to the ring. ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/Getty Images

Rourke shed over 35 pounds for the fight, looking more thin and lean than he did in his 2008 cinematic performance in the film, “The Wrestler.” Rourke looked slow and lethargic for most of the fight, and would have been better suited fighting a random person off the streets of Moscow than he did against Seymour. Rourke landed a couple of body shots in the second round that wouldn’t have hurt a fly, but for some strange reason dropped Seymour to the canvas. The second shot hit Seymour in the butt, but Seymour stayed down on one knee as he was counted out.

The Russian crowd cheered for Rourke throughout the fight chanting “Misha,” short for the name “Mikhail”, or “Mickey” in Russian. Rourke played up to the crowd, even faking an injury for a second to try and bring Seymour in to the corner where he could sucker him in to landing a few punches. Despite the lousy display of boxing in the exhibition fight, Rourke did look good for a 62-year-old man. Check out the picture of Rourke during his weigh-in below and also watch the full fight yourself in the video below.

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