Mickey Rourke Boxing: Opponent Elliot Seymour Homeless? Boxer 'Paid' To Lose

A source close to the family of Elliot Seymour, the fighter who lost in a "controversial" bout against Hollywood star Mickey Rourke claimed that the former was "paid to throw the fight," a Daily Mail report revealed.

Seymour is reportedly a homeless drifter who just happened to train in the same gym with the 62-year-old Rourke and that allegedly, he was just given financial incentive to fight the actor and make him win.

The 29-year-old contender was beaten when he went down during the second round of the match.

"It was clearly a fixed fight. The whole bouncing off the ropes, hands down, punches were not landing and they were intentionally hitting each other's gloves. There are people at Wild Card gym who know that Elliot's in a really terrible situation and pretty much living on the streets, these are Mickey Rourke's people who Elliot's been around and known for some time," the source was quoted by Daily Mail as saying.

The source added that the act was "beneficial" to Rourke as it made him feel good and boosted his ego for defeating a fighter who is half his age. "But it was really problematic that this fight was put together in this way. I think people need to know," the Daily Mail source stated further.

Daily Mail reached out to Seymour's mother who admitted that she has not been communicating with her son "because of philosophical differences about his fighting." 

"I personally am not interested in any sports that are contact and cause concussion. I'm worried anytime anybody is involved in a contact sport. I was anxious knowing her was going to be fighting again, I would like him to switch professions. At the very beginning I tried to be supportive, but I just don't like watching boxing. I have had to accept the fact I cannot determine Elliot's profession or his future, I can just give him my advice and he'll listen or he won't," Mrs. Seymour told Daily Mail.

Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports wrote that Rourke's victory was "a joke of a fight and an affront to the sport" as both fighters did not showcase skill in boxing.

Iole added that the fight was "beyond awful" as it was not even close to a real fight done by professional fighters.

"Promoter Arthur Pellulo should be ashamed for being a part of that farce," Iole commented, adding, "Simply by being a part of it, Pellulo's reputation is deservedly going to take a massive hit. It was bad enough that Pellulo allowed well-past-his-prime Jose Luis Castillo fight in the main event against Ruslan Provodnikov, but it showed terrible judgment to be a party to something like the Rourke-Seymour debacle."

It was clear from the footages of the fight that neither of the men really tried to bring their game to the ring and to outclass their opponent. It also did not make Rourke "look good" in front of boxing fans and the entire world as the fight can be considered "horrible" overall, Iole noted.

Watch the fight, uploaded by primetime boxing below: