By Luke Furman
Manager Vadim Kornilov, who represents the boxing interests of Hollywood actor Mickey Rourke, says nobody knew that Elliot Seymour was living on the streets. After two decades of being away from the squared circle, Rourke - 62-years-old - returned to boxing last Friday night in Moscow, and stopped Elliot Seymour, with a 1-9 record, in the second round. One of Kornilov's sluggers, Ruslan Provodnikov, headlined the show against Jose Luis Castillo.
After the match, controversy broke out as reports surfaced that Seymour, 29-years-old, was desperate for money and living on the streets for the last 18 months. Seymour confirmed to TMZ that he was homeless but denied any claims that he took a dive in the contest.
"Seymour was third on the list of candidates to fight with Rourke," said Kornilov. "When the first candidate failed to agree, the second had problems with the passport. As a result, the choice fell on Seymour. He was found in the [Wild Card Gym] by Freddie Roach, where he goes to train and in particular to spar. Seymour was chosen as the opponent for Rourke because he met a certain level - because let's not forget that Mickey is already 62-years-old. The fact that Seymour homeless, I knew nothing about that. He does not look like a man who has nowhere to live. I want to emphasize that Seymour is a professional boxer. He has the necessary licenses [to box professionally]."
Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.
