Undefeated Rourke made his return from 20 years out of the ring on the night, defeating American Seymour in a non-sanctioned contest via a second round stoppage. In the immediate aftermath of the win, it was claimed Seymour took a dive in order make Rourke look good, something that wasn’t completely dismissed by promoter Andrey Ryabinsky or Rourke’s agent Vadim Kornilov who labelled it a PR stunt.
Kornilov now says Rourke is ready to return to action in search of another triumph, but stopped short of putting the ‘Iron Man 2’ actor on another bill topped by his prized professional Ruslan Provodnikov. ‘The Siberian Rocky’ faces Lucas Matthysse in New York on April 18 in what looks a certain war – with Rourke pencilled in to fight at some point later in the year.
“We don’t have an actual fight set for Mickey Rourke yet, but I can confirm that he is not planned to fight on Ruslan’s undercard for now, possibly a little bit later than that,” Kornilov exclusively told World Boxing News.
When asked about Mickey’s intentions in the sport on the back of recent events, Kornilov added: “Mickey is a real fighter and he trains no less than any other younger fighter out there. He really keeps himself in shape, even off season, and I really think many people out there, fighters or non-fighters, should get motivation from people like him.
“Mickey definitely sets a great example of how to keep yourself in shape no matter what your age is and in the long term I just hope that Mickey can stay as motivated as he is now and keep getting what he wants from boxing.”
