Roach's ex-pro advises pugs

LONDON – Actor and former professional boxer Mickey Rourke, who used to be trained by Freddie Roach, recently offered sage advice to world champion fighters who think living in the fast lane will last forever.

Rourke, 59, was interviewed by Elliot Worsell in former heavyweight champion David Haye’s lavish 194-page magazine “Hayemaker” and said when the wins dry up, a fighter’s entourage dwindles to a level where he becomes an insignificant ex-celebrity. “Hayemaker” is available at W. H. Smith stores in the city for the equivalent of P560.

Rourke turned pro in 1991 at the age of 38 and racked up a 6-0-2 record, with four KOs, as a lightheavyweight. He retired in 1994 when neurological tests showed damage in his brain. Because of his movie background, Rourke was a crowd drawer, performing in smokers in Tokyo, Hamburg and Asturias, Spain. But he never went up against a contender. Rourke said he took a lot of punishment sparring with the likes of Tommy Hearns, Roberto Duran and James (Lights Out) Toney and blamed those sessions for what doctors suspect to be brain damage.

Although Rourke’s record lists only eight fights, he claimed an unbeaten streak of 11. He also said he logged a 26-2 record as an amateur.

“My one piece of advice is this – save your money,” said Rourke. “Success in boxing depends a lot on your lifestyle and your intelligence and I think that, unfortunately, most fighters end up with money trouble at the end of it all. A lot of these guys don’t come from money in the first place so they don’t really know how to deal with it. They also have to contend with big entourages and people trying to take stuff from them. They’ll employ some guy to go fetch them candy bars during the day. It’s nonsense. I remember going to see Duran and he would always have 12 guys with him. I never had a clue what any of them were actually doing.”

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The entourage syndrome afflicts nearly every world champion and spares nobody. This has been the case for decades as fighters, particularly world champions, are revered as superheroes or kings by fans and like to surround themselves with sycophants, disciples and gophers in keeping with their celebrity status.

“That entourage goes from 12 to two when you’re broke and I know about that first-hand,” continued Rourke whose film credits include The Wrestler, Sin City and Once Upon A Time In Mexico. “All my friends left when I went broke and I don’t think I heard from any of them for 14 years. Two people stuck by me along the way and I’m still tight with them today. A lot of the people who disappeared from my life during the hard times tried to reach out again to me in recent years and I let them. I think that many of them were just disappointed in me back then and that, if anything, I drove them away.”

Rourke said he had an up-and-down relationship with Roach. A source said they were formerly partners in a boxing gym in Los Angeles before Roach went on his own to establish the Wild Card Gym.

“”I had the great Freddie Roach as my trainer and he was real strict,” said Rourke. “I remember I was getting ready for a fight in Kansas City and hadn’t been training as well as I should have and one day, Freddie walked into the gym and said, ‘That’s it, I’m going back to Las Vegas.’ At the time, Freddie was parking cars out in Las Vegas and was only doing boxing training on the side. That was long before Manny Pacquiao and all that money came along.”

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Rourke said Roach taught him a hard lesson. “Freddie made me train on my own for that fight and it helped me turn on the jets a little bit,” he continued. “I was very disappointed that Freddie left me and I wanted to prove him wrong. Freddie eventually came back and we worked together for about five years.”

For the record, Rourke knocked out Tom Bentley in the first round in the Kansas City fight in 1993. 

“Boxing is a cut-throat business and a very dangerous one, too,” said Rourke. “It’s important to get out at the right time and not hang around past your sell-by-date. If your body is broken down and your mind isn’t what it once was, wrestling and boxing rings are probably two of the last places you want to be. The move ‘The Wrestler’ showed us all just how athletes can be taken for granted and although entertainment is important, nothing can be placed ahead of good health and a loving family.”

Rourke said brain issues cut short his boxing career. “The doctor had a problem because I couldn’t remember what I’d had for breakfast or where I’d parked my car,” he noted. “I put it down to the sparring I was doing back then. I was sparring Toney, Duran and Hearns on a regular basis and these guys were the best in the world. I accepted the fact that I would get the s**t kicked out of me in the gym everyday. I’d rather get my ass kicked in the gym than have it kicked in front of thousands of people on fight night.”

Rourke said Toney broke his cheekbone during a sparring session and in an afternoon workout with Hearns, he was banged up so badly that he started throwing up at midnight, meaning the effects were long-term. Rourke was hospitalized to recover from the punishment.