Professional wrestling career By the age of 16, he was the youngest wrestler in the history of professional wrestling and he made his pro debut in Winnipeg, against Larry Hennig. Piper lost the match in ten seconds. He was a boxer and an amateur wrestler before he started to become a pro wrestler. He won the Golden Gloves boxing championship. He was awarded a Black Belt in Judo from American Judo champion, instructor, stuntman, and professional wrestler, Gene LeBell. Post yours opcorn:
Billy Joel Jack Palance Tony Danza All of them were boxers. Palance and Danza pro fighters. Mickey Rourke decided to be a boxer after having success as an actor. Emmanuel Steward said 50 Cent was a Golden Glove winner in New York, but I haven't read anything about that. Maybe the original 50 Cent, who was a stick-up man, was the one he was thinking about.
Jack O' Halloran was a pro champ, fought a lot of tough guys including young George Foreman. O'Halloran is the huge super-criminal in Superman II.
Really,AFTER he got his foot in the door with acting?? I still have never heard anything pertaining his boxing career. Whether he was even good for a Tomato Can?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Rourke In 1991, Rourke decided that he "…had to go back to boxing", because he felt that he "…was self-destructing…[and] had no respect for myself being an actor." When Rourke became a professional boxer, he won all of his fights against minor opponents (and had one fight end in a draw). However, he never achieved national prominence and he received a number of injuries, including a broken nose, toe, ribs, a split tongue, and a compressed cheekbone. His trainer during his boxing career was Hells Angels member Chuck Zito. Boxing promoters stated that Rourke was too old to do well against top-level fighters. Indeed, Rourke himself admits that entering the ring was a sort of personal test: "…just wanted to give it a shot, test myself that way physically, while I still had time (interview in The Gate with Christopher Heard)." In 1995, Rourke retired from boxing and returned to acting. http://www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=029155&cat=boxer
