Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke fought Elliott Seymour at the Luzhniki Stadium in Russia on Saturday Getty

Mickey Rourke reportedly paid mentally ill homeless fighter Elliott Seymour to take the fall and lose their boxing match in Russia on Saturday, 29 November, 2014.

Rourke stopped Seymour within two rounds at the Luzhniki stadium after he appeared to punch the buttocks of his opponent in what was described as a farcical exhibition fight.

It has since emerged that Seymour was in fact a homeless drifter who trained at the same gym as 62-year-old Rourke and was jetted into Russia merely to make battle-weary Rourke look good, the MailOnline reported.

The 33-year-old barely threw a punch at Hollywood actor Rourke, who has vowed to stage another four fights in Russia, where he has attracted a large following.

A source told the website: "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."