People are always afraid of the truth.

I spent a lot of years trying to beat the system and, in the end, the system kicked my behind good.

I never look backwards. I have always been an athlete. I boxed before I acted.

I had a bonding problem when I went off and boxed for five years. I was over in Europe and Asia fighting because I wanted to do something different; I was tired of acting. But the thing is, when I was done doing that, I couldn't get a job.

I tried to change my name for the fights, but the only way they could pay me money was if I used my own name. I wanted to change my name to, like, Romeo something-or-other, and they said, "No, we can't do that. We've got to use Mickey Rourke." Because they paid me a lot of money to go over to Europe and Asia to fight.

People are always afraid of the truth.

I grew up in a gym in Miami, the one where Muhammad Ali trained. I had 142 amateur fights and lost three.