Rourke claims to have received a concussion in this sparring match. Rodriguez was the number one-rated middleweight boxer in the world and was training for his match with world champion Nino Benvenuti. In 1969 Rourke, now weighing 140 pounds, sparred with former World Welterweight champion Luis Rodriguez. He continued his boxing training at the famed 5th Street Gym in Miami Beach, soon joining the Police Athletic League boxing program. Some of his early matches were fought as Andre Rourke. At the age of 12, Rourke won his first boxing match as an 118-pound bantamweight, defeating Javier Villanueva.

It was there he learned boxing skills and decided on an amateur career. He took up self-defense training at the Boys Club of Miami. Rourke's teenage years were more aimed toward sports more than acting. In 1971 he graduated from Miami Beach Senior High School, and after working for a short time as a bus boy at the famed Forge Restaurant on Miami Beach, Rourke moved back to New York to seek out a career in acting. He also acted in a school play, 'The Serpent,' directed by legendary 'Teacher To The Stars' Jay W. In 1969 Rourke attended Miami Beach Senior High School, where he played second-string first baseman under coach Skip Bertman. After graduating from Horace Mann Junior High School, Rourke's family moved to a house located on 47th Street and Prairie Avenue in Miami Beach. A year later, his mother married Eugene Addis, a Miami Beach police officer, and moved to Miami Shores, Florida. When he was six years old, his parents divorced. His father was of Irish and German descent, and his mother was of mostly English and French-Canadian ancestry. on September 16, 1952, in Schenectady, New York, the son of Annette Elizabeth (Cameron) and Philip Andre Rourke. Mickey Rourke was born Phillip Andre Rourke, Jr.

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