Imagine a professional mixed martial arts competition between an inexperienced, untrained 44-year old, 253-pound man and a 7’2, 330-pound, Korean kick boxer.
Now, imagine that the first guy is the washed up baseball player and steroid abuser Jose Canseco, and the other guy is the professional, K-1 heavyweight fighter Hong Man Choi. Now imagine that this isn’t some sort of really weird dream and that this fight actually happened in real life.
In another case file for “things that could only happen in Japan”, former Oakland Athletics’ slugger Jose Canseco stepped into the ring in Yokohama, Japan, against the monstrously tall Hong Man Choi as apart of the Japanese DREAM’s Super Hulk Tournament.
You can watch the entire fight--catch it while you can--online here.
Surprisingly, Choi did not immediately destroy Canseco. It happened eventually, of course, but Canseco actually managed to survive for more than a full minute before being taken down.
Even though the majority of the fight consisted of Canseco scurrying around the ring while being stalked down by a Goliath-like Choi, Canseco managed to land a few decent punches and kicks.
However, hitting Choi is probably somewhat akin to punching a brick wall, because after Canseco’s initial effort, he looked visibly exhausted.
Between the wild punches, the multiple laps Canseco ran around the ring to escape from Choi, and his overall lack of conditioning, Canseco was clearly not prepared to take on anyone let alone a professional MMA fighter.
Around the 0:50 mark, Choi either got bored of chasing Canseco (either that, or his contract didn’t allow him to knock out Canseco earlier) because he punched Canseco and then tossed the MLB star onto the mat.
Choi rained a deadly onslaught of punches onto Canseco and, even though none of the punches really connected, Canseco evidently had enough and tapped out a minute and sixteen seconds into the first round.
“I have no idea if I’ll do this again,” Canseco said to Yahoo Sports after the fight. “I’ve gotta get my knee better before I commit to anything like this.”
It is worth noting that Canseco had absolutely no illusions about winning going into the fight.
“"I’m not gonna lie to you, I’m scared. This guy is huge,” Canseco said before the fight. “I’m a 44-year-old rookie and have had a lot of challenges in my baseball career and hopefully, I can do well tomorrow.”
Previously, Canseco took on NFL player Vai Sikahema. Canseco lost badly after getting punched in the head repeatedly. He also fought Partridge Family star Danny Bonaduce to a draw despite weighing more than 70 pounds than his opponent.
Choi’s previous opponents were a little more credible in the field of martial arts. He holds a win over Bobby Ologun, but was defeated by UFC superstar Mirko Filipović and Pride Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko.
Our Take
Besides quite possibly being one of the most awesome and hilarious fights in the history of MMA, the Choi-Canseco fight should serve as a clear warning to future and past steroid abusers (I’m looking at you Manny Ramirez) that if they are not careful, they could end up needing money as Canseco. Money is great and everything, sure, but it’s worth asking “just how much money is it worth to be beat up on live television?”
Source:CollegeNews.com
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