By Anthony Camargo/Staff Writer
On May 26th, Hong Man Choi did much of the baseball community a favor when he stepped in the ring and knocked out Jose Canseco, the former Major League Baseball American League MVP.
Canseco, who failed in his last two boxing matches, decided to move on to professional fighting in Japan. Mixed Martial Arts, which has exploded in recent years in Japan, is Canseco’s second stint at a new sport.
He should have stayed home.
It took 1 minute and 17 seconds for Hong to end Jose’s first fight in MMA.
Canseco, coming out to the song “Wild Thing,” carried a baseball bat with him. Perhaps if he kept that bat, he would have stood much more of a chance.
Choi, a 7’2″, 330-pound South Korean monster, took one punch the whole fight–a right to the body. Hong began throwing punches, and Canseco huddled up. Choi threw punches unitll Jose fell to the floor. Hong proceeded to get on top of Jose and rain blows until Canseco had to tap out because of the punches.
Canseco, who had over 462 home runs during his Major League career, limped out of the ring with help from his girlfriend.
Although Canseco couldn’t have been happy, many former baseball players, including Mark McGwire and Jason Giambi, were probably thrilled after the beatings they took to their careers after Canseco named them steroid users in his book “Juiced” were.
