It was another embarrassing fighting exhibition for Jose Canseco. Or was it? Canseco agreed to travel to Arkansas to take on 60-year-old Gary Hogan in a boxing match. The former major league slugger plodded his way through four rounds and lost a 39-37 decision to Hogan, an associate athletic director at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock. “Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Rumble by the River” went down at Dickey-Stephens Park before the Arkansas Travelers-Midland Rockhounds Triple-A baseball game.
It looks like the snitch that sports fans love to hate showed a little heart. Frankly, it didn’t look like Canseco, 46, was really trying. Although in the prefight and postfight, Hogan broke down the fight like it was real.
“He did [throw his heavy artillery at me],” said Hogan. “I took some shots but the bottom line is, I’m used to taking shots. I felt good in there. I wasn’t tired, my conditioning was unbelievable. I thought he got tired there in the third and fourth rounds.”
Hogan came in at 191 pounds while Canseco was 240. The fight was put together to benefit Ray Rodgers’ boxing gym and GED program in Little Rock.
“It’s an exhibition. I had a great time. I’ve gotta a lot of respect for Gary. Just coming out here and fighting a guy 15 years his junior, he’s got some [guts].”
Canseco was paid for the fight.
As the article points out and as you can see in the video below, Canseco barely broke a sweat. But he still lost…to a 60-year-old.
Kudos to Hogan for having the stones to get in the ring with Canseco, even though the former baseball slugger fights like Peter McNeely.
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