Associated Press
ASTON, Pa. ó Jose Canseco struck out in his bid to punch out a Partridge.
The one-time admittedly juiced Bash Brother had only warning track power in the ring. He staggered former child star Danny Bonaduce with a couple of big blows in Saturday night’s three-round fight, but failed to deliver the knockout punch and the celebrity boxing match ended in a deflating majority draw.
Canseco seemed like he was doing the one thing he never did to American League pitchers ó take it easy on him.
“There’s no reason I should have done this well,” said Bonaduce, his nose bloodied. “Part of me says there’s a decent man right there that didn’t want to kill the little guy. I feel weird that we tied.”
The 6-foor-4 Canseco jolted the 5-6 Bonaduce a couple of times in round 1 and a couple more in round 3. Bonaduce, who played Danny Partridge on the “The Partridge Family,” never went down. Bonaduce predicted he would be knocked out, only to hang in there and land a few body blows on the hulking Canseco.
There were few big blasts and most of the crowd of 1,500 at a suburban Philadelphia ice rink started to leave before a decision was announced.
Canseco did more serious damage when his grand slam dented the centerfield camera in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series.
“For a guy my size to hit him like that and he didn’t go down, wow,” Canseco said. “If he were my size, he probably would have knocked me out of the ring.”
Bonaduce didn’t much time to play rope-a-dope against Canseco. The bout featured only three, 1-minute rounds.
Bonaduce was clearly the hometown favorite. He was born in nearby Broomall and hosts a local morning radio show out of Philadelphia. His station had a promotional tent set up near the ring and plenty of fans surveyed predicted Bonaduce would win. His entourage carried three championship belts ó which he said he bought himself ó to the ring as he entered to the familiar chords of “Another One Bites The Dust.” He was billed on his robe as Danny “Boom Boom” Bonaduce.”
Canseco expected to hear some boos and even chants of “Ster-oids!” from the notoriously harsh Philly fans. They must have all been at the 76ers game because the crowd was indifferent, with only a couple of scattered boos.
The pre-fight introductions were the last bit of entertainment for the night.
“It’s a trainwreck,” said fan Butch Tressel. “Everyone likes to see a ridiculous trainwreck from time to time.”
And no, neither boxer was drug tested.
“Thank God, no,” said promoter Damon Feldman, laughing.