Report: Rodney King and former cop, not Canseco, to fight

Yahoo! Sports

Fri Aug 14 03:58pm EDT

Report: Rodney King and former cop, not Canseco, to fight

CORRECTION: King will actually face Simon Aouad, a former Pennsylvania police officer, not Canseco. Perhaps King is eager to fight back.

"I know some people will see the irony here," said Rodney King about boxing a police officer. "But I would have fought anyone who was worthy. I take this very seriously. Never felt better—physically and in the mind.”

Canseco is in talks to fight on the celebrity boxing circuit, but not against King.

As it turns out, we can't just all get along.

Rodney King, made famous for taking a beating by the Los Angeles Police Department, will reportedly try to give a beating to ~~Jose Canseco, the fallen-from-grace baseball player~~, a former cop in Philadelphia on September 12. Seriously.

We last saw King on VH1's "Sober House," after his stint on "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew." He has battled alcoholism since he begged Los Angeles to keep calm during the 1992 Los Angeles riots sparked by the acquittal of the police officers who beat him. He was arrested on the charge of DUI in 2003. There is no record of King participating in any organized bouts.

There is no word yet if this fight is an MMA bout or a boxing match, maybe a grappling exhibition, or perhaps a dance-off. This could be a baseless rumor, but nothing could make the idea of this fight any less sad. Both Canseco and King yearn for the spotlight and yet crumble when in it.

The idea of celebrity fighting doesn't quite have the same pull as it used to. We all wanted to see Tonya Harding get punched in the face, and after he admitted to using steroids as a baseball player and accusing 85 percent of his collegeaues of being juiced, it was a little fun to see Canseco submit in such a short time when he lost to Choi. But there is nothing interesting or compelling about seeing King and Canseco slug it out. It's really just sad.

Thanks to Bloody Elbow