Canseco, Bonaduce fight to draw

Jose Canseco unloaded on Danny Bonaduce, but Bonaduce never went down. AP

ASTON, Pa. (AP) -- 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 Saturdy 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 -- 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 -- which he said he bought himself -- 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.

He puffed on an electronic cigarette as he made the slow walk to the ring and was introduced as the "greatest pure athlete to ever play the game of baseball."

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.

One judge scored the fight 2 rounds to 1 for Canseco and the other two judges scored one round for each and another even.

Bonaduce never looked in any serious trouble and Canseco seemed hesitant to go after him with ferocious cuts.

"He hit me harder than I've ever been hit my entire life," Bonaduce said.

Canseco took his second shot at celebrity boxing after he was whupped by former Philadelphia Eagle Vai Sikahema in his debut boxing match last July. Bonaduce, is like Mike Tyson in his heyday in the outlandish celebrity boxing circuit. He's beat Barry "Greg Brady" Williams and Donny Osmond.

Surely Reuben Kincaid would have advised Bonadecue to book a different gig on this night.

The 44-year-old Canseco took the fight because he's strapped for cash and claims to have squandered nearly $45 million in a career where he hit 462 career home runs. Bonaduce had more of a bucket list reason to slug it out with baseball's most notorious Bash Brother.

This was amateur night even before the main event started nearly an hour after its advertised time.

There was a scoring error in an undercard bout and the wrong winner was announced, one fighter turned around when the wrong entrance music was played and the ring announcer's microphone cut out trying to introduce former WWE wrestler Sandman.

Sandman, who lost, was the headliner on an undercard stuffed with mostly local boxers. Vince Papale, the former Philadelphia Eagle who inspired the movie "Invincible," was the guest referee in the main event.

"Their biggest concern is that I'm not taking this seriously and I am," Papale said.

Turns out, Papale had nothing to worry about.

Bonaduce and Canseco hugged after the match and posed for pictures with their families.

In typical boxing hype, Feldman promised a sequel.

"We're going to do the rematch," he said. "L.A. Soon."

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