This story seems engineered to make people say “WTF? … ohhhhhhhhh”. Rodney King, who you may remember from the beating he took at the hands of the Los Angeles Police force in 1991 which sparked the 1992 riots when the officers were acquitted has announced that he’ll be boxing former police officer Simon Aouad on the celebrity boxing circuit.
This, obviously, is not as exciting a match-up as it would have been if King were to fight any one of his former tormentors in the ring, but we can’t have everything, it seems. Early reports had King fighting Jose Canseco, who recently lost to Hong Man Choi at Dream 9 by knockout in the first round. That would have made a better fight, probably, but then it wouldn’t have the psych-out effect of “Rodney King’s gonna fight the police? WORD!”
So, can’t we all just get along? Apparently not. That’s what reality TV’s for! Making ourselves feel better by laughing at other people’s misfortune: that’s the American Way. September 12th is the date for the smackdown; get your tickets now. Other than the notoriety of King’s name, is there a reason to watch this fight? We don’t even know if King can box, and Aouad is a complete unknown quantity. Who do we want to win? Will there be another riot of King loses?
