ONE NIGHT AT a Hard Rock nightclub in Hollywood, Florida, the legendary slugger Jose Canseco was supposed to be fighting in a celebrity boxing match.

A former outfielder for the Oakland Athletics and the Texas Rangers, Canseco had been the center of much controversy for steroid use in baseball.  His published books Juiced and Vindicated were among the first to “name names” concerning those who were also taking performance enhancing drugs to compete in major league baseball.

As a way of making money after his baseball career ended, he decided to take up mixed martial arts, and in particular, boxing.  But as Canseco’s fans showed up to cheer on their hero in the boxing ring at that Hard Rock nightclub, they were met with a scandalous realization.  The man in the ring was not Jose Canseco.  It was his identical twin brother, Ozzie.

If not for Ozzie’s distinctive tattoos, the brothers might have gotten away with it.  Ozzie had fooled others before, appearing at book signings for his brother in order to earn cash.  This fight was simply another deception.

Disgusted with the bait and switch, the fight promoter immediately took Canseco to court in an attempt to get his money back.  Dudley Rutherford, “Resuscitate A Dying Faith,” God Has an App for That, 91

“For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he may gain much, if God takes away his life?  Will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him?”  Job 27:8-9

Mike Benson