"Like a lot of things in marriage, it needed time to sort of settle in," Sikahema said. "For two weeks we couldn't even talk about it. Then one night she said, 'Let's go to dinner' and I said slowly and deliberately exactly why I wanted to do this. She said, 'This isn't exactly what I signed up for when we got married; you're absolutely nuts. You're out of your mind.' My response was that standing under a punt waiting to get hit in the NFL isn't exactly sane."

In hindsight, it makes sense Sikahema would easily win. When he was a child, his father moved the family from Tonga to America, hoping to make his son an Olympic boxer. By age 14, Sikahema was an Arizona Golden Gloves champion who had qualified for the national tournament. Though he was eliminated early, that was no disgrace — the winner in his weight division was Sugar Ray Leonard.

Sikahema's boxing career cooled as his college football career took off.

About 1 1/2 years ago he began boxing again, merely to stay in shape.

"I'm perfectly comfortable in the ring," he said.

Thus, when Canseco's representatives started scouting for an opponent, a Philadelphia promoter knew just the guy. Sikahema prepared by studying boxers like Tyson and Evander Holyfield, who defeated opponents with much longer reaches. Then he trained under former world champ Larry Holmes.

Canseco never stood a chance. Sikahema connected on an overhand right at the start of the fight to set the tone.

"From that moment on," he said, "the fight was basically over."

His advice to Canseco is not to pursue a rematch, but instead find another celebrity who merely dabbles in the sport.

His suggestion: "Go fight Danny Bonaduce."

---

E-mail: rock@desnews.com