By David Lahr: In a case of playing possum gone bad, former contestant on reality TV show “The Contender,” Anthony Bonsante (31-10-3, 18 KOs) was dropped and taken out in the 1st round by undefeated prospected Adonis Stevenson (12-0, 9 KOs) on Friday night at the Gare Windsor Salle des Pas Perdus, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Stevenson, 30 landed a glancing left hand in the opening seconds of the bout, knocking Bonsante flat on the canvas. However, instead of immediately getting up, given the less than powerful shot that he was hit with, Bonsante stayed down, keeping his eyes closed tight until the count of six, at which point he jumped up just as referee Gerry Bolen was stopped that fight at 0:46 of the 1st round.
Bonsante, 37, immediately began arguing with the referee, saying that he had gotten up in time and that he had in fact beaten the count. The referee, however, pointed out that his eyes were closed, and that he had looked hurt, which is obviously why the referee stopped the fight. Bonsante then angrily walked away after saying a few more choice words to the referee. Clearly, Bonsante wasn’t happy with the stoppage, feeling that he had made it up before the 10 count.
However, from the referee’s perspective, Bonsante looked completely unconscious from the punch, and had his eyes closed until he reached the count of six. In many cases, a referee would immediately stop a fight like this with a fighter with their eyes closed. It seemed more than a little strange that Bonsante would be daring enough to risk losing the fight by playing knocked out like this, because he had to know from seeing other fights, that he had a good chance of losing if he did this.
