In October 2003, Sid "the Hebrew Hammer" Rosenberg, the sports reporter on Don Imus's morning talk radio show, challenged Bernard "Berzerk" McGuirk, the show's executive producer, to a grudge match. Imus duly incorporated the bout into his show, converting it into a gala charity event, held at dawn, at Chelsea Piers.

"Like any good fight, 'Fear at the Pier,' as it was billed, offered easy contrasts: blue trunks, red trunks; Bronx, Brooklyn; management, labor; four-pack abs, love handles. (Rosenberg, by all accounts, stopped training in July.) Minutes before the opening bell, Dr. Cliff Stark visited the contestants' dressing rooms for pre-fight examinations. He took out his stethoscope and placed it on Rosenberg's chest. 'Does he have a heart?' one of Rosenberg's cornermen asked..."

[The upshot? McGuirk connected early and often, and, fifty-one seconds into the third round, knocked Rosenberg out. "I got my ass kicked," he confessed. "I'm supposed to take solace in the fact that I didn't die in the ring."]

[Among previous Talk Radio celebrity bouts? Howard Stern's "Brawl at the Taj Mahal" (featuring Don King, a midget, and a singing Siamese twin) and "The Scrapple in the Apple" (featuring Geraldo Rivera and Frank Stallone).]