A local businessman with a heart of gold is jumping into the ring with Michael Lohan, the bad boy father of Lindsay Lohan, to see if he can take him out.
"I decided to throw my hat into the ring to see if I could take him on and take him down," says Bob Venero, president and CEO of Future Tech Enterprise in Holbrook.
Venero and Lohan will square off Nov. 24 at the Hilton Long Island in Melville for Fight For Charity, an organization, which sponsors an annual slugfest for Long Island charities.
Both men met at the Printing House Fitness and Squash Club in Manhattan Tuesday to show off their fancy footwork to the press. "Michael threw a punch then Bob threw one and the blows started coming faster and faster," said Jeff Cohen, founder of Fight for Charity. "It started to ramp up. I told them that's enough."
Actor Stephen Baldwin, who will be one of the celebrity judges at the event, thinks that his buddy Lohan will do fine in the ring. "But then again Bob is no slouch," said Baldwin, who originally hails from Massapequa. If Mike throws the right punch, this could get ugly."
Lohan announced Oct. 6 that he would not have a problem throwing up his dukes for charity. In August, he tried to get Kevin Federline, Britney's ex, and Hollywood gossip maven Perez Hilton into the ring. But they never took him up on his offer, Lohan told Newsday.
Finally, he and Cohen decided to auction off the opportunity. The person with the highest bid would have the chance to mix it up with Lohan.
The minimum bid was $5,000. Venero, who has never boxed in his life, threw in $20,000. He is also buying 50 seats at $150 a pop.
"I figured they were going to put me up against some overweight middle- aged CEO," he said. "Then my wife and I found out that it was Michael."
Venero, 40, says he's not nervous, despite knowing about Lohan's stint in jail. The man, who built a $100 million company, says at 5'8" and 170 pounds he is in good shape and will be in better condition after he's done training with Tony Fortunato, a former professional boxer and owner of Eye of the Tiger Boxing Club in Wyandanch. Lohan, 48, who is 5'10, 176 pounds, says he is up for the challenge. "I have studied martial arts for seven years," says Lohan, who is also training with Fortunato.
"We will go at it."
Cohen, who expects the charity to reap more than $100,000, says the event will be the fight of a lifetime.
"It's going to be war," he said. "Michael Lohan is not going down without a struggle and Bob Venero is not paying $20,000 to get humiliated. They both will be swinging for the fences. via
