The very first celebrity boxing match
Jake Paul vs Anthony Joshua might steal the headlines these days, but the first celebrity boxing match took place over 30 years ago.
Image: Child stars Danny Bonaduce (L) and Donny Osmond (R) took part in the first celebrity boxing match in 1994, sparking a phenomena that has reached new levels in the last five years | Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
In December 2025, two-time heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua will step into the ring to face off against social media influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul. The bout will take place at the Kaseya Centre in Miami, Florida and will be broadcast live on Netflix.
A far cry from the sport’s origins in the ancient Olympic Games of Greece, the upcoming extravaganza has drawn hype and censure in almost equal measure. Critics say that the unfairness of the matchup (Joshua has vastly greater experience in the ring and weighs significantly more than Paul) will bring the sport into further disrepute.
However, it’s far from the first time that such a spectacle has taken place, with Paul himself having appeared in many similar fights. But to find the very first celebrity boxing match of this kind, we have to go back over 30 years to Danny Bonaduce vs Donny Osmond. Join us at Sky HISTORY as we explore the story of the world’s first celebrity boxing match.
Danny vs Donny
These two men both found fame as child stars in the 1970s. Danny Bonaduce played the pre-teen middle child in The Partridge Family, a show about a fictional travelling family band. Donny Osmond was a teen idol as part of the pop band The Osmonds, before later co-hosting the variety series Donny & Marie with his sister.
By the early '90s, Bonaduce had become a mainstay in the late-night radio industry. After a chance encounter in a gym, Osmond poked light-hearted fun at Bonaduce’s physique when working out. The spat was broadcast over the radio waves and quickly snowballed into a challenge for a boxing match, egged on by Bonaduce’s co-host Jonathon Brandmeier.
The bout took place on the 17th January 1994, in front of a sold-out crowd of 2,200 fans at the China Club in Chicago. While it was ostensibly being held to raise money for charity, it soon became clear that both men were taking it very seriously. Danny came flying out of the traps with a flurry of punches, to which Donny responded with a barrage of his own.
But while the enthusiasm was certainly there, the skill and technique were sadly lacking. What’s more, Bonaduce’s headgear came lose several times over the course of the match (on three occasions in the second round alone), affording him some much-needed respite.
After the third and final round, the judges awarded the victory to Bonaduce on a split decision. Osmond reacted angrily, demanding a deciding fourth round on the spot. Bonaduce responded in kind, suggesting Osmond should and go fight his sister Marie instead.
Osmond may have had a point (while certainly no Muhammad Ali – one of the greatest athletes of all time – Osmond did appear to have struck the cleaner blows in a messy and evenly matched encounter), but it was an acrimonious end to the night. But it was far from the end for celebrity boxing.
The seeds are sown
Although the outcome of the match might have been dubious, its popularity certainly was not and the fight raised some $10,000 for charity. As often happens when promoters catch a scent of an opportunity to make money, this was only the beginning for celebrity boxing contests.
Bonaduce himself would go on to fight another 70s child star, Greg Brady of The Brady Bunch fame, eight years later in 2002. Part of a one-hour special by the Fox network, Celebrity Boxing pitted several other household names against one another, with Vanilla Ice, Tonya Harding and Paula Jones all appearing on the bill.
The extravaganza drew TV audiences of 15 million, prompting Fox to repeat the trick two months later. Dustin Diamond (Screech from Saved by the Bell), William ‘Refrigerator’ Perry (of NFL fame) and Joanie Laurer (Chyna from the WWE) took to the ring this time. While the airing did still garner significant views, it was not brought back for a third edition.
However, the rise of social media meant that there was a new legion of fame-hungry candidates willing to put their bodies on the line to make a quick buck – and they often came with a ready-made following. Front and centre of this new group was Jake Paul, who first fought as the undercard to his big brother Logan’s fight against KSI in 2018.
Victory against YouTuber Deji Olatunji gave Jake a taste for the sport and he would go on to fight numerous more bouts against celebrities, eventually graduating to former and even current professional boxers. His zenith came in November 2024 against former undisputed world champion Mike Tyson, whom he defeated by unanimous decision. It was the biggest boxing gate in US history, outside of Las Vegas.
However, that lucrative triumph is surely going to be overshadowed by the upcoming bout against Joshua on 19th December 2025. And although the sport remains a legitimate mainstream affair (it has held its place in the stripped-back version of the Commonwealth Games in 2026, for example), there appears to be more and more appetite for its role as entertainment rather than athletic contest. Expect more of the same in the future.
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