06.09.07 – By Craig Parrish: As “The Contender” begins its third season the question needs to be asked, is the show starting to earn respect from the hard-core boxing fan? When “The Contender” initially debuted with participants in the middleweight division, there were many complaints that included:
* Too much emphasis on the personal lives of the fighters
* Too much swelling music and carefully edited fight sequences
* Not enough quality fighters
* Sylvester Stallone, “a pretend fighter” was distracting
* And WAY too much crying
Many fans debated whether the show was indeed good for the sport. Some insisted that even though it may not be the most realistic depiction of what a fighter goes through, in these days of the exploding popularity of MMA any exposure of the sport of boxing on “free” television was beneficial. Other simply couldn’t get over the “cheese” factor of the show as dismissed it as so much fluff.
One thing that could not be disputed was the benefit appearing on the show has had on many of the participant’s careers. Of the first season, the best fighters were arguably Peter Manfredo Jr., Alfonso Gomez, and the eventual champion, Sergio Mora. Manfredo Jr. was recently defeated in an embarrassing performance against super middleweight king Joe Calzaghe, although an argument could be made that the fight was stopped prematurely. Alfonso Gomez recently demolished a very shop-worn Arturo Gatti. Mora has an upcoming fight in September against Kassim Ouma after unbelievably turning down a shot against middleweight champ Jermaine Taylor, citing that the location of the fight was unacceptable. It appears that “the Contender” belt that Mora has strapped around his waist has caused him to lose touch with reality a bit. Also, his inactivity has caused him to fall out of top ten rankings, which were questionable to begin with based on the opposition that he has fought. While all three of these fighters do have some talent, it is fairly unlikely that any one them would have received this type of exposure without “The Contender”, with the possible exception of Manfredo Jr., who was ranked coming into the tournament.
As season 2 began, Stallone had dropped out as host so that he could focus his attention on “Rocky Balboa.” Sugar Ray Leonard took over as the main host, and his halting, wooden delivery almost made one yearn for the return of Sly. However, his boxing knowledge could not be questioned. Jeremy Williams and Tommy Gallagher were the trainers of the teams. The quality of the fighters seemed to improve slightly, especially with the landing of Steve Forbes, who was a proven commodity. The format seemed basically unchanged, with the fight sequences being heavily edited for maximum dramatic effect. So far, this group of fighters does not seem to have benefited as much from the TV exposure as the first-year fighters did. There has been an appearance on “Friday Night Fights” by K-9 Bundrage. Norberto Bravo recently lost a decision to Yori Boy Campas. Steve Forbes will be fighting on September 15th against Francisco Bojado, and is coming off a loss to Demetrius Hopkins. Grady Brewer, the eventual champion, has not fought since defeating Forbes for the “Contender” title.
Now season 3 of the show has begun, and it seems as if some of the fan’s complaints have been heard. Two top-notch trainers have been brought in, Buddy McGirt and Pepe Correa. The 5 round fights will be shown in their entirety, and not edited versions. The fighters are super middleweights, so the chances of knockouts are heightened. And the show has several recognizable names, such as Sam Soliman and Saiko Bika. The first episode selection process was interesting, and though still very sentimental, it looks like this refined version of “The Contender” may have more appeal to the serious boxing fan. If nothing else, they’ll be a fight on every Tuesday night for a while.
As far as the crying goes, we’ll have to wait and see.