MANFREDO, MORA, SMITH, FELICIANO, GOMEZ...all Jumpstarted boxing's version of trendy reality t.v shows...You see alot of boxers's background, their families, their story...I, in fact, love the show...cuz its boxing...watered down and magnified, but it's still leather ripping flesh....all these guyz came out and people started to ACTUALLY take these fighters SERIOUS....hollywood edits dont work in live boxing...the second season included FORBES, BUNDRAGE, BRAVO, BREWER....MORE STARS...only against each other...even though you had ex champs and ex contenders, it was still like the first one...when they all stepped up.....they got stepped on... MORA...wins the fake "contender" belt...and then pulls out of a REAL "championship" fight against TAYLOR...looks awful against AYALA and gets a gift desicion in the form of a DRAW....expect FORREST to murder him once in for all...or probably pull out the last minute like howie said.... MANFREDO...steps up finally to face CALZAGHE, CALZAGHE overwealms him eeeeeeeazy and pitty pats MANFREDO to a knockout in the third round...then MANFREDO gets droped and outpointed by JEFF LACY SMITH...looses to POWELL, looses to JOEL JULIO...just aaaalways runs his mouth and never comes through BRAVO.. the hollywood edits made him look like an epic fighter, but is sluggish and got beat by YORI BOY CAMPAS, and BUNDRAGE... he's stuck in trialhorse for TRIALHORSES... BREWER simply dissappeared after winning the 2nd season GOMEZ...knocks out Gatti (the only real acheivement by any of them, after the show) then struggles with "trialhorse" BEN TACKIE,, and got one of the most embarrassing onesided SLAPPING in the hands of COTTO... BUNDRAGE...also a trialhorse now...got beat up byJOEL JULIO and actually upsets KASSIM OUMA...thats a good thing, but the bad NEWS is that OUMA has been on a non stop loosing streak... FORBES...probably the most skilled of ALL...gets robbed by D.HOPKINS.. then puts up a fight but gets whooped easy by DE LA HOYA...he lost to BREWER in the finals...i dont know how, cuz BREWER and that good either.. FELICIANO...the human punching bag..gets mauled by CINTRON and TSURKAN...FELICIANO has alot of heart, alot of stubborness, and not ONE ounce of real pop in his punches...you hit him hart and he kinda scratches you in return...all night... I purposely left out season three..cuz they realized "**** we should get REAL contenders and REAL ****ing fighters....CODRINGTON, VERA, BIKA, SOLIMAN...the the grand finale of a "fight of the year" candidate for bika and codrington...if all seasons actually had CONTENDERS, this show wouldve been to another level by now...imagine a heavyweight contender with REAL contenders?? or somewhat good fighters... picture VALLUEV, BRIGGS, HOLYFIELD, ARREOLA, POVETKIN, CHAMBERS, PETER.... some characters, some big names, some power punchers... all telling their stories...HOLYFIELD talking about his age and journey and how people doubt him...PETER being the teddy bare of them all...america would love him, especially if he can DECAPITATE you with one swipe...who ever is matchmaking and calling up the applicants should hand ME their jobs...ILL MAKE THE CONTENDER SERIES SERIOUS....but i noticed that they like to focus on camera friendly fighters only...all have that TV look and appeal...not in boxing...look at hopkins...haha... anywayz..dont get me wrong...i love the show, but I 'll never expect them to move on ahead....just hope...
The thing is boxing is such a nich sport that boxing fans could easily recognize that the guys on the show where not contenders, hell most saw them fight before the show. Either way I enjoyed the show if for no other reason that it was another night of boxing on TV. To Forbes credit he was just way too small to be in the ring with Oscar, it's a good thing he is a good fighter or he could have gotten hurt. I don't think you could put togeather a show of real contenders, it would cost too much money and their is not enough advertising dollars out there to fund it. I will say though that the contender made a few guys I know at least casual fans, so I suppose that is a start.
your right...i left that part out..."The contender" made fans out of non boxing fans....THATS THE GOLDEN PART...like BRAVO, in the show, he went up against Gary something, and he looked like a MICKY WARD or something, pounding away with heart...my family fell in love with BRAVO instantly...saying, "he's a warrior, damm would we love to see him fight again" ...then when they say him LIVE in a bronze bout with BUNDRAGE, he looked like frankeinstein crossed bred with a bobble head doll...and got knocked out...where was the warrior everyone fell in love with it...and BRAVO was QUICKLY forgotten... and this happens to MOST IF NOT ALL "CONTENDERS"....especially with GOMEZ...
The series is called The Contender, not future Champions. Nothing is guaranteed in Boxing. Most were thrown in over thier heads. They were still contenders & needed to be brought up accordingly. not thrown to the wolves unprepared. Mora, Gomez & Manfredo are put into Championship Fights, without having beaten a top ten contender???
Was Feliciano even on the Contender? Former Contender fighters already have good wins over guys like Bojado, D-Hop, Gatti, Pemberton, etc. Yes, none of them are elite level fighters, but then again being on a reality TV show with skewed rules where you have a 90% chance of coming out with a loss wouldn't be the best way to go if people had high hopes for you from the time you were an amateur. It's not like the show rakes in the dough. If as many people watched it as watch Dancing with the Stars, then you'd be able to have all real contenders. As it is, best they can do is fringe contenders and gatekeepers because not enough people watch to make the publicity worth it, and the prize isn't big enough to make the payday worth it for anyone who's in line for elite level fights.