The Contender is back
 

http://sports.espn.go.com/espntv/esp...te?showID=cntd

I'm a little surprised. I loved the first season, but I figured the sagging ratings would of kept the show from coming back. But hey, maybe ESPN can do something with it.

I loved the first season, been waiting for it to come out on dvd for ages.

It's stupid that they have a former world champion in this tournament when the whole gimmick is that this is the championship for overlooked fighters.

Did Sergio Mora ever get his chance at the title or did that just fade away?

Lookin forward to this, apparently there'll be more action from the fights too :y:

Remember that horrible knockout Jesse Brinkley gave to Bonsante?

damn

I was glad when that happened though, I hated Anthony.

"I'm doin this *sniffle* for my kids cos i'm *sniffle* the best damn dad in the world and i owe it to them and to myself *sniffle*":'(

Yeah, that annoyed the crap out of me. I'm not sure if we will get a better first fight than last time, Alfonso and Peter Manfredo was amazing. I laughed so much when Manfredo lost, especially after his talk/reputation before the match.

He was never due one nor has he done anything since to warrant one.

Peter Manfredo on the other hand has stepped up big time.

I thought, as he won the contest, he was going to get one?

On to this years fighters.

Michael Stewart twice fought for versions of the world title losing to Sharmba Mitchell by decision (IBF) and Ricky Hatton (WBU) 5th round KO.

Steve Forbes is a former IBF Super Featherweight champion.

Jeff Fraza was on last seasons show.

I thought I recognised his name.

Let's put it this way, aside from Manfredo who since stepped up to a decent level, he fought bums.

Even Joey Gilbert has stepped up somewhat since leaving the show.

I don't think Mora has ever been ranked higher than about 9th by any of the biggies

See, after the program, I didn't hear about any of the guys. Ta for the info.

Manfredo is the only one i heard about consistently

Whatever happened to Ishe?

Some comedian was talking about the Contender and said something like:

"Yeah, so have you seen this show The Contender?? It's where young fighters fight each other to gain some rank in the boxing world.. I liked this show before it changed it's name, you know, back when it was just called "boxing".."

I liked the show, but it is kinda f'd up they're putting in former fighters..

I don't he has even been ranked that high.

- 8th by the IBO
- 13th by the IBF
- Unranked by WBO but fellow "Contender" Joey Gilbert is 13th.
- Unranked by WBA

Can't see the WBC rankings now but I'd be shocked if he is ranked.

Computer rankings he is #5.

Remember he fights at middleweight and a lot of other fighters from the show either jumped up in weight (Manfredo, Brinkley) or went down (Fraza, Gomez, Reid).


He had one fight after the Contender finale. He has been trying to get out of his contract with the Contender people because he says they are hindering his career and it's hard to argue. However, he spent most of his time calling out Fernando Vargas and that's a massacre waiting to happen.

Details please, I only loosely follow boxing.

That was pretty much it. Smith felt The Contender people didn't want to book him in fights at a bigger level because it involved them losing out on 100% of the promotional rights. Plus he felt there was some racial thing going on (which was bullshit). He asked to be released from his deal and they refused. He kept on calling out Fernando Vargas for some reason. Smith is a nobody and Vargas is a 2 time world champ who has been in with the best of the best. No brain who is winning this fight.

<font color=white>Starts on Monday. I hope they repeat it on ITV1 on a Friday night again 'cause I'm never in Monday nights and it used to be perfect intoxicated friday night viewing.

I heard they changed the format somehwt though...?</font>

Not a whole lot, they took a page from Ultimate Fighter though and did away with the challenges to determine which team chooses who will fight. Both teams selected a member to have the first fight, the winning team won control and gets to set up the next match.

Why don't they have announcers for the fights? Tha fight looked pretty good but the editing and non announcing made me hate it.

right... the fights were edited, for the show I guess. Well screw that. get rid of some other stuff, not the actual fight.

I don't wana hear the Contender song play over every fight. They edited the 1st fight like if it were in a movie. I don't remember NBC doing that.

See i think a bit of cockiness is good, but i dunno, from the moment they showed Clarke do nothing but put K9 down i was in Bundrage's corner:D:y: