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Monday, January 14, 2008

Easy call for Larry Lump/The Contender series is going to get someone killed

Whats up LumpLand? Well the guarantee came through, Edison Miranda not only KO'ed David Banks, he almost knocked him into the third row. It's already a candidate for KO of the year. If you have not seen it yet go to YouTube now before it gets taken down:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KcMw4wYgsw
Banks was asleep before he even landed. I got to tell you, this is the third Edison Miranda fight I have seen and even though he lost one of them to Pavlik, all his fights are exciting. He is kind of like a mini Tyson, there is rarely going to be a draw in any of his fights. I look forward to seeing him step up to a top level opponent.
I also saw the Sergio Mora fight. Once again not impressed by Mora even though he won by TKO. It was a VERY controversial stoppage, way too early. The other guy was not hurt, and Mora was behind on two scorecards. So once again Mora skates though a lower level opponent and pads his record.

Which brings me to the my next point. For the most part the TV show The Contender has only brought us a bunch of Pretenders, not only that, they are putting some of these guys into fights where they have no business being in, and someone is going to get hurt. Other than Alfonso Gomez from season 1 none of these guys have done anything.

Let's look at a few of the winners and finalists and what they have done when they faced champions or "real" contenders:
Season 1 Contenders

1: Sergio Mora: turned down a title fight against Jermain Taylor, pulled out of a fight against Kassim Ouma, and won this weekends fight on a shady early stoppage (and was behind on 2 of the 3 judges scorecards)

2: Peter Manfredo: Lost to Gomez during the show but was invited back because another contestant got the chickenpox. Lost twice to Sergio Mora. Somehow gets a title fight with Joe Calzaghe and gets destroyed by TKO in only 3 rounds. Lost just a few months ago to Jeff Lacy. During this time he beat a few chooches, but when it was time to step up he lost every one.

Anthony Bonsante: Lost to Allen Green and to John Duddy.

3. Joey Gilbert: Suspended by Nevada Athletic Commission due to positive steroid test.

Season 2:

Winner Grady Brewer has not fought since the TV show ended.

Season 3:

David Banks: See above

I will admit that the final fight between Jaidon Codrington and Sakio Bika was an instant classic but both of them got hit by so many shots I have a feeling they will get destroyed by any current champs or top contenders. Knowing ESPN though they will play up The Contender popularity again and put them up against someone way above their skill level.

After David Banks almost got decapitated hopefully ESPN and boxing promoters will wake up and not put these Pretenders in against top level competition.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What is the highest "ranking" in this entertainment field (we know its not a sport) for a person (not fighter) coming out of the Contender series? 129?

Frank said...

Hey Scammy Slammy Jimmy Jammy,

The Ring Magazine (which I feel is the most accurate ranking system) has the following

Super Middleweights: Sakio Bika #8

He is the season 3 winner. I don't see any of the other Pretenders up there in the rankings