The Contender Start Tonight

[Tigercat]

Stallone loves sequels. I'm still waiting for Over the Top 2.

[Blackadar]

I cannot frickin' believe NBC didn't pick this show up for another season. Great, great show.

[LloydLungs]

Originally Posted by hhiipp

And if I wanted to see nothing but a couple guys hugging I would have downloaded gay porn.

You should have seen the first fan favorite bout today with Brent Cooper and that chicken pox guy. God what an awful fight. Both "fighters" completely exhausted by round four and spending most of the fight slumped all over each other. Gah.

[ShaqFu]

That was a great final fight tonight, with the exception of the constant talk of "rematch." I really wanted Sergio to win this thing from the start. Looking forward to seeing more of him in the future.

I hope they find a way to bring this show back on some other network. Perhaps NBC Universal can put in on one of their cable units like USA or Bravo.

[Raiders Army]

Great, great, great fight. Stallone is not the one to MC this show, but regardless it was truly emotional and insightful into the boxers' lives. Had there been a Trump (not the Trump of Apprentice 2 or 3) instead of Stallone or had Sugar Ray had more airtime and been in charge, I think the ratings would have been different. I'm not even sure Sugar Ray was a good choice. Maybe George Foreman would've been good for the public consciousness.

[jbmagic]

Originally Posted by Blackadar

I cannot frickin' believe NBC didn't pick this show up for another season. Great, great show.

yep

hopefully another major network picks it up and puts it on a good night.

itiwll be interesting to see the rating for the final that air Tuesday.

i tought Sunday night was a bad time slot for the show.

[Raiders Army]

A few things:

Just finished watching the Bonsante/Ishe fight on yahoo (it's there in its entirety). Bonsante is a very dirty fighter: two punches to the back of the head, a bodyslam, and pushing Ishe down to the canvas when they were separated. After each time he did something dirty, he stuck he glove out there to show "no hard feelings."

Spoiler:

















When the fight is immediately over, one of his cornermen puts a hat on Ishe's head that says, "I'M the #1 Daddy". I was rolling!

Also, read in this week's SI that Stallone is shopping The Contender to other networks.

[jbmagic]

Raiders Army

thanks for the tip at yahoo for the fan favorites fights.

those 3 fan favorite fights was not air on television. so if you guys wantto check them out goto

http://contender.tv.yahoo.com/01/index.html

Fan Favorites videos- 3 fights

[jbmagic]

how much did Peter get for losing in the final?

Because Gomez victory over Jesse for the bronz, Gomez Received $200,000

Did Peter and Jesse get any money for losing?

i wonder if the fan favorites fights if the boxers received any money for fighting too,

[Raiders Army]

I believe last night they said somebody got some money ($50k?) in one of the fan favorite fights. I would assume that if Gomez won $200k, Manfredo would get somewhere between $200k and $500k.

[LloydLungs]

Originally Posted by Raiders Army

Had there been a Trump (not the Trump of Apprentice 2 or 3) instead of Stallone or had Sugar Ray had more airtime and been in charge, I think the ratings would have been different.

Sugar Ray wasn't too good either. His narration of the challenges sounded like a mid-90s video game announcer.

"And... Ishe... has to go back... to the start..."

[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by LloydLungs

Sugar Ray wasn't too good either. His narration of the challenges sounded like a mid-90s video game announcer.

"And... Ishe... has to go back... to the start..."

I know what you mean. I kept thinking of Tommy Davidson playing Sugar Ray Leonard (from In Living Color) whenever he spoke.

[sabotai]

Yahoo has the Gomez-Jesse and Sergio-Manfredo fights too.

I just watched the Gomez-Jesse fight. Damn, Gomez beat the piss out of Jesse. The first two rounds were a little sloppy, but in the 3rd and 4th round, Gomez just laid a beatin' on him.

[Scoobz0202]

There are talks that ESPN could bring back the show.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8008963/

NBC's "The Contender" may not have been a smash hit, but it had a solid base of about 6 million viewers per week, and it has rabid support among fans. Still, in mid-May, host and producer Sylvester Stallone said he didn't think the show would be returning for a second season. He cited the show's time slot — 8 p.m. on Sundays, opposite ABC's powerhouse "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" — as one reason that it didn't take off. Now that the series is over, however, there appears to be hope.

Executive producers Sugar Ray Leonard, Stallone, and Mark Burnett are reportedly talking to ESPN about taking the series to the cable network for a second season. And NBC has said they haven't officially turned down the show yet. Last week Burnett told the New York Times that a renewal announcement was "highly likely" last week. There hasn't been word yet, but all of these seem to add up to a return for "The Contender."

The first series' boxers may also make a televised comeback. There are also rumors of a July 5 pay-per-view bout in Las Vegas that would reunite the final four: Sergio Mora, Peter Manfredo, Alfonso Gomez, and Jesse Brinkley. Peter's father told the Providence Journal that a July date would be too rapid a return to the ring, although he hadn't yet heard anything from producers.

[Blackadar]

That would be sweet. ESPN could really make this thing fly.

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

I would be delighted if the networks grew the balls to televise fights on primetime tv.

[Raiders Army]

Apparently Ahmed was on Showtime on July 22. There will be a new Contender on ESPN in April.

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/box...ory?id=2131600

[PilotMan]

Sergio Mora - Manfredo Jr II is going to be on ESPN2 on Saturday, October 15th. FYI