I guess about ten years ago I stopped following boxing. I need to look back and figure out which fight it was that tipped me over the edge. I know it was a Don King fighter with a crooked decision, and I haven't looked back. Today, I bet I couldn't name ten current fighters.

I still watch Legendary Fights on HBO and just about anything they put up on ESPN Classic, much like I'll watch the same movie over and over. Maybe I'm just old, and not jaded. I still like the sport.

I mention that as a pretext because I think I'm coming back. Sometimes a team brings you back, sometimes its a player, in my case, of all things, it's a tv show. Sunday nights I can't miss "The Contender".

Of the four fighters left, maybe only three are pretty good boxers. The guy who won last Sunday I just can't see going too far, although he clearly hits hard. I showed my kids Leonard-Hearns on ESPN Classic a week ago, and they both said the same thing, "Leonard would kill these guys." Yes, and so would Hearns.

I don't care though. Sport is at it's purest when it comes down to one guy exerting his maximum effort against another guy trying to stop him. That's boxing, and your getting that every week here.

Same guy who created Survivor is behind The Contender. Couple of weeks ago, one of the Alabama idiots got voted off on Survivor. In his exit shot, he was still in denial as to what had just happened. I think he said something like, "...it was not my time...". Sure it was.
Same week on Contender, the loser's crying because he let his family down. His comments went something like"...my father will have to go to work, my mother will have to ride the bus, and my sister will have to ride the el, because I lost." Just a stunning contrast in human drama.

Good job. I'm hooked, and I'm back for boxing.

That said, here's additional comments on the show:

Theme Music
The absolute best this side of NFL Films. The pre-fight trumpet blare & drum beat I want playing every morning I go out to get the paper...with me coming through the fog machine. Then after a couple mornings of that, I want the Contender trumpets to blast every time the neighbor I hate goes in his yard, just so he'll flinch and look to see if I'm coming.

Sly
Does anyone take him seriously? Just him, and the people he pays to take him seriously. I laugh at least once a round at his spontaneous comments during the fight. The show would be poorer without those.
Why does he sit behind the desk at the end? That was an ego thing for him, right? I can tell he's sitting on a phone book. More on this later.

Sugar Ray
With the exception of the one punk who tried to rough him up sparring, I like the reverence the fighters show for him.
Half the time, I don't know what he's talking about when he's setting up the challenges. The challenge has to start, and then I get what the rules are. I want to see an outtake of; Ray explains the challenge, the fighters look at each other like somebody just spoke to them in tongues, the producers step in and explain what the object is, they do the challenge. I know they have this. Let's see it.

The Crusty Trainer Guy
I keep expecting him to split open Men in Black style, and have Billy Crystal step out of him.
He's in a weekly battle with Sly to see who's playing the biggest caricature of themselves.
Sly's winning.

Mature Sexpot Manager Lady
I think she's got Joey Gilbert in a set of Speedos chained to her bed. That's what happens to the losers every week. That's why they're sobbing in the locker room.

#1 Daddy
Can someone please show the guy the old SNL commercial they did about #1 hats? Please.
Just hang your kid's crappy art work up in your office like the rest of us. I didn't know everybody else was playing for #2. Would your kids have still given it to you if they had any idea you were going to wear it this much?

Potential Undercards
Manfredo's Dad vs. Joey Gilbert's Dad
Manfredo's dad appears to be the most over the top intense sport parent since Roy Turner in The Bad News Bears. It's comical when the wives approach the corner to give instruction, "Honey, could you go back and sit down? This guy's trying to beat the crap out of me right now. Yes, I'll try harder. Thank You. Very inspiring. Go sit down now."
When Manfredo pere had the corner withhold water until he finished his rant, might have been the best moment of the show. The best part was the corner, especially #1 Daddy, looked genuinely scared of him.
Him vs. a Navy SEAL, I want to watch that more than the title fight. Except the SEAL gets to fight bare knuckles. The guy just came back from Afghanistan, you know he knows 20 ways to kill a guy with his pinkies.

Sly vs. Sugar Ray
The battle to sit behind the desk.
It should start with a war of words,
"I won an Oscar for a boxing movie"
"I won an Olympic Gold Medal, world championships, and beat Hearns & Hagler, actual boxers."
Bonus dividends for deflating Sly's ego, and showing all pseudo tough guys it's not a good idea to mess with somebody who does something for a living.

Next Season- Heavyweights
I'd watch for the challenges alone.  ¶ 3:01 PM