By Daxx Kahn June 2nd, 2008 All Boxing Interviews
"I am curious myself on what will happen."
Sergio Mora, 20-1 (5), the winner of season one of "The Contender" TV series several years ago, was supposed to become a superstar overnight. After all, the whole idea of the show was to give up and coming fighters, or fighters who just missed the big picture, one last chance at stardom.
Mora appeared on the show week after week and beat opponent after opponent, advancing to the finals until he was the last man left, taking home $750,000 in prize money and the Contender championship.
The proposal was that the winner, in addition to receiving the aforementioned prizes, would be promoted like one of the sport's top names, appearing as the main event on fight cards through out the world.
But that's not exactly what happened. While there were title shots, main events and big money bouts, those "awards" were given to Peter Manfredo and Alfonso Gomez, two fighters who participated in the Contender, but did not win the series.
Manfredo faced 168 lb kingpin Joe Calzaghe in Wales last year on a premier cable network during a losing bid for the WBO Super Middleweight Championship and Gomez defeated former world champion Arturo Gatti on a premier cable network in a 2007 main event before losing to WBA Welterweight Champion Miguel Cotto just last month.
While Moraʼs fellow Contender alumni lost their title bids, the fact remains that they received those title bids. So what was to become of the inagural Contender champion?
Just a bit over a year ago, Mora was offered a title shot at then middleweight world champion Jermain Taylor. It was a bout that had venues and surroundings changing so often that before things could be agreed upon 100%, it never materialized.
Then, a fight scheduled for late last year with high volume punching former two time 154 lb IBF title holder Kassim Ouma fell apart as well, leaving Mora to accept a bout on an ESPN undercard against Rito Ruvalcaba. More...
