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When Mark Burnett came up with idea of bringing 16 professional boxers to a national audience, they sold the package as an inside look at the lives of potential world champions. The suits at NBC bought into it and before long, a product that was a cross between a boxing telecast and reality TV quickly captured the public’s imagination. Over a three month span it became a must see for die hard and fair weather fans alike. In the process, it also brought instant recognition to a group on hungry, yet still developing fighters who quite possibly would not have achieved this level of fame if not for the show.
While the sweet science experiment was a success in moving boxing back towards the main stream audience, the admission paying jury is still in deliberation on the verdicts of the young middleweights featured in the first season. There is more than meets the eye in this great sport and truth be told, The Contender editors can do enough film cutting to make a John Ruiz fight look like a barnburner.
As you know, Sergio Mora defeated Peter Manfredo Jr. in the final round to take the million bucks and earn status as a “contender”. While none of the original cast has made a big splash on the scene just yet, some are on their way to bigger and better things while others are being exposed as pretenders.
This Friday, three of the more notable participants of the inaugural Contender series lace up the gloves and continue chapter two of their journey up the middleweight ladder. In this article I will take a look at the match ups of Sergio Mora, Alfonso Gomez and Ishe Smith and go in depth to see where the Magna Cum Laude of season one have been, where they can go, and what the public is saying about them now.
This weekend’s action starts off in Sacramento, CA where ESPN will showcase two of the favorites on the next to last segment of Friday Night Fights. Sergio Mora, 18-0 (4), takes on Sacramento native Eric Regan, 26-2 (17), for the IBA Continental Middleweight title. In the co-feature, Alfonso Gomes, 14-3-2 (5), will do battle against an opponent that we have become quiet familiar with this season on ESPN, the ever dangerous ham and egger fighting on about one day notice.
Head a few miles east to the Desert Diamond Casino in Arizona and you can catch Ishe Smith, 17-1 (7), once again fighting under the Golden Boy Promotions banner. Since winning a release from his Contender contract, Smith is reaping the benefits of being a Golden Boy prospect.
The ODH led promotional company is making a habit of swelling their young fighter’s records against cupcake competition. Not to say they aren’t a very skilled stable, it is just hard to get a good read of where they stack up. This night will be no different as Smith gets to have his way with sacrificial lamb Oscar Gonzalez, 9-6 (3), who has one win in his last six contests. Telefutura will be there to televise the public offering.
After winning The Contender tournament and a million dollars, Sergio Mora was back on ESPN seven months later taking on fringe prospect Archak TerMeliksetian. Things weren’t looking good early for “The Latin Snake” and he got dropped in the second round. To his credit, Mora pulled himself off the canvas and eventually figured out his stronger opponent.
From the fourth round on, he was in control and by the seventh, the ref waved off the fight though some argue that it was a quick stoppage. So while it was a bumpy start, ESPN’s much ballyhooed contender got the duke on national TV, but this win still didn’t earn him the respect of the boxing world.
No one illustrated this better than promoter Lou DiBella. DiBella’s preliminary plan for middleweight champion Jermain Taylor was to have his young titlist take an easy fight in his hometown against quote – unquote, “Bozo the Clown”, level opposition. Soon after that statement, it was widely rumored that Sergio Mora would serve as the jester.
When Sergio took a few minutes to discuss the possibility on Wednesday Night Fights, Teddy Atlas dumped more salt on the wound. He looked the Snake in the eye and told him he wasn’t ready for a fight like this. While he has never faced a fighter close to Taylor’s caliber, this game is all about money, which continues to make this fight a possibility.
All Mora has to do is get past his next opponent, Eric Regan. Regan is a bit of an unknown but it is said that when on his game, he is very sharp in the ring and has some good pop in his mitts. The 30 year old hold wins over decent competition, highlighted by a dominant performance over Yory Boy Campas in the early part of 2005. In his next fight, he moved up in weight and got beat down by journeyman Darmel Castillo. He has won two straight since his return to middleweight.
When Mora beat Peter Manfredo, he was on top of the boxing world for about two minutes. Now, you hear all sorts of opinions. Some say he is barely an eight round fighter, others say his lack of punching power will be his downfall and others think his pure boxing skills will overcome all of these deficiencies.
Mora will almost certainly be tested by Regan but if he can pull out the win, he might be in line for a title shot; if he loses, he will probably spend the rest of his career as a novelty act. To his credit, he does have an undefeated record and more important, name recognition. As we all know, talent alone doesn’t sell tickets. Time will tell if Mora can parlay his TV success into a successful boxing career.
Alfonso Gomez gets back to business, after a hard fought draw against fellow contender Jesse Feliciano in a very exciting, rib battering contest. ESPN just seems to love this guy; he is on just about every episode of The Contender 2, and popping up on ESPN boxing either as a fighter or guest commentator. All negative marks on Gomez professional losses have come against members of The Contender series. He took the loss in a rematch with Peter Manfredo; he also lost to Feliciano back in 2003 and Ishe Smith got the best of him back in ’01.
This weekend we will see him in a fight that he is almost sure to dominate as an opponent as yet to be named with less than a day to go. ESPN is sure getting into the bad habit of doing this, turning over all sorts of rocks to find a fighter at the last minute, to in most cases take a one sided beating. Gomez did make it pretty deep into the contender tournament but has been untested outside of the ESPN realm to date. My fans seem to really like his bang it out style; it is a strong possibility that you will see him on a Showtime or HBO telecast in the future.
The Vegas born Ishe Smith’s journey has been a storied one. Even before the Contender, he has taken on and beaten some solid competition. In 2004, he defeated Randall Bailey to win three minor welterweight titles. Since then, he has gotten a rap as a bit of a troublemaker but I see him more as a fighter who doesn’t take any BS. He has been through a few different promoters because of what he calls bum deals and was always arguing on the TV show, but overall I would have to say that he is a fan favorite.
His services were recently picked up by De La Hoya and company and will get his second fight under Golden Boy Promotions this week. Since joining the team, he is taken a step down in competition. This is possibly a move to keep Ishe happy and fatten his record for title opportunities. If things stay hunky dory between Ishe and Golden Boy, it is very possible that he can be the first of the group to win a world title.
While the best of the group have been given face time on Wednesday and Friday Night Fights this season, not even the comfy confines of ESPN can guarantee success for all contender graduates. A few weeks back on FNF, super middleweight hot shot Allan Green (who by the way is a real contender) mopped the ring with Anthony Bonsante and possibly sent the #1 dad looking for a day job.
Jesse Brinkley took on Joe Spina, who is a good prospect in his own right, back in May and got KO’d. While Mora won the tournament, it seems to be Peter Manfredo that most people are buying out of this series. He made quick work of former title challenger Scott Pemberton, knocking out the dangerous veteran in three rounds. HBO recently chose him as their answer to Showtime’s 14 October date featuring Joe Calzaghe. Manfredo’s name equals ratings but I would have to think HBO would love to see one of their younger prospects make easy work of “The Pride of Providence”.
Out of the 16 contestants, in my opinion there are three worthy of considering as potential titlists; Manfredo Jr, Mora and Ishe Smith. So to ask the question; since Sergio Mora won the Contender tournament, does that mean he will go on to win a major belt in his career? I am going to say no solely because of his lack of punching power, but we may see him in a few title bouts because of his name. The other two could pull it off if the right opportunity arises. Overall, The Contender is a very good show but it should be noted that it gives a look behind the scenes of a boxing match, not the battle of future world champions.
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