The Contender

8:02 Recap of the previous week where Jesse picked Joey and Manfredo Jr to fight. Joey isn’t that experienced. Manfredo is very experienced but seems to be a head case. He can’t seem to put a complete good fight together. He took the first two rounds and then proceeded to lose the next two. He had an inexperienced on the ropes, one with a broken rib, and couldn’t close it out. Joey showed a lot. But Manfredo won a split decision.

08:07 Jesse’s feeling a little guilty for Joey getting beaten up so bad. He looked pretty bad after the fight. Now Jesse and Anthony are fighting this week.

08:09 Every fighter says he fights and lives for his family but Anthony really seems to love his kids more than anyone I’ve seen on a reality show. They show a lot of time between the fighters and their families. It’s nice but gets a bit old. Week after week it’s a fighter saying “My family means so much. They are everything to me.”

08:11 Jesse is complaining about a hamstring injury from the past week and dropping 8 lbs. Part of me thinks this is a psyche job he’s trying to pull on Anthony. Anthony is focused and I’m thinking Jesse is trying to get him to let his guard down and underestimate him some. I think Jesse is sharper than most give him credit for.

08:15 They have a crusty old fart named Tommy as one of their trainers. Think Mickey from the Rocky movies but slightly less crusty. We’re in one of the scenes where Sly is supposed to talk off the cuff. But he can’t but so a lot of it is voiced over. The funniest moments in the show are when Sly tries to speak without a script.

08:17 Peter is getting critiqued by one of the greatest trainers of all time. It’s his prize for winning his last fight.

08:19 OK, truth be told, it’s not quite as exciting now without the crazy personalities. That is, until the fight. But the first 40 minutes of this show has started to get a bit tedious. By the way, that’s George Clooney doing the voice-over on that Budweiser commercial

Spent the day with Ma, Pa and the GF. It was a really good mother’s day. So I had to tape this show. So while this was airing, mom made us watch a crappy movie called The Core. Save your time. Money can be replaced. Your time can’t. A turd.

08:23 We’re going through the “Bulemic female gymnast” part of the show. Jesse has to lose a lot of weight before the fight. He’s not purging but this the male way of doing it. A hot rubber sweat suit and running. Then it’s on to the sauna to burn off some more weight. Wonder what would happen if Jesse didn’t make weight. It’s not like the show can go on without a fight.

08:25 Jesse didn’t make weight. Anthony is making him lose the last half pound. Jesse’s pissed that Anthony is making him do this. But, jeez, where’s his discipline? Trying to lose that weight on the last day? Now Jesse is whining. Working in Anthony’s favor because Jesse is out of his game mentally. Tommy is telling Jesse to shut his pie-hole and just lose the weight.

08:27 Jesse barely made weight. Fight is one. I overestimated Jesse. He’s really unmotivated and pretty dumb. I’d rather see Anthony win to begin with but if Jesse is acting this way, I definitely don’t want him to win the contract.

08:29 Part of the show where they simulate the pre-fight press conference. Sly is trying to talk again. I think Rocky sounded smarter. Now Sugar Ray is giving his pre-fight analysis. What was it? “ The winner of the fight will depend on who lands the first show and who takes advantage of it.” Good job Sugar. Anthony is trotting his kids’ pictures now. Jesse starts talking smack. Anthony got him back good by calling Jesse his sparring partner. Jesse is still pissed and Anthony is focused. Both are big hitters. This could be a pretty good fight. A little animosity is always good.

08:32 I can’t believe they’re still showing this Listerine commercial with the guy swishing it in his mouth and the voice-over cheering him on. “C’mon! A little bit longer! You can do it!” Motivational mouth-washing, that’s what the world needs.

08:35 Pre-fight buildup. Bring both of the fighters’ families in. Anthony is crying. Normally not a good sign. But he cried when he saw them before his last fight and I thought he was done, cooked, unprepared. He went on to crush Brent. He’s also gotta be about 15 years older than anyone else on this show.

08:37 Listening to the pre-fight talk from each fighter tells you about their mental state and that’s huge on these fights. Anthony is WAY more prepared. Even his wife pointed out he doesn’t look prepared. His wife is going to fall out of her dress.

08:39 Showing the crowd before the fight. There’s always some “celebrities” in the stands. James Caan and others. I’m waiting to see Todd Bridges and Scott Baio. As little as Sugar Ray and Sly are actually on camera probably says a lot about their abilities to host the show. They’re billed as big stars on the show and seem to make cameo appearances.

08:40 Star Wars Episode III preview. Looks like it might suck less than I and II. I’m looking forward to being disappointed by it. Of course, Sam Jackson gets to go Shaft Badass on some bad guys. That’ll be pretty cool.

08:44 Prefight prediction. Anthony and it won’t be too close. Jesse will tire early and break. Anthony is too strong mentally and Jesse is broken down. Each round will Jesse will look progressively worse.

08:46 Anthony comes right out jabbing and nailing Jesse. Good counterpunch form Jesse. After Anthony got hit by a straight right to the body, they cut away to Sly so he can say “That stung a little bit.” I think he’s just jealous that these guys are all better boxers than Rocky ever was.

08:47 Close first round. Think Anthony took it but there wasn’t a ton of action.

08:48 End of second round. Jesse is looking better. I think Anthony barely took this one, too. Crusty old Tommy walks over to Jesse’s corner to tell him he lost both rounds. I really expected more action these first two rounds. Disappointing so far. Sooner or later Jesse is going to get tired and Anthony is going to start hurting him.

08:50 Jesse really took it to Anthony this round. Landing some really strong right hands. Anthony was dodging those earlier but not in this round. Anthony got frustrated at the end of the round, turning Jesse around and pushing him into the ropes. Jesse may have gotten into Anthony’s head some. Card is still Anthony 2-1. But Jesse is impressing the heck out of me.

08:51 I’m not waiting until the end of the round on this one. Anthony has come right out and is just beating Jesse badly. Anthony is a monster right now. He showed this in his fight against Brent. When Anthony smells blood, look out. He’s not even letting Jesse get set to throw punches. Wow.

08:52 Clearly Anthony’s round and his fight to lose at this point. Anthony 3-1 so far. Jesse needs one heck of an impressive round and some bad scoring in one of those first two rounds to win a decision. Here we go.

08:53 No way. Anthony came out strong and was pounding Jesse. But jesse landed two devastating uppercuts. First one staggering Anthony to the point he had to lean on Jesse to stay up. Then another knocked him cold. He makes it up off the mat in time. Ref stops the fight because Jesse came right back and pounded him. Anthony had *nothing* left. His poor 9 year old daughter is watching and yelling for them to stop the fight. Anthony is crushed after the fight.

Jesse earned this. I did underestimate him.

08:55 The walk down the hall where the losing fighter has to meet Sly while he says something that is supposed to be comforting/inspirational. Hmm, they skipped that. Bet he said something funny to Sly they couldn’t show.

I’m going back to watch that last round. Anthony was hurting Jesse bad and easily winning that round. But those uppercuts, wow.

Jesse is terrible at dodging punches and as Tommy said, he got lucky, because Anthony was clearly winning the fight.

I still pick Sergio to win it all. He’ll cut Jesse up pretty good.

Tomorrow is a volleyball night so I’ll be taping The Bachelor. Be warned. I don’t think much of fame-hunting, gold-digging desperate to be married women so I doubt I’ll have much positive to say about the women on the show. As for the guy, well, I already know he’s an idiot.