I'm impressed that they've managed to keep the outcome of the fights underwraps for the most part, given the amount of people in the audience.

I agree with those who say this isn't a team sport. These fighters won't be helping Anthony in the ring. In fact, they'll be fighting him in the future. Anthony knows this, so he doesn't care that he's "losing friends" on the show. The only reason there are "teams" is because Burnett needs teams in all his shows.

In the meantime, Anthony gets an easier (smarter) route to the next round and gets extra money in the process. So he stepped on a few toes on the way... big deal.

I think that we can all see what Anthony was trying to do - it's just that not many of us agree on the underhanded way he did it. If he wanted to fight someone else, he should have said so. He can say he did it for his kids, but I wonder what his kids will think when they look back at it on TV - the loss of respect that boxers on both East AND West had for him.

I'm not saying that all the fights were pre-arranged. I'm saying that with so few fighters remaining in the first round, both teams sorta mutually agreed upon who would fight who. I'm sure that no one would've minded if the winner of the competition (the West) agreed as a team to change who was to fight who. However, Anthony played the game like he was Johnny Fairplay from Survivor. He straight up lied to his team and kept talkin' all this smack on how he was gonna kill Jimmy. Then at the callout, he calls out Brent.

Anthony probably had the talent to beat Jimmy and Joey had the talent to beat Brent so the West could go 2-0 in those fights. Now there's a VERY VERY good chance that Joey is gonna lose to Jimmy or Juan. So yes, he did screw his team over.

Most boxers pride themselves on being the best and to be the best, you have to beat the Best.

That's why Alphonso called out Peter Manfredo and that's why Jesse called out Jonathan. None of those guys took the easy way out. Not only do the guys on both teams respect him more, but the boxing community as a whole respects them more. For this reason, they should be able to get better fights when this competition is done.

Anthony just took the easy way out for one round but he's definitely not gonna win this tournament so he may have saved himself for another day but the boxing world and community which he's still gonna be in after this competition will view him as an underhanded snake. There's a chance that he's gonna fight some of these guys after the competition and they're gonna be extra motivated to beat the crap out of him.

But in the final analysis, boxing is not a team sport, even though this reality TV tries to foist that fallacy on the audience.

Again, why even have the winning team be able to call out the other team's fighter if it's not an advantage to be exploited by the winning team? Just have each pairing "fixed" and then the winning teams are just fighting for the prizes for that particular competition - but that's not all that interesting to watch on a reality TV show.

I think that I already answered your questions in my previous response to you.

I didn't see Anthony faking news of his grandmother's death on the Contender.

Lol.

Pretty funny episode. 'God god god, waahhhh wahhh god.'

That's my main problem with the show, it's not a team sport so why even have teams.

It's just an excuse to show the bonding, created friendships and rivalrys to do all the human interest crap.

It would have been much better with short boxing related individual challenges with the winner getting to pick who he wanted to fight among the other 15 (at the start) boxers IMO.

Tough to root for tonights fight though. Liar (don't mind the me first thing, but he could have just said fuck you guys going into the challenge or when they were agreeing to matchups) versus the Jesus freak.

Anyone here surprised that Anthony would take the tomato can route to the top is not familiar with real world boxing careers.

Well, you really have to take it one fight at a time. Pick the easiest fight that round and hope the fighters you don't match up well with get beat before you're up again.

Longer you stay in the tourney, the better your chances are. Plus getting a win under your belt boosts your confidence.

I don't like the way he lied at all, but I don't have any problem with him dodging the guy he was supposed to fight. He should have just said from the outset that he wouldn't fight him by choice in the first round.

I don't think that anyone would've had a problem with that but the fact is that he straight up lied and that's why he's scum.

Wow..I'm watching this show from Tivo tonight and laughing at all the guys whining about Anthony "not sticking to the script". Especially Ishe...WTF?! Of ALL people he needed ta just shut up and say "I know what ya mean man. Plan your work and work YOUR plan."

Like the trainers and everyone keep yelling during the competitions..."This is for a million dollars." This ain't about a popularity contest.

No one will trust him now, so he's gonna have ta really come with it next fight. The trick won't work twice.

Fool me once..shame...shame on you.. Fool me twice...won't get fooled again!"

From Anthony's Bio:

Anthony works the overnight shift as a K-Mart Production Supervisor and has found it difficult to juggle his family responsibilities, his job and his boxing career. He's proud to be an honest working man and a good father, and those values mean more to him than money or success. Anthony dedicates this experience to his two kids (who are also young boxers in training).

This is what's so hypocritcal about him. He talks all this talk about being a "#1 Daddy" and then he has to pull that BS. Yeah, great role model he is, "Hey kids, lie your way to the top, it worked for me."

I wouldn't have had a problem with Anthony if it wasn't for all the trash talking he did before hand. He said he was going to pick Jimmy and then went on and on for a week or so saying how bad he was going to beat Jimmy. Had he not agreed to the match up in the first place or even if he had agreed and then just kept his mouth shut I wouldn't have had as much of a problem with it.

Exactly. My problem was with the way he lied. All the trash talking and telling his teammates to win the challenge b/c he wanted the advantage of calling out Jimmy.

If he had just said he'd fight him and shut up about it it wouldn't have bothered me at all.

Even with his number 1 Dad stuff. It's a dog eat dog world and you have to do what's best for you and yours. I have no problem with the kids learning that. But Anthony went too far with his lies.

If he had told the "truth," his teammates were quite clear about the fact that they would have not pulled so hard in the team competition (to help him be the one to toe the line). So to put it another way, they would have tanked on him. Some "team." They're basically pissed because he wouldn't accept the fight THEY wanted him to take, regardless of how he may have felt. So he beat them to the punch to help himself get to the $1 million fight, which is of course why he's there. I probably would have done it different, but I don't hold it against him. And now he will deal with the fallout, and if he does and gets to the end, more power to him.

Was there a specific scene where they said would give up on the challenge? I think the logical thing would have been to choose one of the other fighters to go instead and just have Anthony go last.

If Anthony made a stink, it's in the best interest of his 'teammates' to tank the competition to allow the other team to put up the guy who was paired up with Anthony (thereby keeping the pairing for the rest of the boxers in line and on course) and Anthony would have been forced to fight the guy with long rangy arms and more height, two things that give Anthony more problems than fighting a bum like Brent.

Anthony played the game per the rules laid out by Mark Burnett & company. He got to "play" his team in order to maintain his own agenda. It's one of those things that can only be exploited once (burn me once, shame of you, burn me twice, shame on me). It's the kind of thing that Burnett & company wanted to happen to make people talk about the show, otherwise, if the pairing just go as schedule, there isn't a new dimension to the drama, besides just the fights.