Extremely upset that we won't be seeing a second season of the Contender. This is the only reality show I have ever liked, and it is one of my favorite shows this season.

Me too. Damn shame NBC isn't giving this show another season.

I loved the Contender. Best reality show in a long time - I actually really liked today's fan's fights were better than the main event tonight, but whatever. I recommend everyone check out the Ishe v. #1 Daddy. Completely insane - Ishe completely dominated. I picked Ishe to win the entire thing - at least he got to beat up #1 Daddy.

Did anyone else get annoyed with Sly constantly playing the huckster demanding a rematch from the get go? Hell, I want another season as much as anyone but you can see through Sly pretty easily.

Oh ya, that almost made me turn it off. I have no problem with them saying it at the end of round 7 and after the fight, but they brought up rematch in round 2. Rediculous

Still, this is the best reality show ever, and somehow they're not picking it up. We all lost

I had Sergio winning 4 rounds and the other three being even. I didn't really get why the announcers kept saying it was so tough to score. Three rounds were, but the other 4 Sergio won pretty convincingly IMO. He just backed against the ropes, blocked 3/4's of Peter's shots, and countered with 3 or 4 punches for every one Peter landed.

Hat's off to him, I didn't think he had a chance against Peter, and I'm damn glad to see him win as I'd have hated to see a fighter who lost end up getting the million bucks due to lucking into a second chance.

Yeah, I forgot to mention this. He also said that this was a candidate for fight of the year

This fight had almost as much clenching as a John Ruiz fight.

Still hats off to a great show. Hopefully some network will pick up season 2.

Just caught this on DVR. Hats of to the two fighters I was rooting for all season - Sergio and Alfonso. Great stuff from both of them. Awesome finale.

One judge scored the main fight a skunk by the Snake with the 70-63 score. Yikes!

I'd score it 68-65 at best.

Sergio was doing classic Sugar Ray Leonard moves with the ratta-tat-tat acting to steal rounds at the end of the rounds, and the showboating of showing the glove before ripping Peter with uppercuts to the body and chin.

Props to Sergio to not let Peter push him around after the 1st round.

I was VERY disappointed in Peter today, but I had a feeling the snake would win. Also, I would have bet on Alfonso. That boy is awesome.

Sergio won the fight just like he beat Ishe although if I'm a judge, I don't score it the same. Those baby punch combo's are useless to me. I give Peter a lot more credit for being the agressor the entire fight and throwing power punches. Sergio couldn't knock down me I don't think. If I were to rank the fighters after this, I would have

1) Ishe
2) Gomez
3) Sergio
4) Manfredo
5) Jesse

Man I LOVE this show! Is everyone positive it's not coming back for another season? This was my favorite show behind Lost..

I was extremely happy to see Alfonzo beat Jesse. Sly and Sugar are right when they say Fonzo has the most heart.. The guy just don't give up.. I thought for sure he was going to get a KO with all the body shots. Never seen Jesse hurt that bad. That was awesome!

I personally think Sergio dominated the fight. I liked both of them and was sorta pulling for Peter but I have no problem with the Snake winning. It really did look like he could go another 7 rounds. I think Peter got saved by the bell the one round (can't remember which). The Snake was freakin hammering ham and Peter had no clue where he was.. At times it looked like if Sergio would have just moved out of the way that Peter would have just fell over. He had no gas left in the tank and his punches were coming so slow while Sergio seemed to be firing on all cylinders..

Couple side notes..

Anyone think the camera action sucked REAL bad in the first fight and sucked somewhat in the final?

And how about the mic's always going in and out. When Sly asked Fonzo if he would rematch Peter and you didn't hear any of Fonzo's answer but you can see him talking.

And I totally agree about Sly trying to plug for another season. That got way annoying.

P.S. Sly sucked live. Screwed up and couldn't understand half the stuff he said.

Great season and great show!

Also, what's up with only a 5 round fight for 3rd place? They had 7 round fights for the two final fights to get to the last one but only a 5 rounder for 3rd place? I wanted 7 because I bet Fonzo woulda KO'd Jesse.

I also wish the final was a 12 round fight.

I appreciated Sly's plugging for another season because he, like us, knows that the show was cancelled. He was basically saying to all the networks "This is a great fucking show. Who has the balls to pick it up?"

Yo, Adrian!

What a piss poor presentation of the Contender Belt..

Sly - "Here's the Belt!"

WTF!

I agree 100%, the camera angles were just awful. How many times would they cut to a family member during the fight. Plus those squares in the corner with family members watching, who looked at those even once?

I'll admit, I thought the snake had no chance. Although I still think Fonzo is the best fighter. I was SHOCKED that Jesse was a "huge favorite" to win that fight. Speaking of Jesse, my god, everytime they showed that guy during the live fight, he looked like someone killed his wife and kids. He must realize his career is over.

Oh, and more thing i thought was kind of stupid. This show is called the contender. To give one of these guys a shot at the title. But all they did was talk about rematches. I want to see Sergio go up against whoever has the actual belt for that weight class (I have no idea who the champion is, but i'd watch that fight in a heartbeat, thats how much i liked this show. I never watch boxing).

Not that i wouldn't LOVE to see Fonzo take on Sergio, but i'd like Sergio to get his shot, he earned it.

Yea.. That was pretty sorry.. At least you could understand what he said though.. Most of the time he talked he tripped over his words and slurred so bad I was like

For the finale the camera angles definitely sucked. They kept going to the guy right by the ring and the ref would get in the way. The whole broadcast, including the announcing, was much better online than they did on TV. Hats off to Sergio, he is a great boxer.

I don't believe Sergio once hurt Peter at all. Sergio's punches pack no power but he does score well because he throws a ton of punches. Peter was exhausted at the end from basically pushing Sergio around with is body all night. Sergio was in the better condition, wanted it more and threw more punches. I just don't like the barrage of punches that Sergio likes to throw. As someone said earlier in the thread, its like Sugar Ray used to do. Throw like 5-10 punches in a row with no power that all land on your opponents gloves but the crowed gets excited. None of them actually land on their target and even if they did, they wouldn't do damage.

Just read this from another site:

Although the show has not been picked up for a second season by NBC, all those involved remained optimistic. "I couldn't have asked for a better season. I think it's the best reality show," said Sylvester Stallone.
"It's been a true honor to take this incredible journey with these sixteen young men. They have fought well. They have shown their hearts, their souls, their spirit," said "Sugar" Ray Leonard.
"I'm totally committed to this," said creator Mark Burnett. "And OK, if NBC doesn't want to do this, we'll go somewhere else."


Looks like Burnett may be shopping this, so don't give up hope yet. Great finale to a great series. I liked how Sergio was trash talking to Peter's corner. When he gets his swagger and confidence going he is tough to beat.

Sly's an actor.

I too thought it was funny how they tried to build tension midway through -- "Whoever wins the 7th round wins this fight" -- when it was a clear Sergio victory.

Anyway, this show kicked ass, and I wish it would return. I often roll my eyes when people say, "I hate reality TV, but I loved this show", when most of it is the same type of stuff, but The Contender was certainly better than almost all the others, and it would suck to not see more.

das

Is this show too expensive for someone like ESPN to pick up? Seems a show like this would do great on cable where ratings pressures are lower.

I think I'm in the minority here, but I thought this show was one of the worst productions I have ever seen. It was as if none of the people involved had ever witnessed a boxing match before. I thought the production sucked, the sound sucked, the camerawork was sub-par, Sly and friends were completely assinine. What I did enjoy were the fights. I was happy with both winners. I watched all the episodes, as I enjoy boxing and it was good to learn more about the boxers. But that is it. The show pissed me off every week with the scriped comments in the crowd and Sly taking himself so seriously. The worst was at the end of each episode where Rocky, Sugar, the old hooker, and the trainer tried to outwit eachother when commenting about the nights fight. And last night, no one seemed to have a clue what to do, especially at the end. They all just kinda stood there dumbfounded. I think I heard Sly say "can you hear me, am I on now" at least three times. There were so many screw-ups it was ridiculous. I honestly don't know if I would be able to sit through another season of this if it did actually come back. Perhaps if they got rid of Sly, Sugar, and the hooker. Some people just are not fit for certain jobs.

The Ultimate Figher was a much better show (not that they are exactly the same, but in a similar vein). Hands down, I'd watch the Ultimate Fighter again. But the Contender was a hack job. I hope it doesn't come back (at least not with the same people and production).