(Photo:  Yahoo's The Contender Page)

First, I want to apologize for the last two weeks.  I haven't covered this show like I did at the beginning.  I watched Sergio vs. Najai, which was a decent contest, yet I was away from home refereeing a basketball tournament.  I completely missed last week's Peter vs. Miguel competition.  Although I saw the fight online, I didn't think it was right to write up a show that I didn't see.  Oh well.

The ironic thing about my reviewing absence was that there wasn't any kind of drama, as Ishe vs. Ahmed (which got me quite a few visitors, I might add.  Thanks for coming) was climatic, and Ahmed's defeat ended the drama for those two weeks.  No matter, because the drama got turned up a notch this week.  More on that later.

We start the show off with reactions to the returned Peter Manfredo's victory over Miguel Espino last week.  Peter's win marked the first victory for the East Coast, and that gave him and his teammates a boost going into this week.

We find out this week that the fighters had already met and had decided the matchups for the six remaining fighters who haven't fought.  Anthony Bosante didn't object to his predetermined opponent, Jimmy Lang, right in front of the guys, but during interview time he did have a problem with it.  He didn't think it was right that every other boxer was trying to decide his fight for him.  He promised a surprise if the West team won the mission and he had to make the decision.

With Peter's win, the East Coast gets their first reward, and it was to go to NBC Studios in Burbank to see the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.  Gallagher, the gym manager, took them to the show and to hang out with Leno afterwards.  The West Coast didn't like that, as it was the first time they had to stay home, and they had nothing to do.  All Jesse did was lay on the bed and complained about how boring it was.  Ishe said the reward was going to be a booster for the East Coast so they could continue to win.

This week's mission was the medicine ball race.  Set up on an overpass at a California Dam, the teams had to roll the medicine balls over to a spot just above the overpass, fill the nets with the balls, then use a rope to lift the balls up to the overpass to be stacked onto a pickup.  The team who stacks all of their balls into the pickup first wins.

The West started out REALLY shaky in this one, as they lost a lot of time when they would drop the net, because they had to climb up the dam's shield in order to get their net all the way down to refill.  The East had a pretty huge lead at the beginning, but they wouldn't place enough balls in the net each time, which means more trips.  That allowed the East to catch up, and the deciding factor was the last trip, as one of the East's medicine balls fell out of the net.  That gave the West Coast another victory.

Now it was drama time, as the official challenge was made.  Anthony stepped up from the West Coast to make the challenge, and everyone expected him to challenge Jimmy as they all planned.  However, Anthony challenged Brent instead, which angered both Jimmy and Anthony's West Coast teammates.  Jimmy walked off, accusing Anthony of betraying him.  Anthony responded to both teams, saying he feeds his family and so he makes his own decisions. 

In doing this, Anthony pretty much alienated everyone.  Jimmy, Jesse, Ishe and most of the guys publicly rooted for Brent to win the fight.  Jesse called Anthony a coward and accused him of fighting what they considered the easier fighter in Brent.  Jimmy was a pretty tall guy with a long reach that would give Anthony problems.  That night, everyone went out to the bar while Anthony stayed home to keep his mind on the fight.  A number of them told Brent to knock him out.  Later on in the press conference, a number of guys called Anthony out again for ducking Jimmy, particularly Ishe.  Anthony responded, saying Ishe wasn't his promoter and he decided the fight based on what he felt was the best for his family.

Did you buy that?  I didn't either.

So the fight was Anthony Bonsante vs. Brent Cooper.  Anthony was from Shakopee, Minnesota while Brent is from Hermitage, Tennessee.  Both were journeymen, and had lost before.  They were two of the older ones in the competition, as Anthony was 34 and Brent was 31.  Anthony was a single dad with two kids, Brittany and Derek.  Brent is married but doesn't have any kids.

The next morning Ishe and Brent held a small bible study session, and Brent talked about his faith and how everything he does was through God's will.  He was confident that God wanted him to win the fight and to eventually be the winner of The Contender.  I found it interesting that he knew what God actually wanted, but anyways...

Anthony meanwhile, was a homesick man, as he was breaking down everytime he talked about his kids and talked to them on the phone.  As he was in his locker room during pre-fight his mom had surprised him by bringing the kids with her to see him fight, and he immediately broke down once he saw them.  It was truly a touching moment.  Anthony promised to win the fight.

Many celebrities were at the fight, as usual.  Vin Diesel, Burt Reynolds, and Mario Lopez were all on hand to see this one.  Stallone tries to make every fight a star-studded affair, which is a plus.  When Anthony came out of the dressing room for the fight, both teams stayed quiet and didn't say a word or move a muscle.  You could tell who they were rooting for.  His kids cheered, which was the only ones that really mattered for him.

Previously, Sugar Ray Leonard hyped up Brent's handspeed, as he sparred with him earlier.  He was right; Brent had good handspeed, but the problem was he was only hitting air.  Anthony's punches were right on target, however, and he came after Brent with straight jabs that he never blocked.  I wish I could see the CompuBox numbers, because it seemed like Anthony landed about 60% of his punches, and they all were power punches.  At one point in the first round it looked like Anthony would stop Brent quickly, but Brent finished with a bit of aggression at the bell, which got Jesse's approval.

With the way Brent finished the round, Leonard thought Anthony may have punched himself out.  Brent came out to Round 2 pretty strong, getting a couple of hooks that knocked Anthony off balance.  He stood toe to toe with him for a few seconds until Anthony stepped back and circled the ring.  Once again Leonard felt Anthony was fatigued and Stallone thought he could lose the round due to his stalling.

That's when it happened.  Anthony counterpunched Brent by unleashing a straight left jab that completely tore open Brent's eye.  From that moment on it was Anthony's round, as he unleashed a fury that eventually closed his eye, and was sure to impair Brent for the rest of the fight.

The writing on the wall was clear, and Brent's wife nor Ishe could help Brent for what was coming, as Round 3 was all Anthony.  Anthony threw hooks and jabs that hurt Brent, and it was obvious that he couldn't defend himself early into the round.  Many people called for the ref to stop the fight, which he eventually did.  It was the first ref stoppage of the show, and it was pretty brutal.

Ishe and Jesse, who have been outspoken throughout the whole show, didn't like it one bit.  Jesse told Stallone that it was an example of someone taking the easy way out.  Ishe was steamed, and he now wanted a piece of Anthony to avenge Brent's loss.

Brent was hurt, both physically and mentally, but his faith wasn't.  He just rationalized it as something that wasn't in God's plan.  Stallone talked to him and wished him well, and afterwards he hung up his gloves.  Anthony celebrated in the ring

Next week, the drama continues, as I'm sure Anthony will have problems with the rest of the fighters.  They've teased a big confrontation, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see Stallone bend the rules a little and let two fighters that have already fought get into the ring.  Anthony vs. Ishe perhaps?

We'll see what happens.

My Other Contender Posts:

1.  The Contender Quarterfinals:  Ishe vs. Sergio
2.  The Contender, Episode Eight:  Jimmy vs. Joey
3.  The Contender Episode Seven:  Juan vs. Tarick
4.  The Contender Episode Six:  Anthony vs. Brent
5.  The Contender Episode Three:  Ishe vs. Ahmed