Entry: The Contender, Episode Eight: Jimmy vs. Joey Monday, April 18, 2005




(Photo:  Yahoo's The Contender Page)

After Juan De la Rosa pulled out the very sloppy victory against Tarick Salmaci last week, we start with Juan in the ring worried about the cut over his eye.  Sugar Ray told him it wasn't a deep cut, but Juan was coming up with excuses, saying he was a slow healer, and he didn't think he'd be able to continue in the Contender. 

When Juan returned to the training house, he was saying the same things to the guys, and they could tell he was exposed and worried after the Salmaci fight.  When Juan woke up the next morning, he complained about everything hurting.  When Juan received his boxing glove pendant at the reward ceremony, he admitted he was frustrated at some of the things Tarick threw at him and had to change his style a bit.

We already knew the next fight, which were the remaining two who haven't fought yet, Jimmy Lang vs. Joey Gilbert.  This was experience vs. heart matchup, as Jimmy had fought 24 pro fights while Joey had only fought eight times.  Both are roughly the same age, as Jimmy was 29 and Joey was 28.  Joey is a lawyer from Reno, NV (well, not all these guys have the Rocky stories).  Jimmy is a family man, with wife Katie, and children Angelo, Jack, and Talia, and he lives off of his boxing earnings.

We got a chance to see both fighters' families, as Joey was able to see his father for the first time since he returned from serving in Afghanistan.  Jimmy talked a little about his wife and family, and how he was worried about the fight because everyone figured he would walk through Joey because they felt Joey was not mentally prepared as well as inexperienced.

Fight time came pretty early in the show, as they usually show it at the end.  In the first round Jimmy started out well, staying busy and working the combinations.  For a while it seemed as if he may be frustrating Joey, and Joey seemed to get more and more agitated as the round went on.

Then it happened.  Joey unleashed with a flurry of punches that got Jimmy in trouble, and once Joey started, he didn't stop until the bell.  He looked as if he hurt Jimmy pretty good with a lot of those shots.  No doubt Joey's flurry gave him the first round.

The second round went almost the same way.  Joey threw a couple of jabs at the start of the round.  Jimmy threw what he had, but then Joey threw some back and they were hurting Jimmy.  Jimmy didn't look good at this point, and Joey seemed too strong and was imposing his will on Jimmy when he wanted.  Second round went to Joey as well.

In the third round, the tide changed suddenly.  Joey has had problems with his hamstring, and after he took a lunging shot at Jimmy, that leg went out on him.  All of a sudden he was only hopping around on one leg and couldn't really move from the spot he was in.  Jimmy took advantage of it by bobbing and weaving away from Joey's punches and hitting him at will.  Although Joey tried to pretend as if Jimmy's punches weren't bothering him, it was easy to tell that he was in trouble.

Round 4 didn't get any better for Joey.  Jimmy was the wrong one to have as an opponent with this kind of injury.  Jimmy's technique was crisp, as he was bobbing under Joey's punches and hitting him with some huge shots that would have probably brought other men down.  On top of that, Joey seemed dejected before the round, as he kept telling his corner that he had no legs due to the injury.  This was easily Jimmy's round.

Stallone went over to Joey's corner and gave him some motivation.  It's real simple; the winner of this fight is the winner of the fifth round, and the winner of the fifth round was the one who wanted it the most.

Well, it was Joey who found the will to win.  Jimmy came out and worked the body again, but wasn't able to get off any big shots.  All of a sudden, Joey comes out of nowhere with a good counterpunch, and then just goes after Jimmy with everything he had.  Jimmy could do nothing but try to cover up, and Jimmy fell to his knees at the end of the round.

Joey won by unaminous decision, of course.  Every round had a clear winner, and I'd bet Joey got a 10-8 decision by the judges for the final round.  However, this is similar to the De la Rosa/Salmaci fight where the winner will not win their next fight.  Joey is hurt, and he reaggravated that injury in the fight.  If you don't have legs, you can't move.  If you can't move, you can't dodge punches nor can you go after your opponent.  In other words, you're no better than a punching bag.  Joey probably won't quit the show, but I don't think he'll be able to handle the remaining fighters.

A dejected Jimmy simply didn't have the punching power to stand in there and trade shots with Joey.  Joey is a natural athlete, and sometimes brute force will beat technique.  But Jimmy was much like Brent Cooper; good technique but couldn't punch his way out of a wet paper bag.  Nor did Jimmy know what to do in order to neutralize Joey's flurries.

After celebrating, Joey comes back to the training house, where all of the fighters welcome him back with open arms.  None of them really gave him a chance to beat Jimmy, and doing it while injured didn't help things either.  They gave him his props, and told him he showed true heart by pulling the upset in those circumstances.

The next morning, an examiner checked out Juan's "injuries" - the cut over his eye, the wrist, and his neck - and told him they wouldn't heal fast enough for the next fight.  Then the examiner asked Juan did he really want to fight.  It was apparent from Juan's attitude after his fight in the last episode that he didn't want to fight anymore, and he claimed he had to look out for his boxing future.  The examiner suspends him for 45 days, but it was apparent that he only did that so Juan could save face.

He went into the living room with the other fighters and informed him that he was pulling out due to injuries.  They didn't fall for it, particularly Sergio and Anthony.  Anthony straight up called him a coward for quitting, which is ironic because his teammates called him a coward for ducking Jimmy Lang and fighting Brent Cooper.  Sergio said if he's 18 years old and can't heal, there's a problem.  It was apparent to most of them that Juan knew he was going to lose his next fight no matter who it was, and so he took himself out of the competition to keep his undefeated streak.

After Joey received his boxing glove pendant, the boys took Stallone's charter fight to Las Vegas to Caesar's Palace, to see where the final bout would be held.  Two of them would make it there to fight for $1 million dollars.  And Sly actually showed them 1 million dollars in cash, protected by security guards.  Next, Sly allowed the boxers to each pick one card.  Someone drove up with a Toyota Tacoma pickup truck.  Whoever had the ace got the truck, and the winner was Sergio.  Afterwards the guys had a night on the town after being given a $1,000 each by Sly.

The next day was crucial. After getting back to the training house, they had to deal with Juan quitting the show.  That meant they had to vote on a replacement.  They only had five choices, however - Ahmed, Jonathan, Miguel, Tarick, and Jimmy.  The other four were not medically cleared to fight.  After what many from the West saw as a blunder by voting Peter back into the house, they definitely wanted to make sure they didn't bring back a potential threat.  They would cast their vote secretly, with no discussion.

So who did they bring back?  Well, you'll have to find out next week.  See ya then.

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

6.  The Contender recap:  Jesse vs. Jonathan
7.  The Contender.
   1 comments

Double_A
April 21, 2005   06:19 AM PDT
 
While the first episode of The Contender was exciting, I thought last episode was one of the best so far, aside from the episode where Manfredo fought Miguel, that was the best episode by far.

In this episode, again the fight seemed absolutely insane. The show had a feel of the crazy competition - the final 8 going to Caesar's Palace, and you know that trip was solely for motivation, all those seats are likely going to be packed, and a million bucks in cold, hard cash shown to them - inches seperating them from 1 million dollars. But I actually disagreed with that money being shown, because I feel it might take away from the focus in the ring. Outside the ring, it's about the money, but inside the ring, it is about winning the fight, beating your opponent, that is the focus, that is what wins fights. They already know it is for a million dollars, and showing it to them, well, are they going to think of winning the fight or winning the money? It is one thing to imagine a million bucks, but to stand faceto face with a million bucks likely has an impact on someone - good or bad remains to be seen and for whom as well. I did find it hilarious when Sly said, referring to the money; "don't touch it", and the guard blocking the cash with his shield, I mean what is he trying to say about these guys? Are these boxers gonna jump him, beat him down and take off with the cash in the Toyota Tundra?

Jimmy no doubt seemed to be a good fighter technique-wise, his technique is sound, he ducks, bobs and weaves nicely, but in the end he just had no answer, and it is hard to tell from the camera work. It was funny hearing Joey say beforehand to Sugar Ray; "he's (Jimmy) got more knockouts than I have fights, I'm not an idiot"! But damn does Joey hit hard, he almost had a knockout himself, and if the round would have had another 30 seconds or even less, he very well may have had one. Jimmy looked like a mean fighter, and I also think that him being let down with the Anthony "gotta do what I gotta do" Bonsante ordeal may have had a mental effect on him. He did look great in the 3rd and 4th but was it because of his talent or was it because Joey was on one leg? I think he has some talent but is lacking solid boxing education to take him to the next level in facing and beating tougher opponents, but you could even see the size difference between him and Joey. While Jimmy got some great shots in those 2 rounds, I think Joey's leg bothered him more than the punches, but almost everytime he hit Jimmy, it zinged him. Jimmy did not try to tie him up or "slow dance" with him, he did not use his jab enough in the fight, and he basically allowed Joey to overwhelm him, something if a boxer does is going to get hammered, just like Brent Cooper did. Jimmy's effective side-to-side on offense was non existent on defense, he only went one way - backwards. Joey had him on the run, and I actually wanted Jimmy to to win, but you gottsta give Joey his props. Imagine if he had both of his legs. I do also feel that he fought like that because his father was there, his style worked but it was a little bit wild and exposed, and it was no doubt a huge boost and it gave him the edge. Will it stay with him or was it spontaneous due seeing his father for the first time in months the night before the fight? I wonder if the guys are going to let him fight last so he can heal, or are they gonna go at him? We shall see. Maybe Anthony will call him out on Sunday?

The vote. Aside from the fight, this is where the remaining juice of the show flowed. This is nothing like the first vote, this is serious stuff, the quarter-finals. It seems obivous that several in the house are voting one way, and as it is known, this is the real question right now; who is it? This is what made the last episode and with Juan bailing during the show, you knew it was coming. Of the fighters that are left, the best we can do is try to play a game of elimination.

Would they bring Jimmy back? Joey is one of those who is apparently voting one way, and I doubt he would agree to that. They know how pissed Jimmy is, and even though Joey did out-hustle Jimmy, and he did rock him, Jimmy is still no pushover, he likely would not make the same mistakes, he would know that he has to hit harder and come out stronger, he was pissed, you do not want a guy that is really pissed because of his loss, and knows why he lost back in the house.

Jonathan, well, I think they did learn from their mistake with Manfredo Jr., but then again, all of these guys can fight. Jonathan has a lot of kids and a pregnant wife, add this up, it equals motivation, and he would mean serious business if he came back, plus he lost before Jesse beat him too so the perceived "Manfredo syndrome" won't work on him, and it didn't even work on Manfredo in the first place anyways! It would be something they would not want to risk again if you ask me, and he is in great shape. One last thing I will say about him though is that he seemed drained in every way after his fight with Jesse.

As for Tarick, I suppose it is a possibility because although he is in good shape, he is not in fighting shape. There is a big difference and we could clearly see that in his fight against Juan. He was sucking in air so heavily he looked like he was going to swallow his mouthpiece, with all due respect to him of course. I give him full credit for what he did after not setting a foot in the ring for 3 years and he hurt Juan. So this may be a consideration, but then again, Tarick was world ranked and at one time had a championship fight lined up. That does not happen to people who cannot fight, and for some, boxing is like riding a bike, all it takes is one jump in the ring. He may sill have trained hard after his loss, and I will say that you do not want to fight this guy if he gets his game back.

This leaves two, and in the end it is these two that I am leaning towards, one more than the other:

"Babyface". Everyone in that house knows that Ishe is ranked #6. He is a threat, he is skilled, he is tough and he is in shape, and he is also hard to beat, he is undefeated. I think the house assumes that Ahmed Kaddour is mentally weak, because in his fight, he did not care about winning the fight, he did not want to win - the only thing on his mind was trying to knock Ishe out because he was not able to check the BS at the door and put his game face on, though I think the judges were lenient to Ishe on the scores with Babyface throwing a late punch and throwing Ishe around like a wrestler after the ref seperated them, what seemed like swearing at Ishe's corner and the crowd, he had no focus. This is why I think partly that he will return, people think that it is easy to get under his skin and they just have to get under his skin to make him change his game plan, stop thinking clearly and lose his focus. The other reason why I think they may bring him back is so that Ishe loses his focus, because Ishe will be a tough opponent. The drama would begin all over and a big distraction for Ishe, you could tell by the look on his face he absolutely did NOT want Babyface back in the house.

Finally Miguel. The only reason I can see him coming back is that maybe they feel it will have some kind of effect on Manfredo, because he does not seem to take kindly to losing again, and it will be very hard to beat him again. He knows what losing feels like now, he fought back and he is over it, it is behind him and means nothing anymore. In fact, as Sugar Ray said, his loss may have made him even better. Therefore perhaps they feel that having Miguel come back may, just may make Manfredo a little nervous or distracted. In any case - my feeling is that Manfredo will have a rematch against Alfonso and beat him. Ratings anyone?

But this second reason is weak, I say it is Ahmed Kaddour who returns. I cannot think of anything else that could fit with what Joey referred to a "monkey wrench" being thrown into things. Not compared to bringing Babyface back anyways!

We shall see.

Leave a Comment:

Name


Homepage (optional)


Comments