Entry: The Contender Finale: Peter vs. Sergio, Alfonso vs. Jesse Tuesday, May 24, 2005



This is a LIVEBLOG of tonight's show.  I will comment every five minutes or so of the prefight, then I will comment round-by-round during the fight.

Let's get this started.

My picks are Peter and Alfonso.

The show starts in 10 minutes.

8:06 - a HUGE Crowd.  Eddie Murphy, Brook Burke, James Caan, etc.  Has to be about 10,000 at Caesar's.  Also a good video spot to start the show.  Stallone and Sugar Ray are in the ring with the commentator (Al something) to start the show.

8:14 - They just showed clips of Sugar Ray giving the fighters advice on how to go forth with their preparations for the fight; what to eat, how to get mentally prepared, etc.  Afterwards they showed the press conference, and there was a pretty big crowd for that.  All of them thanked everyone for coming out and acknowledged their families, and threw a little bit of smack talk at each other, but nothing too dramatic.

8:25 - After the commercial they focus on the consolation fight, Alfonso vs. Jesse.  They talk about Alfonso's heart and how he set the pace for the competition, and then showed his progress through the competition.  Afterwards, they show the Jesse's video, where they talk about his fights and his sense of humor.  They stress his power and tenacity in the ring.  Stallone says Jesse's fight tonight is about redemption. 

UGH...the consolation fight has already happened and has been prerecorded.  Dammit.  That means more than likely they've edited it.

8:31- The fight is on.  Sugar Ray is in the booth with Al.  Alfonso starts out working the jab, and Jesse responds with a pretty good right.  Jesse is tagging him with good shots.  Alfonso doesn't move much, and that works into Jesse's favor.  They finish the round toe-to-toe.  Jesse won the round in my favor.

8:35 - Round two saw a more active Alfonso.  Jesse looked like he was taking a break in that one.  Alfonso won that round.

8:37 - Both of them come out banging, and Alfonso is getting the better of the exchanges.  Jesse probably hasn't fought someone that comes forward and never takes a step back, so he doesn't know what to do.  This fight looks like it's going in Alfonso's favor, but let's see how he enters those final rounds.  Alfonso won the round.

8:43 - They need to take Stallone off of the mic.  They should have considered hiring some professionals, because they're starting to remind me of Thunderboxx.  For those that don't know what I'm talking about, that isn't a good thing.

Bombs were thrown throughout this round.  Jesse was not only hurt, but also fatigued throughout the round.  He threw maybe one good shot, but Alfonso absorbed it and threw bombs at the end of the round.  Jesse's gonna need a knockout.

8:47 - This is only a five-round fight.  Alfonso is actually moving around bobbing and weaving, something that he wasn't doing at the beginning of the fight.  Jesse looked as if he didn't have anything left in the tank.  Alfonso keeps peppering him with blows, and Jesse can't answer.  But at the end of the round, Jesse tries to step it up a notch and ALMOST KNOCKS ALFONSO DOWN.  Fight's over though.  Decision in a few minutes, but I'm sure Alfonso will get it.

8:51 - Man where in the hell do they keep finding these women?  Alfonso's girl (she must be new because they didn't show her during the show) was HOT.  Anyway, Alfonso won by unaminous decision with one judge giving him four rounds to one, and the other two gave him three rounds to two.

They go back to live coverage with Alfonso joining Sly, Sugar, and Al and he talks about the fight.  He knew he could push the issue against Jesse, and became more confident as the fight went on.  Afterwards, they hype the Contender Championship fight and show Peter's video.

9:00 - After Peter's video they talked about his second shot, and how much his pride and heart helped him to get to the championship fight.  Afterwards they show some shots of Sergio in the locker room getting prepared.  Sergio's speed could dictate the fight.  They air Sergio's video, and they stress Sergio's ability and speed.  He's probably the most talented fighter in the competition, in my opinion. 

The Championship fight is next.  Although it's doubtful that either fighter gets knocked out, what will NBC do to make up for the time?  There's still an hour left.  Hmmm.

9:10 - They come back and show the families in the locker rooms giving the respective fighters encouragement.  Afterwards, the ring announcer comes out and starts it up, and they do a quasi-music video with some guy named "Hush".  I have no clue who he is.  Doesn't sound bad tho.  Latino rapper, but doesn't rap in Spanish.

Peter comes out first.  It's kind of funny, because after he comes out the door Roman guards follow him up the aisle.  And then Peter stops and gets into the same stance.  Hilarious.  Peter seems relaxed and confident.  Sergio comes out as well, with the Roman guards in tow.  He seems a little more serious, but as we know Sergio's a smart fighter and can keep his head.  The announcer mentions that Sergio is the only fighter never to hang up his gloves.  He's also undefeated.

Fight starts next.

9:21 - Great first round.  They started of slow, with Peter trying to dig in and wear down Sergio with shots to the head.  But Sergio digs in with some great body shots and uppercuts.  Both corners are claiming they got the round.  Very close to call, but I'd have to get it to Peter.

9:24 - Sergio is really good.  His hands are so fast, and just when you think he's going to relax for a second, he leaps in with a really good punch.  He's worked the body better than most champions.  He hurt Peter a couple of times in that round, and has done well working inside, which is surprising.  Peter hit Mora well after the bell, but I don't think he was penalized for it.  1-1.

9:30 - Sergio is doing a good job, as he had been fighting Peter's style throughout the fight.  Both are digging in, but Sergio has been connecting with great uppercuts and body shots.  This was a tough round to call, because you really couldn't tell what shots were connecting, particularly with Peter.  Stallone thinks Peter won the round, but I'm leaning towards Sergio.

9:35 - Peter needs to find a new stragedy, because he is getting killed trying to pin Sergio on the ropes.  Peter isn't connecting with any good shots, while Sergio is popping him with some good right hands and great uppercuts.  Sergio won that round by a mile, as it looks like he fought an Ali style on the ropes.

9:38 - Sergio had the fight going his way, but then he decided to talk smack in the corner, I think at Manfredo's dad, and that woke Peter up.  Peter hit him with some really good shots, and I think he just took the round.  Sergio's still leading, in my opinion.

9:42 - Sergio's combinations worked Peter over.  I don't think Peter thought Sergio would do so well getting pinned on the ropes.  Sergio has done his best work there.  Peter needs to let his hands go to win this fight, I think.

9:45 - Whoever missed this fight missed a great one.  Sergio had some great combinations off the ropes, was never in trouble during this fight, and fought the way that no one actually believed he could.  Peter at the end of this fight had nothing left.  He had no power in his punches and was bruised and tired.  Sergio was busier, had the harder punches and did it all on the ropes.  Sergio BETTER win this fight handily, like 68-65 or something like that.

9:57:  Sergio won by a unaminous decision, 67-66, 68-65 (I called that one) and 70-63 (OUCH!)  He definitely deserved this win.  Stallone's calling for a rematch, but I have to see the ratings first.  I hope a lot of people watched this, and hopefully they will.  Sergio thanks everyone for making it possible, and apologizes to Manfredo and his corner for the outburst in the fight.  Alfonso congratulates him for winning the fight, and hopes he can get a shot at that belt as well as the million dollars.   Yeah right.

They showed clips of the undercard.  Ishe Smith beat Anthony Bosante, Jimmy Lang beat someone (I'll find out in a few minutes), and Brent Cooper beat Tarrick Salmaci.  They end the show with Sergio in the ring with a crowd.

This was an absolutely great show, and it's a shame NBC isn't renewing it.  They definitely should, on the condition that they make the fights unedited.
   5 comments

Name
May 26, 2005   06:33 PM PDT
 
On the US flag issue, I think we'd agree that one of the greatest things about the US is how we try to extend personal freedoms to our citizens. People don't come to us for a homogenized national identity or peer pressure to wave the flag. It's obvious Sergio's an American. All the competitors were, right? In fact, I thought it was a little cheesy of Jesse to make his shorts the American flag. No one else was an American??! Also, we don't know how much the producers had to do with who wore what colors. They were so insistent on that West Coast-East Coast bunch of phooey. They probably wanted to set up some ethnic angle to hype interest, too. Let's not get a witch hunt going for those people we feel aren't "proud enough" of being American. Those are dangerous assumptions to make.
Renaldo
May 25, 2005   10:53 PM PDT
 
Sergio, who was born in the USA, was wrapped in a Mexican flag after his win. Too bad he didn't realize that his chance to compete in this program was entirely due to being in a free country where dreams like this can come true. (not to mention 1 million bucks, not 1 million pesos) He should have had an American flag on his shoulder to show his appreciation. When are the hyphenated (Mexican-Americans, African-Americans, Italian-Americans etc., etc.,etc) Americans going to show loyalty to THEIR (USA) country????
Name
May 25, 2005   04:30 PM PDT
 
So what the heck was the smack talk between Peter's dad and Sergio?? What was said?
Expert
May 25, 2005   05:09 AM PDT
 
I don't know if it was an obvious bias; I simply think Stallone was trying to hype the fight more than what it should and made it seemed more competitive at times. He did that in the Alfonso/Jesse fight as well. His commentary was pretty bad; at times it reminded me of Master P doing Thunderboxx.

But thanks for visiting the site, and thanks to anyone else reading this comment.
Name
May 25, 2005   01:20 AM PDT
 
Thanks for the blow by blow.

Glad Stallone's obvious bias for Peter did not affect the outcome.

Leave a Comment:

Name


Homepage (optional)


Comments