Back in May, Sergio Mora beat Peter Manifredo Jr. in the Contender finale in a close fight. If you remember that fight, Sly Stallone was already asking for a rematch, and we were barely in the third round. NBC had dropped the show after only it’s first season, and it seemed Stallone was over hyping it to get someone to think about putting it on their network. Enter ESPN.

ESPN saved the show and as long as it’s the exact same concept as last year, I will love ESPN all over again. However, I’m not sure if anyone really wanted to see another Mora and Manifredo Jr. fight so quickly. Is it because they don’t want to fight anyone else so they decided to dance again with each other? Or is it because ESPN wants to get a jump on next season, which is scheduled to start in April? And why the hell did I only find out early this week that this was happening? All I know is that this is sort of important to them as they have Dan Patrick hosting. We’ll see how this goes.

The bad thing about both fighters is their lack of power. Mora only has 3 knockouts in his 16 wins and Manifredo Jr. has 10 in his 24 wins. Give me “Sugar Shay” and Alfonso over both of them.

I wonder if Stallone and Sugar Ray are still a part of this thing? They show Stallone in the audience and Patrick says he’s still executive producer. And this is a good thing. Stallone was so great in his role last year as you could tell, it was something he was truly interested in. And I want to see him spar again.

It looks like we have three fights as Alfonso Gomez fights Luciano Perez (who?) and Jesse Brinkley and Anthony Bonsonte have a rematch of their fight from last year when Jesse knocked him out. And then the main event will now be 8 rounds rather than 7 from last year’s final. I have one question. If Sergio loses, does he have to give his Contender Championship Belt to Peter? Can this belt be defended against guys not on the original Contender show? I need to know this.

Teddy Atlas says that Peter Manifredo Jr. needs to use his jab more. These are actual boxing people acting like this is a real fight. Well, now that ESPN is behind it, I guess it really is.

Gomez vs. Perez

Gomez wins round one, but it’s probably a little closer than he wanted. Perez is a smaller man who just throws haymakers on the inside. Gomez will probably use his size to his advantage from here on out and just hit him from the outside because Perez isn’t moving well. Perez is so sloppy and looks like he hasn’t been fighting long. Gomez needs to knock this guy out. In the greatest moment on the show thus far, Slater from Saved By The Bell interviews Sergio. Sadly, he’s missing his famous curl. Gomez knocks him down in what looks like a slip. Gomez destroyed him in the third and it really did look like a Rocky movie. Perez hasn’t learned that you’re supposed to move when the other guy is trying to hit you. The ref stopped the fight in the fourth round prematurely, but Perez wasn’t going to win this thing unless Gomez all of a sudden went blind. Still, Perez didn’t even really wobble much.

Sly Stallone is talking to Dan Patrick and affirms that Rocky VI is on! Woo hoo! It starts in December. You better believe you’ll see more about this.

Brinkley vs. Bonsante

I don’t think anyone was more hated on the show than Bonsante. He was just as ass and showed his true colors by fighting dirty against Ishe Smith on the undercard of last year’s finale. And while I hope Jesse Brinkley knocks him out again, I wonder if it will happen. Bonsante was well ahead in that fight before getting caught with an uppercut. But I hope that Brinkley proves me wrong. Peter Manifredo Sr. is Brinkley’s new trainer. Interestingly, Brinkley looks much bigger and quicker. I thought Bonsante was busier, but Brinkley might’ve stolen that first round with the last 45 or so seconds. Second round was kind of uneventful and this type of fight is probably why on the show, they don’t air the entire fight and instead show different angles of the best action of each round. Round three was probably the best one thus far. Bonsante was busy early with jabs but Brinkley hit him with some good power shots later in the round. Slater also interviews Manifredo Jr. in an awkward situation. We learn that Manifredo Jr. won’t have Manifredo Sr. in his corner. It’s turning into a pro wrestling match here. Bonstante egged Brinkley on and then Brinkley motioned to him to come fight and then bounced off the ropes and threw a straight right that connected. But Bonsante looks to be better conditioned and Brinkley looks tired. The fifth round was Brinkley swinging, Bonstante holding, and Brinkley getting frustrated. The judges score the fight for Brinkley while the announcers go crazy because they thought Bonsante pitched a shutout. Bonsante just walked back to the lockerroom. I thought Bonsante at least won 3 rounds to 2.

Dan Patrick is now talking to Mark Burnett the man who puts these shows together. Burnett says the story leads up to the action and the story helps you care more about the fight in the ring. Burnett says they are casting now for season 2. For some reason, Bonsante comes back toward the ring and Ishe tells him that he won the fight. Burnett says that they are getting more fighters because of the success of the first one.

Mora vs. Manifredo Jr.

Round One

• Manifredo is wearing some frilly trunks
• Mora is cut above his left eye already
• Last 30 seconds were better than the first 2:30

Round Two

• Manifredo looks so much stronger, but he did last time as well
• Mora wins a nice little flurry between the two
• The ref has Sergio’s eye looked at
• Mora probably won that round and they traded blows after the round ended

Round Three

• Mora digs two or three uppercuts into Manifredo
• Manifredo wobbles him slightly and Mora goes back into the ropes while Manifredo raises his hands
• They are talking trash, more Manifredo it seems

Round Four

• Manifredo is much busier of the two
• Manifredo seems to be withstanding Mora’s quick flurries much better than last time
• Mora tries to steal the end of the round, but Manifredo controlled it for the most part

Round Five

• Sergio throws about 25 straight punches before Manifredo throws back
• Mora might’ve punched himself out
• When it seemed that Mora was worn out, the ref gave him a time out so they could look at his eye
• The is the only round that Mora has won decisively thus far, even though I also had him winning the second

Round Six

• Neither man is taking much of a chance this round
• Manifredo is staying on the outside for the most part this round
• Manifredo gives the cut of the throat sign after the end of the round, that is usually not something television networks enjoy

Round Seven

(I missed about a minute and a half of this round because of Tivo)

• The last 30 seconds or so showed Manifredo thinking he’s won the fight
• Mora seemed to be lunging at the end

Round Eight

• Manifredo’s trainer, Freddie Roach is telling him not to run and to fight hard even though he knows he’s way ahead
• Sergio is worried about his eye
• He also doesn’t seem too urgent in his delivery
• Mora gets him in the corner, but Manifredo quickly turns him around
• Manifredo wins round eight fairly easily
• Manifredo raises his arms as Mora says, “hell no!”

The Decision

77-75 for Mora
77-75 for Manifredo Jr.
77-75 for Mora

Wow. That’s two fights in a row where the judges had absolutely no clue. Bonsante got robbed and so did Manifredo Jr. Mora tried to shake his hand and Manifredo Jr. looked him right in the eye and said, “you didn’t win that fight.” Mora said that he hopes Manifredo isn’t a sore loser because he knows that Mora won the fight. I should let you know, Slater is interviewing again. He now interviews Manifredo Jr. and Manifredo Jr. says Mora may have won 2 rounds. Manifredo Jr. says he didn’t even get hit. Looks like Mora got a hometown decision.