He had a great plan. He was going to fight three times this year and end his career with a bang. He was going to fight a tune up bout in the spring to get him ready for his rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr., who beat him in 2007. It was the biggest money fight of all time, and though the second fight more than likely wouldn’t have done the same business, it would’ve been the biggest fight of this year. And then, in December, he was set to end his career with one more fight, possibly in his home town.
Part one of the plan went to fruition. De La Hoya beat Steve Forbes in May to set up his fight with Mayweather. But Mayweather Jr. decided to retire instead of take the fight.
(According to Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer there were early talks for both De La Hoya and Mayweather Jr. to be involved in this year’s Wrestlemania to help sell their fight for later this year. Obviously, De La Hoya wasn’t involved in Wrestlemaina, but Mayweather Jr. was.)
It’s kind of odd to be reading an ESPN news story about another sports network picking up their crumbs.
But what ESPN doesn’t want, Versus will gladly take. The Versus network already broadcasts the WEC, sister company to the UFC. They recently did a great television rating for the WEC fight between Urijah Faber and Jens Pulver. They also previously showed Ricky Hatton’s last fight.
With Sergio Mora beating Vernon Forrest for his Super Middleweight title and Steve Forbes going twelve rounds with Oscar De La Hoya, you’d think that the Contender brand would be stronger than ever. But that can’t be the case if ESPN didn’t find use for them with all of their hours of programming to fill. Versus is a good spot for it if they’re going to get behind the show, but it’s definitely a lower cable network.
It’s been a good year and a half since I missed watching a UFC PPV, but with their recent UFC 85: Bedlam show, I couldn’t talk myself into paying $44.95 to watch a very average card. Had this been on live television, I’d have been all over it. But there just wasn’t anything that I had to see. It wasn’t really the UFC’s fault though. Originally, Chuck Liddell was supposed to face Shogun Rua (and then Rashad Evans), but Chuck hurt his hamstring and turned it purple and he was out of the fight. Chris Leben and Michael Bisping were also supposed to fight, but Leben had issues with the authorities which didn’t allow him to train for the fight, and that one was scrapped too. Matt Hughes and Thiago Alves became the main event and while I’m a Hughes fan and Alves is a good fighter, there was nothing there. It was simply put together at the last minute and I wasn’t moved to buy the show.
Even though I wasn’t going to pay to watch MMA last night, I got my fix via the sweet science. Showtime and HBO both had fight cards last night and while it’s a pity as to what relates to big boxing cards on cable TV these days, at least I had some fighting to watch.
Before Oscar De La Hoya can get a second fight with Floyd Mayweather, he’s set himself up with a tune up fight. There’s really no reason to have the fight except to to close out his career the way he wants. De La Hoya wants to fight three more times this year and then call it a career. If he beats Steve “2 Pound” Forbes, who was the best fighter in the second season of The Contender, but lost in the finals of that show, he wants Mayweather. And then he wants one more fight, maybe with someone like Miguel Cotto. But those plans don’t work out if De La Hoya can’t get by Forbes, who is fighting at about ten pounds above his best fighting weight.
What’s the hook for a second Mayweather/De La Hoya fight? Well, the first one was the biggest money fight in the history of boxing. But other than that, De La Hoya has Floyd Mayweather Sr. in his corner, after staying away from him and having Freddie Roach train him for the last fight. It would be a bit of redemption for both Floyd Sr. and Oscar to give Floyd Jr. his first loss. There’s even a bit of Mayweather family drama in this fight. Roger Mayweather, the trainer for Floyd Jr., was originally training Forbes, but Floyd Jr. told him to stop because if Forbes beat De La Hoya, it would screw up the biggest money payday of Mayweather’s career. Jeff Mayweather, the third brother, is training Forbes. Let’s just say that De La Hoya is going to be a harder fight than Grady Brewer.
The one reason that stands out as the reason De La Hoya might’ve wanted Forbes is because out of his 33 wins, he only has 9 knockouts.
Round One
Forbes is throwing really quick punches, which look great, but aren’t landing that well. De La Hoya is throwing to the body mostly. Forbes was stung with a left jab that caught him as he was going backwards. De La Hoya is stiffing Forbes with that jab. Forbes caught him with good left hook to finish the round. He started decently and ended well, but De La Hoya controlled the round.
Round Two
In the corner, Jeff Mayweather told Forbes to try to steal the round at the end. He didn’t do that well enough in the first round. De La Hoya is throwing more power punches at the start of the round. He is the much bigger and strong man and is setting up Forbes to eat the left hook, his best punch. When Forbes ducks into his left jab, De La Hoya makes him pay with his left jab and left hook. It’s De La Hoya’s round again, but Forbes is looking ok.
Round Three
Because of the size, Forbes has to reach to hit De La Hoya and De La Hoya is making him pay. Even though De La Hoya is busier and looks to be landing more, Forbes is also doing a good job defensively. He’s blocking a lot of the punches with his arms. Not Forbes’ round, but his best round. He’s getting a little more confident.
Round Four
Forbes’ confidence may provide his undoing as he’s standing right in there with De La Hoya. He’s not throwing many of them yet, but that left hook is going to come and if Forbes is showboating, he’s going to eat them. Even though he’s showboating, nothing has changed except he’s not mixing it up as much and is trying to be Sugar Ray.
Round Five
If anything, Forbes has been able to minimalize De La Hoya’s left hook. Oscar’s best punch has been his left jab. Forbes is doing a great job at taking away De La Hoya’s biggest strength. But, he’s still losing every round.
Round Six
Harold Lederman gave Forbes the last round.
Oscar throws a nifty combination, but Forbes blocked it all. De La Hoya gets inside and throws some power shots and this time, Forbes doesn’t block them all. He misses a wild left hook. De La Hoya also lands a good right hand before the round ends. It’s his strongest round since probably the second.
Round Seven
Forbes landed a few quick body shots. De La Hoya threw two uppercuts, with at least one landing, in a nice combination. De La Hoya has him up against the ropes and throws two nice combinations, but Forbes was able to make him miss with some of the first. But not the second combination.
Round Eight
Oscar is fighting the perfect fight, but it’s not going to be impressive if he wins a decision. I have a feeling that in the next two rounds, he’s going to take some chances. I’m not sure how Forbes thinks he’s going to win any of these rounds by simply blocking Oscar’s punches, and not throwing his own. Forbes landed an uppercut but Oscar answered with his own. Very boring round.
Round Nine
When Forbes punches, he doesn’t back Oscar up. All Oscar has to do is throw a jab and Forbes takes a step back. It’s the defining thing that you see, when judging this fight. Oscar does look a little tired, but every time Forbes tries to get inside and throw with him, Oscar’s eyes light up and he lets loose. I still have Oscar pitching a shut out.
Round Ten
Forbes finally backed De La Hoya up and against the ropes and landed some shots. Oscar bounced right back and answered him. He’s got Forbes backing up now. He just missed hitting a left hook flush and Forbes is very lucky. Oscar’s round all the way.
Round Eleven
All Forbes did for the entire round was stay away and make sure he didn’t get hit with big shots. I’m not sure about you, but when you’re winning zero rounds, I’m not sure that the best strategy is to stay away. It’s not like Forbes gains anything from just going the distance here. Beating De La Hoya gives him everything.
Round Twelve
Forbes is trying to get inside and De La Hoya is peppering him with good shots. Oscar buckled him with a left hook to the body. I think Forbes was just happy to be there, which is exactly the opposite of what he said he was going to do. I have Oscar winning every round.
Decision
119-109
119-109
120-108
Winner: Oscar De La Hoya by way of unanimous decision
Basically, Forbes got one round from two judges and none from the other.
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.
