What started out as a fairly successful experiment is probably turning into Friday the 13th Part XL.
I am speaking of the reality show - if there is such a thing - "The Contender, The Second Season," which premieres Tuesday, July 18, on ESPN.
Whether the program is aired on ESPN or NBC, it makes no difference to me. I've already had enough. Any way you slice it, the unimaginative suits at Hollywood are going to keep on doing what they're doing all the time in the movie theaters, and that's beating an idea to death.
And if you follow boxing, you've already taken enough beatings from the sport's various ills - corruption, sanctioning bodies, manipulative promoters, etc. - to last you until you've got one gray hair left on your head.
Before launching into why I believe this show should be put out of its misery before it even airs, it's only fair to address why I wasn't such an opponent of it the first time around.
The primary reason I liked the original show was that it had two local fighters - Yerington's Jesse Brinkley and Reno's Joey Gilbert - in the cast. After seeing Northern Nevada's first world champion - Reno's "Koncrete" Kelvin Davis - get run over by the steamroller that is professional boxing (see above under "various ills"), I felt that the show would provide enough exposure to give the hometown boys a career boost.
When "The Contender" was getting started, Gilbert was just getting out of law school and Brinkley's career was bogged down because his quasi-promoter, Top Rank, evidently didn't see fit to further his career or pay him what he felt his skills were worth, which is another common practice in this sport.
The show was outstanding in that it threw six-figure paydays at fighters who would most likely never see those numbers working their way up the club circuit. And Sergio Mora, to his credit, took home the $1 million grand prize for winning the show's "championship." "The Contender" drew seven million viewers a week and covered the entire spectrum of boxing fans. From the rabid, hardcore fan to the first-time viewer, NBC was able to put the sport into as many households as would have it.
Ten million viewers tuned in to watch Mora defeat Peter Manfredo Jr. in the finals, this after Manfredo got a mulligan when he was able to return to the show for a second chance after Jeff Fraza went home with the chicken pox.
This was great for Manfredo, but unfair to the remaining contestants who only received one opportunity at the million-dollar purse.
And to an extent, the other great thing the show offered was a window into the soul of each fighter, effectively laying bare each dream, fear, joy and disaster. Boxers were no longer just anonymous images on TV that beat each other bloody for the pleasure of a desensitized audience.
But as the show went on and ultimately concluded, the dark side of the series began to emerge, most notably how the head honchos at NBC were able to manipulate record-keeping agencies, doctors and the now-defunct California Athletic Commission.
Per the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, the results of all fights and resulting medical (or other) suspensions are reported to FightFax and boxrec.com. The primary reason for this is for the boxers' safety.
These safeguards are in effect to prevent promoters from claiming that they are unaware that a fighter has lost his last 14 contests by knockout, or by lying about his record so they can market their cards, or preventing a suspended fighter from participating in a match that could lead to his being permanently injured or even killed.
But, in the interest of preventing the results of the already concluded tournament from being leaked, "The Contender" manipulated their way around this measure. The California Athletic Commission was reproved by the Association of Boxing Commissions for deviating from this path.
And a certain Hollywood doctor cleared a certain fighter to compete less than a week after suffering a cut deep enough to require stitches. This is called the Hypocritical Oath.
And it is here that I begin to fundamentally oppose the sequel, as it were.
First off, here is reality: There is no other sport (with the exception of mixed martial arts) where an aspiring fighter finds out if he's cut out to succeed or not. The majority of failed boxing careers begin and end with the boxer's first few times sparring, where the reality of getting punched in the face becomes quite palpable.
Reality and TV are two different things, especially when the suits begin to edit each fight to make them look like a "Rocky" movie. The reality and the finished product are two wholly separate entities, and this alone is reason enough not to watch the show.
ESPN will follow the lead of NBC and edit the fights and, rather than show the viewer what really happens, they will show what they want you to believe happened.
How can this in any way be construed as reality?
So far, four of the original 16 contestants have gone on to further their career and take advantage of the show's boost - Mora, Manfredo, Gilbert and Brinkley.
Manfredo and Gilbert have cut their ties to "The Contender," while Mora and Brinkley still, as of this writing, haven't.
In the case of Brinkley, his contract has interfered with his being paired with Gilbert for a very big local event. This, along with making a 10-12 round fighter like Brinkley forget all he knows in order to compete in five- or seven-round fights for "The Contender," has, in my mind, inhibited his career to an extent.
In a recent fight with super middleweight prospect Joey Spina, Brinkley showed what kind of boxer he can really be and was handily outboxing Spina until he was caught by a body shot in the 11th round, something that should in no way diminish what he had accomplished previously.
The September 2006 issue of The Ring magazine has bios on all of the new contestants and is now available in stores. And two of these fighters - at least - have no business being on a show called "The Contender."
Steve Forbes is a former world champion - he held the IBF junior lightweight belt - and Ebo Elder was in the mix to fight WBA lightweight titlist Juan Diaz in the near future. They are the real thing and don't need their careers manufactured.
But with this show, it's about image and not substance. While Sylvester Stallone is out of the picture (for whatever reason), the show will continue to bring its audience Sugar Ray Leonard for an attempt at legitimacy.
Den mother Jackie Kallen is out, lovable old fart/trainer Tommy Gallagher is still in. Also out are the challenges, which did more harm than good (Brinkley and Gilbert still suffer from injuries sustained during the mini-contests).
Producer Mark Burnett is still in, which means I'm out. No Hollywood for this old man. Give me reality any time.
More power to the boxers if they pick up extra cash. As far as picking up new fans go, if you don't already like the real thing, then the sport doesn't need you.
So, for good or bad, you can view the show each Tuesday at 7 p.m. for 12 weeks and judge for yourself. Me? I'll be taking in the real thing.