The Contender Finale Recap

After an intense but slightly awkward fight, it was no big surprise that the end to last night’s Contender final came suddenly. Both the tournament winner, Troy Ross and runner-up, Hino Ehikhamenor had thrown caution to the wind late in round 3, and it seemed only a matter of time before someone landed a really damaging blow.

The final sequence started with just over a minute to go in round 4, with Troy landing two chopping lefts, followed by a big right that drove Hino into the corner. Troy immediately pounced, and it looked like Hino may have panicked a bit, as he turned his back and grabbed the top rope to try and avoid Troy’s follow up assault. Once he did that, referee Steve Smoger was left with little option but to jump in.

While Smoger made the right call, the ending was still a little unsatisfactory as I don’t think Hino was that badly hurt. He was just trapped in a bad spot. I’m not a proponent of the standing 8 count in pro-boxing, but if ever there was a time it might have come in handy, it was then.

The time of the stoppage was exactly 2:00.

Up until that point, the two counter-punchers had engaged in a mostly tactical battle, punctuated with sporadic bursts of free swinging exchanges, where they both unloaded with bombs that mostly missed the mark. Overall, I thought Troy had slightly the better of the action, and was looking the more likely winner, but Hino was still very much in the fight until he got caught.

It will be interesting to see where Troy goes from here. I think he’s a legit top 5 cruiserweight, capable of giving the division’s current champ, Tomasz Adamek a run for his money. At the very least, I’d hope he gets a crack at one of the belts before the year is out.

As for Hino, he’s still young, and from the sounds of it hasn’t really given boxing his undivided attention. Hopefully he earned a decent paycheck (the prize money wasn’t announced for some reason) for his runner-up performance and can devote himself full time to getting better. With a bit more top level experience, I don’t think it’s out of the question that he could earn a shot at a belt somewhere down the line.

In the third place bout, Rico Hoye won a unanimous decision over Akinyemi “AK” Laleye by scores of 79-72 across the board.

It was a scrappy, mauling affair, with both fighters banging away at close quarters.

AK started off well, taking the fight to Rico and bulling him backwards, but Rico eventually started to find the mark, and by the third round was landing the cleaner, heavier punches.

AK never stopped battling, but was consistently getting the worst of it, and I think if Rico had a little bit more in his tank, he might have been able to finish things inside the distance, but as it was, he was a comfortable winner.

- Andrew Fruman e-mail
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The Contender: Episode 11 Review

The final pre-taped episode of The Contender aired this past Wednesday night, with the four remaining boxers battling it out in the semi-finals.

Troy Ross 19-1 vs Akinyemi Laleye 12-1

Rico Hoye (pictured right) 22-2 vs Hino Ehikhamenor 14-3

Let's get to the action...

Photo © Chris Thompson LoFlame

Although a little one sided, the first fight of the night between Troy Ross and AK Laleye, was an entertaining battle.

While the weights for the fights on the show aren’t listed – at least I can’t find them listed anywhere – I have to assume that Troy had a decent size advantage. In his most recent fights before coming on the show, he’s been weighing around 192-195, while AK’s been between 175 and 182 (thank you boxrec.com).

Given the size disparity, it was no surprise that John Bray’s instructions to AK were to box and move, and in the early going he could be heard yelling “Make him come get it! Make him come to you!” That was probably the only way AK was going to have a chance, but I don’t think it’s in his make-up to fight that way. He likes to mix it up too much, and he did just that, pressing forward each time Troy refused to lead.

While Troy was consistently getting the best of the action, Tommy Brooks felt he could be doing better. Before the second round, he urged Troy to throw the jab more, and put his punches together in combination, rather than loading up with big counter hooks.

Troy did seem to ease up on going for the one punch knock-out in the second and third rounds, but he certainly didn’t use his jab too much.

“You’re not using your jab!” Tommy told him before the fourth round. “All you got to do is throw your punches straight, baby. He can’t get out the way, he’s squared up. You’re rushing it. Take your time. Pick your spots.”

In the other corner, John told AK to just keep doing what he was doing. Considering AK hadn’t been following the plan, I have to assume John was just trying to keep his fighter motivated. AK kept battling, and while he was on the receiving end of most of the punishment being dished out, he did catch Troy with a really nice right hand during a good exchange along the ropes late in the round.

In the final round, Troy laid a real pounding on AK, but could never dent the man from Lagos’ spirit. AK took flush bomb after flush bomb, but kept willing his way forward, and was game until the end.

The scores were 50-45 across the board for Troy.

The second semi-final looked like an even contest heading in, with Hino holding a size advantage, but Rico being the more experienced fighter.

I thought Hino had a slight edge in what was an action packed first round. He found the mark a few times with his right hand, including one occasion where he followed it up with a nice left hook.

Before the second round, John told Rico he needed to keep space by using his jab and stepping to his right, to keep him away from Hino’s right. Rico just couldn’t do it though, and kept getting tagged. Even when he wasn’t using the jab, he was too much in Hino’s range and found himself getting whacked with right hands.

Hino looked like he had the better of things in the third as well. He appeared to constantly beat Rico to the punch, prompting host Tony Danza to comment that, “It’s almost like he (Rico) can’t pull the trigger.”

Before the fourth round, John reiterated to Rico that he needed to move to his right, and that he needed to get busier. In the other corner, Tommy didn’t have any complaints with Hino, and just reminded him that he was having success when he threw more than one shot at a time.

It did look like Rico was a little busier in the fourth, but Hino was still the one fighting with more initiative. He used his strength a little to push Rico back into the ropes, and as was the case with the previous rounds, getting that right hand in was key.

I think Rico realized he needed a knock out to win, because he came out with some real urgency in the final round. But despite his aggressiveness, he still seemed a little slow to get off and Hino was able to allude most of Rico's attack. Based on activity, it probably was Rico's round, although the best punch was probably a right hand from Hino moments before the bell.

The scores were unanimous in Hino’s favor; 50-45, 48-47 and 49-46.

The final show is all set.

Hino and Troy will be going ten rounds to decide this season's winner, while Rico and AK will be fighting an eight rounder to determine third place.

Catch all the action live on Versus at 8 PM this Wedneday.

I assume we’ll get some highlights of the other three bouts on the card, which are:

Alfredo Escalera Jr. vs Erick Vegas – 6 rounds
Felix Cora Jr. vs Tim Flamos – 6 rounds
Ryan Coyne vs Richard Gingras – 6 rounds


- Andrew Fruman e-mail
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The Contender: Episode 10 Review

Hino Ehikomenor 13-3 vs Deon Elam (photo © Zack Jennings) 10-0

Rico Hoye 21-2 vs Joell Godfrey 9-1-1

Episode 10 featured the second double header of the season, as the remaining two semi-final places were settled.

Deon and Hino were first up.

While Deon came into the bout with a perfect record, he’d only fought a grand total of 40 rounds against extremely limited opposition. I think Deon's as talented as Hino, possibly more so, but his lack of experience was too much of a hurdle to overcome. He was just a little too tight out there, especially in the early going.

John Bray kept screaming for Deon to get busy and let his hands go, but it wasn’t until late in the third round, that he started to open up. He carried that momentum into the fourth round, where he showed some real purpose and managed to stagger Hino with a hard right hand. Hino looked a little hurt, but he weathered the storm, and was soon firing back, and was the better of the two fighters in the final round.

The scores were 49-46 across the board for Hino.

Hino did what he was supposed to in getting the win, but Tommy Brooks sounded progressively less thrilled with him as the fight went on. Hino relies on head movement, rather than keeping his hands high, and he’s not quite slick enough to keep getting away with it. At least not in Tommy view, as after the fight he said, “Listen to me, you’re not going to be able to do that against Troy, or you’ll be looking up at the lights.”

With a bit more seasoning, Deon might find the self belief to let his hands go more when he’s in against quality opponents. He sounded upbeat afterwards, although I imagine he’ll be replaying the bout over and over in his head, wishing he’d have kicked things into gear earlier.

The second bout between Rico and Joell followed a similar pattern to the first, with the less experienced fighter taking some time to find his footing.

If you’ve been following along with the show, you know that Joell can thank Rico for his place in the second round. It looked like Joell’s tournament was over after his decisive loss to Felix Cora Jr., in the show’s opening episode. But an injury to Ryan Coyne, left Rico needing a replacement opponent. The decision of who to bring back was left up to the remaining fighters, who in turn let Rico make the call.

Against Felix, Joell constantly found himself with his back to the ropes, which was never a good place for him. He just doesn’t have the skills to counter from that position, and each time he was driven back, he got the worst of the exchanges.

He gave a better account of himself tonight, although he still found himself getting backed up too much, and it cost him. On occasion, you could hear host Tony Danza yelling from his seat, “You don’t want to be there, get off those ropes!”

Suddenly, late in the third round, Joell started flashing some of his skills. No idea what took him so long, but when he started letting his hands go, and using some movement, he took the play away from Rico.

“That’s what I’m talking about! I need two rounds of what you just did!” John told him when he got back to the corner.

Joell came out for the fourth looking poised and confident. He stayed on the move, kept the fight as his range, and landed some nice jabs and right hands. It was by far his best round of the tournament.

Unfortunately for Joell, he just couldn’t sustain that energy, and when Rico turned up the intensity in the final round, he found himself struggling to keep up. Time and again, Rico drove an increasingly ragged looking Joell backwards. Finally, with around ten seconds left to go, with Rico moving in on him, an exhausted Joell voluntarily sunk to one knee.

Joell had enough left to get to his feet, but if there were another twenty seconds or so, Rico may have stopped him.

The final scores were unanimous in Rico’s favor; 50-44, 48-46 and 49-45.

Next week, we have another double-header, with both semi-finals going. Troy Ross will battle Akinyemi Laleye, and Hino will face off against Rico.

The winners meet at Foxwoods, in Detroit, on February 25th.

- Andrew Fruman e-mail
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The Contender: Episode 9 Review

Alfredo Escalera Jr. 16-1-1 vs Akinyemi Laleye 11-1

The lasting impression from this week’s episode should have been the toe to toe, shoulder to shoulder, grueling struggle that took place in the ring between Alfredo Escalara Jr. and AK Laleye (pictured). Unfortunately, some infighting of a different kind stole some of the spotlight away from the ring action.

Photo © Ray Kasprowicz

The trouble started after Ryan Coyne was declared medically unfit to fight due to the cut he suffered in his first round win. This meant bringing back one of the already eliminated fighters to take Ryan’s spot against Rico Hoye.

The fairest solution to the dilemma would have been for trainers Tommy Brooks and John Bray, along with host Tony Danza to talk it over and decide which fighter was most deserving of getting a second chance.

Instead, Tony informed the fighters that it would be up to them to decide who would return. Leaving it up to the competitors, who would obviously have ulterior motives beyond selecting the most deserving fighter, was a lousy decision. This became clear enough once they started debating who to go with. Alfredo didn’t like the direction the selection process was going in, and spoke his mind, suggesting that Rico was angling for an easier second round match-up.

Perhaps if Alfredo had been a little calmer, things wouldn’t have gone the way they did, but his words were said in a huff, as he was leaving the room. Before Alfredo was out the door, Rico lashed out by saying, “You’re going to get stretched tomorrow night.”

Not surprisingly, Alfredo didn’t take kindly to the remark, and stormed back towards Rico. They were quickly separated before hostilities could further escalate, although a few more unpleasant words were exchanged.

The other fighters decided to leave the decision up to Rico, and he chose Joell Godfrey. Rico made no bones about the fact his selection was based on who gave him the best chance to make the semi-finals. Good for him, I guess, but the whole process was kind of lame and not really in the interests of having the best possible tournament.

But enough about all that - let’s get to the fight.

With a fairly big size edge (Alfredo typically weighs in around 200, while AK is usually at 175) John’s pre-fight instructions were intended to make use of that advantage. He told Alfredo to put pressure with the jab, cut off the ring, and work the body. “Just go in there and steadily, methodically, break this guy down.”

Tommy told AK that he was too quick for Alfredo, and his plan was based on using movement and speed. “It’s your show, get out there and be first. Keep him turning in circles, trying to find you. Stay off the ropes.”

Based on the size difference and trainer instructions, one might have expected Alfredo to assume the roll of stalker, with AK boxing and moving, but the action quickly developed into an inside battle, with AK refusing to back off. Even with Alfredo landing his jabs, and ripping uppercuts in close, AK was undaunted in his determination to stand his ground and if anything, he was slowly becoming the aggressor.

As the second round began, John could be heard yelling for his fighter to, “Close the gap, don’t let him breathe, Fredo!”

In the other corner, Tommy could also be heard giving instructions, but his voice paled in intensity from that of Rico, who kept yelling loud instructions at AK. One telling shot showed Tommy sitting and watching, with Rico shouting in the background, “Work him AK!”

Even after Alfredo landed something big, AK refused to stop throwing. There was one sequence near the end of the round where Alfredo landed a nice left hook, and a few moments later a hard right hand, but AK shrugged them off went right back to work.

Seeing his opponent take his best shots and refuse to back up had to be somewhat of a psychological blow to Alfredo. John tried his best to keep him going though and urged him to keep letting his hands go and working the body.

Unfortunately for Alfredo, his gas tank was starting to dry up. The fight had been fought with tremendous intensity, and he was the one starting to feel it.

AK was the fresher fighter, with a bounce in his step. Almost all the effective work was coming from his hands, as Alfredo was starting to struggle. He kept trying, but his punches were becoming sloppier, and increasingly wider, and seem to totally lack the snap they had earlier.

As Alfredo flailed away, Rico yelled, “He’s ready to quit! He’s ready to quit!”

When Alfredo came back to the corner before the final round, John told his exhausted fighter to, “Dig deep, dig deep! Find it, find it!”

Tommy told AK to give him one more round. “Look over there,” Tommy said, pointing to the other corner. “He can’t even stand up, son!”

Alfredo could barely get to his feet, but he came out for the final round and gamely attempted to land something big. It just wasn’t going to happen though. He didn’t have the steam on his punches, while AK was still strong.

With Alfredo breathing heavily, AK turned it up a little more. He hurt Alfredo with a right cross, and a little later, a big left hook sent Alfredo collapsing into the ropes and falling sideways to the canvas. There was no count. The fight was over.

In the locker room after the fight, John told his fighter, “Let me tell you something. I’m proud of you. You know why? You went out like a soldier. You went out like a viking. You went out swinging. You weren’t looking for a place to run. You weren’t looking for a place to hide and lay down. You went out swinging, and there’s never any shame in that.”

It was indeed a gusty effort.

AK looked good. He's certainly not fighting like the smallest fighter on the show, and now moves on face Troy Ross in the semi-finals.

It should be a good scrap.

- Andrew Fruman e-mail
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The Contender: Episode 7 Review

Rico Hoye (Gold) 20-2 vs Mike Alexander (Blue) 12-2

Tim Flamos (Gold) 20-4-1 vs Ryan Coyne (Blue) 9-0

This past Wednesday was double header night on The Contender, as the four remaining fighters went at it.

Last week’s victory by Troy Ross was the fifth consecutive win for the Gold Team and meant they were still in charge of doing the matchmaking. With only four boxers still to fight, that gave them the final say in both fights.

Former world title contender Rico Hoye stepped up to take the first bout and selected Mike Alexander as his opponent. That left Tim Flamos and Ryan Coyne to do battle in the final match-up of the first round.

When prompted by Tony Danza to explain his choice, Rico said that Mike was the only real challenge left. While that was probably true, I would guess that the Gold Team got together and decided these two match-ups gave them the best chance of seeing both Rico and Tim through to the next round.

As the naturally bigger man, but less experienced fighter, Mike’s strategy was to stay busy, keep the pressure on and not let Rico get into a rhythm. Not being a brawler, this meant moving forward while working the jab. For Rico, the plan was also to use the jab, but to use it as a way of setting up his other punches.

For the first couple of rounds, Mike was able execute his plan and keep things close. He moved forward, used his jab nicely, and mixed in some nice straight lefts

“Keep touching him up!” Blue Team trainer John Bray yelled in approval to his fighter. “Keep the jab working, Mike!”

Tommy Brooks wasn’t quite as enthused with Rico. “You got to let your hands go and quit waiting,” he told his fighter during the break before the third round began. I think Mike’s southpaw style had Rico slightly uneasy, but with only five rounds to get it done, he had no choice but to step it up.

He did just that, and came out for round three with a lot more purpose, and his aggression changed the tone of the bout.

While Mike’s defensive ability wasn’t bad, he just didn’t know how play off Rico’s offense to mount his own and Rico effectively took the fight away from him.

Mike also started looking a little tired, and I’m going to guess that this was likely caused by being too tense in there. To his credit, despite his depleted energy reserves, he came out hard for the final round. He pressed forward, and tried to use his size to brawl it out in close. It was his only chance, and he went for it in what was a real gutsy display. It just wasn’t enough to earn him the victory.

The final scores were unanimous, 49-46, 48-47 and 49-46

The second fight of the night featured the youngest fighter on the show, 26 year old Ryan Coyne and at age 41, by far the oldest in Tim Flamos (pictured).

Fought often at close quarters, it turned out to be a bloody encounter when a nasty gash opened up above Ryan’s right eye after a clash of heads in the second round. With Tim constantly moving forward, and Ryan fighting out of a southpaw stance and having the habit of covering up and falling into a clinch when pressured, this was always a danger.

Despite having a clear edge in hand and foot speed, Ryan wasn’t able to keep the fight at a safe distance. He had John exasperatedly screaming from the corner, “What are you doing!? Move! What are you doing!? Move to your RIGHT!”

John kept trying to tell Ryan that he could make the fight easy, but Ryan either wouldn’t or couldn’t follow his instructions. Meanwhile in the other corner, Tommy calmly told an increasingly tired looking Tim to put his punches together and work the body.

The action was sloppy, but exciting, as Tim kept plowing forward and forcing Ryan to exchange. While this type of fight gave Tim a chance, he never really had the upper hand. Ryan still had the speed edge, and when he let his hands go, Tim was a very east target. There were a few occasions, when he caught Tim leaning in with huge uppercuts.

All in all, it was a closely contested battle and for the first time this season, there was some doubt about who would get the decision.

The final scores were…

49-46 Ryan

48-47 Tim

48-47 Ryan

Ryan moves on, where he’ll face Rico in the final fight of the second round. That’s if his cut heals in time. As mentioned earlier, it looked bad.

The other second round matches are…Felix Cora Jr. vs Troy Ross (next week), Alfredo Escalera Jr. vs Akinyemi Laleye and Deon Elam vs Hino Ehikhanemor

- Andrew Fruman e-mail
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