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''The Contender 2'' is a
reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early ...
show based on the sport of
boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...
, but with an element of the (
welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...
) competitor's lives and relationships with each other within the show's living quarters, based in Pasadena, California. Filmed in January and February 2006, the show began airing on July 18, 2006. The winner of ''The Contender Season 2'' was decided in a bout at the Staples Center,
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, broadcast live on September 26, 2006, winning a purse of US$500,000. The Contender 2 was shown on
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
in the US, in the UK on
ITV4 ITV4 is a British free-to-air television channel which was launched on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc, and is part of the ITV network. The channel has a line-up that consists of sports, cult classic ...
, in Canada on TSN, in Australia on FOX8, in
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
on TV2, and on
AXN AXN is a pay television channel owned by Sony Pictures Television, which was first launched in September 1997 in Asia. Local versions have since been launched in several parts of the world, including Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Funded th ...
in South and
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...
. The show took the format of a gameshow, with the boxers divided into two teams (blue and gold) in a "playground pick" on the first episode. These teams competed for the right to choose which of their team members fights that week, and who he fights against. The second half of the hour long episodes are mostly taken up with that fight: the loser is eliminated. The program was hosted by
Sugar Ray Leonard Ray Charles Leonard (born May 17, 1956), best known as "Sugar" Ray Leonard, is an American former professional boxer, motivational speaker, and occasional actor. Often regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, he competed professional ...
, former champion boxer. Sylvester Stallone, who famously portrayed the boxer ''Rocky Balboa'' in the
Rocky ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise and stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burge ...
series of films, is the show's executive producer. It was also produced by
Mark Burnett Mark Burnett (born 17 July 1960) is a television producer who is the former Chairman of MGM Worldwide Television Group. He is best known for creating and producing the reality shows ''The Apprentice'', '' Survivor'', ''The Voice'', and ''Sh ...
. Unlike in season 1, Stallone does not appear on camera; at the time the series was taped, he was making '' Rocky Balboa'', the sixth installment in the ''
Rocky ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise and stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burge ...
'' movie series. The movie premiered in December 2006.


Contestants


Episode guide

Episode numbers refer to the progression of matches in the tourney. Episodes one and two aired together at full length, while seven and eight, eleven and twelve, and thirteen and fourteen were one-hour "doubleheaders" featuring two bouts.


Tournament Tracker

While ''The Contender: Season 2'' is a reality TV show, it does contain a serious competition with a proper format - a 16-man
knockout tournament A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...
.


Preliminary round

:''1. Cornelius'' (B) beat ''Michael C'' (G) by majority decision. :''2. Norberto'' (B) beat ''Rudy'' (G) by split decision. :''3. Gary'' (G) beat ''Aaron'' (B) by split decision. :''4. Walter'' (G) beat ''Andre'' (B) by unanimous decision. :''5. Grady'' (B) beat ''Vinroy'' (G) by unanimous decision. :''6. Michael S'' (B) beat ''Ebo'' (G) by KO. :''7. Nick'' (B) beat ''Jeff'' (G) by unanimous decision. :''8. Steve'' (G) beat ''Freddy'' (B) by unanimous decision.


Quarterfinals

Quarterfinal bouts are determined by the individual winner of each preliminary bout. The winner can choose which episode they will box in, and may choose their own opponent. :''9. Steve'' beat ''Nick'' by split decision. :''10. Cornelius'' beat ''Walter'' by unanimous decision. :''11. Grady'' beat ''Michael'' by unanimous decision. :''12. Norberto'' beat ''Gary'' by unanimous decision.


Semifinals

Semifinal bouts are determined by the individual winner of each quarterfinal bout. The winner can choose which episode they will box in, and may choose their own opponent. :''13. Steve'' beat ''Cornelius'' by unanimous decision. :''14. Grady'' beat ''Norberto'' by majority decision.


Finals

:''15. Grady'' beat ''Steve'' by split decision to win the contender title. Grady got ahead early with body shots. Steve then beat him inside in the 4th and 5th. There was slow fighting until the end of the bout, but Grady landed more punches in the final 5 rounds. Grady won in a split decision. The scores were: David Mendoza 93–97, Max DeLuca 96–94 and José Cobián 94–96. For third place, Cornelius beat Norberto by TKO in the 7th round of 8. Cornelius knocked Norberto down in the 2nd, and was eventually penalized a point for shoving, but overall the match was one-sided, as Cornelius simply jabbed and set up straight rights to win. As undercard bouts on the final, Walter beat Vinroy by TKO in the 4th of 6, Freddy beat Aaron by unanimous decision in 6, and Nick beat Nurhan Suleymanoglu by unanimous decision in 6. Storm Large, who was a contestant on Burnett's '' Rock Star: Supernova'', sang "
The Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the b ...
" prior to the card. ''(Numbers refer to the episode in which the fight took place.)''


Weekly results

: Cornflower blue and WIN means the boxer won the match. : Red and LOSE means the boxer lost the match.


Guest appearances

A number of professional athletes appeared on the show, offering advice to the contestants, including: * Peter Manfredo Jr. * Sergio Mora * Alfonso Gomez * "Sugar" Shane Mosley * Willie McGinest


Trainers

* Tommy Gallagher * Jeremy Williams


References


External links


Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Contender 2 2006 American television seasons 2