By Thomas Gerbasi (photo by Emily Harney/FightWireImages)
Six years is a long time. In the fight game it can be an eternity, and in a lot of ways it has been for Peter Manfredo Jr. But strangely enough, in the time between my first conversation with ‘The Pride of Providence’ in 2004 and our most recent chat earlier this week, his end game has never wavered.
“I don’t want to fight all my life,” Manfredo told me back in January of 2004, days before he knocked out Sherwin Davis in the sixth round. “My plan is to become a world champion, make some money, take care of my family, and retire.”
At the time, Manfredo was 23 years old, 19-0 as a pro, and if you mentioned the word ‘Contender’ to the part-time electrician, student, and prizefighter, the only thing that would have popped into his head was that it meant he was closing in on his dream.
But after the win over Davis and a subsequent victory over Anthony Bonsante less than four months later, Manfredo’s life would be irrevocably altered when he was called by the production company of reality show guru Mark Burnett to compete on NBC’s boxing reality show ‘The Contender.’
Now thrust into the nation’s living rooms on a weekly basis, Manfredo went from being a solid prospect and sometime sparring partner to the likes of Shane Mosley, Fernando Vargas, and Micky Ward to a household name in households that didn’t really care about Shane Mosley, Fernando Vargas, and Micky Ward. The Rhode Island native would make it to the series finale against Sergio Mora before losing, but it really didn’t matter. Manfredo belonged to the world now.
“The Contender was so big for my career and probably for everybody else on the show,” he recalled. “People don’t even care if I win or lose. People don’t even know if I lost in the last three, four years – they still remember me from that show. People know who we are, and they always will. They’ll never forget, and I think that’s important.”
Unlike participants in other reality shows though, the pot at the end of the rainbow wasn’t golden for ‘The Contender’ alumni. Sure, everyone knew who they were, but Madison Avenue wasn’t calling, they were no book deals, no hefty appearance fees, and under the ‘Tournament of Contenders’ promotional banner, they weren’t kept nearly as active as they wanted to be.
“For us, it ended with the show,” said Manfredo. “You have that ‘Jersey Shore’ show now and it has nothing to do with talent, but these guys are making tons of money. If they do another show they’re gonna make 10 thousand an episode, get endorsements, and money to make appearances. We didn’t get anything and we were talented. We made money when we fought, but that was it. We didn’t get any endorsement deals, we didn’t get anything, any appearance money. But we did get the publicity, and that’s big for boxing in general.”
And if anyone was able to parlay his ‘Contender’ fame into bigger fights, it was Manfredo, who was aided by the fact that he was the blue collar family man who was able to pack New England venues before and after his stint on the show.
Yet by 2008, Manfredo, competing at 168 pounds – 14 pounds north of where he was making noise before the show called – had hit the wall. He was stopped in three rounds by Joe Calzaghe in his lone title fight in 2007, and later that year he suffered another loss – this via close decision to Jeff Lacy. Boxing insiders pegged him as a good fighter who was going to fall short at the elite level. And when he got pounded out in three scary rounds by Sakio Bika, even Manfredo realized that maybe enough was enough.
“I retired after that fight,” recalled Manfredo. “I said ‘that’s it.’”
In boxing though, ‘that’s it’ usually means that’s it for now, and a couple months after the bout, Manfredo got a call from his manager, Larry Army.
“Hey, I know you don’t want to hear about this, but I still think you’ve got something left, and it’s not at ’68, it’s at ’60. Why don’t you give it a shot?”
Manfredo, working part-time as a laborer, gave it some thought before coming to a conclusion.
“Why not? I am a fighter. I have nothing to fall back on right now, so let’s give it a shot.”
Simple in the re-telling, but more complex when you look deeper and realize that Manfredo’s only reasoning for returning is the prospect that at middleweight, he won’t be facing a sizeable competitive disadvantage before the bell even sounds. He owes Bika a word of thanks for that realization.
“Sakio Bika gave me such a beatin’ and hit me so hard I said ‘oh my God, these guys are just too big and strong,’” said Manfredo. “When I realized that that night, I said that if I ever wanted to be a champion, be something in this game, and be a guy who can speak when he’s older, I gotta fight guys who are at least my size. At super middleweight I did all right, I made it to that championship level, but I just couldn’t overcome them. They were just too big and strong or fast. I fought Lacy, Calzaghe, and Bika, and those guys are so much bigger than me it was an unfair disadvantage for me. At 160 you still got a couple of freaks like Kelly Pavlik and Arthur Abraham, but other than that, it seems like everybody might be my size.”
That’s boxing’s dirty little secret, and maybe it isn’t even a secret anymore, that fighters competing in a particular weight class are nowhere near that limit on fight night. So a super middleweight could be closer to cruiserweight when the bell rings, which is all well and good assuming that both fighters are putting on the same amount of weight between the weigh-in and the fight. But when you’ve got someone who doesn’t cut an exorbitant amount of weight and doesn’t put on 20 pounds after the weigh-in, now the idea of weight classes becomes a joke, a dangerous – but legal – one. Manfredo, who fought at 168 since ‘The Contender’ ended, took two years to realize that he was in over his head – physically - in the division.
“I didn’t realize it until I fought Bika, to be honest with you,” he said. “I’m not the greatest fighter in the world, but I got a great chin – I got one of those old Italian chins (Laughs). But when I fought Bika, I was blocking shots and he was just moving me across the ring. He never got me down that night, but I’m glad the ref stopped it because I probably wouldn’t even have been able to do this interview right now, that’s how hard this guy hit, and I don’t have the heart in me to quit. I just keep going, so I probably would have gotten hurt. But they’re just too big and strong. They’ve got 20 pounds on you and it makes a difference. That’s why everybody sweats down and then they put 10-20 on after the weigh-in. When I was fighting at ’68 I would put 10 pounds on, but these guys are putting 20 on and it would show. That’s what everybody else does, and if you want to be part of the pack and make a lot of money and have longevity in the game, that’s part of the job.”
It was a part of the job Manfredo had grown tired of, mainly because continuing to be on the receiving end of Bika-esque blows wasn’t going to allow him to get to a world title or, more importantly, enjoy his eventual retirement.
In 2009, Manfredo returned with two final bouts at super middleweight, TKO wins over Wallid Smichet and Ronald Weaver, and tonight, he will begin his 2010 campaign at 160 pounds to take on Matt Vanda for the NABF middleweight crown at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. Needless to say, the weight cut hasn’t been easy, but as of Monday he was already down to 164.5 pounds, right on target for the 160 limit.
“Then I’ll be so mean like I was when I was at ’54 and I won’t lose,” he laughs.
And if Manfredo still has something in the tank at 160, he should beat the always tough, but limited Vanda, just based on his speed and better technique. The 29-year old isn’t interested in just a win though; he wants a decisive finish.
“He’s someone who can give you trouble for 10-12 rounds, and he’s gonna be game and he’s gonna give you a fight that people want to see,” said Manfredo of Vanda. “But he’s not gonna beat me, especially now because I’m too sharp. But my goal is to get him outta there because I want to look impressive. That’s what gets you the money and the big fights.”
Well, with Arthur Abraham competing at 168 pounds and Kelly Pavlik probably on his way up too, the “big” fights at middleweight may be a ways off for Manfredo, but a title shot may not be, and that’s always been the goal – to get the belt, get the money, and walk off into the sunset. So even though he still works part-time like he did in 2004 – now as a laborer – Manfredo still has his dreams within reach, and that’s something few can still say six years later.
“I think I still have the name, other people will still want to fight me, and I’m a ticket seller,” he said. “I’m a fighter and that’s what people like. I think I can be right in the mix in another couple fights, and that’s what gives you hope. If you had no hope to make money in the game, then it’s not even worth doing it. That’s what keeps me going to the gym every day, and hopefully I can get that title shot, that big money shot, win a title for once, and just get out of it. I want to win a title and get out of it with my head and everything else and live happily ever after. I want that one big payday, I want to pay my house off. I want my kids to be set for college, I want all that stuff. If I can get a couple big wins after this win and get that title shot, then I’ll be happy. It keeps me motivated.”
