To misquote the reality show that put producer Mark Burnett on the map in America: The calendar has spoken.
It is December, so the year marking the 20th anniversary of the airing of The Contender’s first (and by far most watched) season is about ready to hang up its gloves.
The goal at the outset of 2025 was to post a monthly article catching up with or reflecting on an alum of the show, and for the first 10 months, I did just that, interviewing seven of the boxers (Sergio Mora, Tarick Salmaci, Peter Manfredo, Ishe Smith, Jonathan Reid, Anthony Bonsante and Jimmy Lange), exploring the tragic tale of Najai Turpin, looking back with “den mom” Jackie Kallen and going behind the scenes with Supervising Producer Adam Briles.
In a cast of 16 fighters, I profiled eight of them — which of course leaves eight that I did not profile.
So for the final installment of the 20th anniversary series, here, in the order in which they were eliminated, is what I’ve learned about those other eight, many of whom I tried but failed to connect with:
Jeff Fraza
Along with Turpin, the relatively undersized “Hell Raza” Fraza was the show’s other tragedy, dying in 2012 at age 34 when he was struck by a moving train in his native Massachusetts.
Fraza never had the opportunity to fight on the first season of the reality show, exiting the loft during the third episode when he contracted chicken pox. He did get to compete on the live final card, winning a split decision over Brent Cooper, and then he was invited back for a second chance on the ESPN-televised second season — where he lost to Nick Acevedo by unanimous decision in his lone bout.
Fraza never had another pro fight after that, retiring in 2006 with a record of 17-3 (10 KOs).
One small piece of trivia I learned while compiling this series: After the show ended, Fraza began dating Jimmy Lange’s sister, and Jimmy and Jeff became close friends and remained so until Fraza’s untimely death.
Miguel Espino
Espino, one of the favored fighters coming into the show but bounced when he lost a narrow decision to Manfredo in the tournament’s opening round, is among the cast members I tried in various ways to contact but had no success.
I did locate him on Facebook, where his profile indicates he still lives in California (Moreno Valley), is married with kids, at one point worked as an account manager at a car dealership (and maybe still does) and still keeps an eye on boxing (he posted his takes after watching Fernando Vargas Jnr fight earlier this year).
After The Contender ended, Espino won his next 11 fights (against limited opposition that included his castmate Jonathan Reid), then in 2009 attempted a massive leap in class against former middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik and was knocked down three times en route to a fifth-round stoppage defeat. Espino never fought again, finishing with a record of 20-3-1 (9 KOs).
Brent Cooper
No disrespect intended, but if there was one Contender fighter whose skill set would have made him a better fit for Fox’s lower-grade “The Next Great Champ” series, it was Cooper.
The earnest Nashville boxer was stopped by Bonsante in the opening round of the tournament, lost to Fraza on the live finale at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, then fought once more in ’05 and once in ’08, losing by KO both times to finish his career on a four-fight losing streak with a record of 20-6-2 (15 KOs).
Cooper’s full name is Anthony Brent Cooper, and after a prison stint on drug charges from 2006-07, he began going by “Anthony” and more closely embraced his Christian faith (as well as singing country music). Cooper has an Instagram account, where he posts musical performances (sometimes with his wife Leann), advertisements for his private boxing lessons, religious messages and images of his daughter playing high school basketball.
Juan De la Rosa
The youngest member of the cast, barely 18 when filming began, De la Rosa decisioned Salmaci, then left the show still undefeated after suffering a cut in that bout. The Texas-based Mexican seemed to have as much future potential as anyone competing on the show, but over the next 10 years, he went 8-4, with all four losses coming to opponents with losing records, and never engaged in a major fight.
He was still in his 20s when he retired with a record of 21-4-1 (16 KOs). And he hasn’t quite turned 40 yet — that’s coming next August.
De la Rosa appeared on a podcast about a year ago, where he said he still lives in Harlingen, Texas and that the most fun part of his Contender experience was the time he spent in the “loser house” after withdrawing from the competition. According to his Facebook page, De la Rosa works — or, at last Facebook update, worked — as a driver for UPS.
Ahmad Kaddour
Filling somewhat of a villain role on the show, “Babyface” Kaddour had an unusual career arc in that he never lost before The Contender (18-0) and never lost after The Contender (9-0-1) but went 0-2 competing in the show’s tournament. He lost by five-round unanimous decision to fellow “villain” Ishe Smith, then got a second chance and lost by five-round unanimous decision to the show’s true babyface, Alfonso Gomez.
Kaddour last fought in 2013, but there is a notable gap in his resume, from November ’06 to September ’09. That’s because, amid an ugly divorce, he was jailed for trespassing in his ex-wife’s house in 2007, and after serving his time, Kaddour was sent back to his native Denmark.
I struggled to find any information on Kaddour more recent than a 2013 interview, and none of his former castmates to whom I spoke knew anything definitive about what he’s up to now.
Joey Gilbert
A bit of a change of pace here, as Gilbert is one Contender alum I very deliberately made no attempt to contact. I am perfectly happy to converse with people whose political beliefs don’t align with mine (and I know for a fact that at least a couple of Contender fighters I spoke to this year fit that description).
But there are limits. Gilbert denied the results of the 2020 presidential election, directly participated in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and has pushed conspiracy theories regarding harms from vaccines and the entire pandemic somehow being “planned.”
This is not a person I am interested in interviewing and profiling.
On the show, Gilbert defeated Lange and then lost in the quarterfinals to Manfredo. After the series was over, he beat Lange again in a 2006 rematch, lost to castmate Jesse Brinkley in ’09, had a win changed to a no-contest due to a failed drug test in ’07 and retired with a record of 20-3 (15 KOs) after being stopped by Kassim Ouma in 2010.
Gilbert became an attorney, practicing in Reno, Nevada, and ran for governor of Nevada in 2022 but finished second in the Republican primary. And to answer the question you’re surely asking: Yes, he challenged the primary results and made claims of election fraud.
Alfonso Gomez
Undersized, lightly regarded Gomez was the feel-good story of the first season of The Contender, running all the way to the semifinals with wins over Manfredo and Kaddour before losing in a rematch with Manfredo.
He was among the cast’s most successful boxers post-show, upsetting future Hall of Famer Arturo Gatti in what would be Gatti’s final fight and parlaying that into major paydays (but stoppage defeats) against Miguel Cotto and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Gomez also scored wins over Jose Luis Castillo, Ben Tackie, Jesus Soto Karass, Yoshihiro Kamegai and Carson Jones, and finished in 2015 with a record of 25-6-2 (12 KOs).
He made a go of it with a rock band called Hy3rid, and last year, at age 43, he announced on social media his intention to fight again, but that comeback hasn’t happened. I made several efforts throughout the year to contact Gomez via his social media accounts, but never got a response from him. I heard second-hand about him experiencing financial hardships and personal struggles, but wasn’t able to reach Gomez so he could confirm any of that or tell his story.
Jesse Brinkley
Brinkley, who made it to the semifinals before losing to eventual winner Mora, is the interview that got away.
Many of his former castmates described him as difficult to nail down, but also as the ultimate character and a can’t-miss interview subject. Starting in March, and continuing through this week, Brinkley and I played phone tag and left each other messages, but every time I was ready, he disappeared again. His friends from the show all told me that’s just how Jesse is.
Here's what I know: He still lives in Yerington, Nevada, with Colleen Ritter, the same woman he was with on the show 20 years ago. He has a son, Steyr, who is a minor league baseball pitcher. And Brinkley is now a grandfather at age 49.
He had an up and down boxing career after losing to Gomez in the third-place fight on the live finale. There were wins over Bonsante and Gilbert, a loss to former titleholder Robin Reid, a victory over Otis Griffin (the winner of rival series The Next Great Champ). His peak came in a 2010 win over Curtis Stevens, though that was followed by back-to-back stoppage losses to Lucian Bute (in a title challenge) and Peter Quillin, and Brinkley retired in 2011 with a record of 35-7 (22 KOs).
And I’m not giving up on extending this article series with a full profile of him in 2026. His old friends assure me it will prove worth the wait.
Eric Raskin is a veteran boxing journalist with nearly 30 years of experience covering the sport for such outlets as BoxingScene, ESPN, Grantland, Playboy, and The Ring (where he served as managing editor for seven years). He also co-hosted The HBO Boxing Podcast, Showtime Boxing with Raskin & Mulvaney, The Interim Champion Boxing Podcast with Raskin & Mulvaney, and Ring Theory. He has won three first-place writing awards from the BWAA, for his work with The Ring, Grantland, and HBO. Outside boxing, he is the senior editor of CasinoReports and the author of 2014’s The Moneymaker Effect. He can be reached on X, BlueSky, or LinkedIn, or via email at RaskinBoxing@yahoo.com.
