Victories for Ishe Smith, Jeff Fraza and Jimmy Lange in Five-Round Fights

By David P. Greisman

Six middleweights chosen in an online poll as fan favorites from NBC’s “The Contender” fought Tuesday to further their futures on the undercard of the show’s finale.

Broadcast live on the internet from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Ishe Smith, Anthony Bonsante, Tarick Salmaci, Jimmy Lange, Brent Cooper and Jeff Fraza, all of whom were knocked off of Mark Burnett’s reality show, received a second chance at the spotlight which is essential to a pugilistic career.

Fraza vs. Cooper

In the opener, Jeff Fraza, forced to leave the million dollar tournament in week four due to a case of chicken pox, capitalized on his first opportunity to compete by winning a split decision victory over Brent Cooper.

With fellow Massachusetts native Micky Ward as his trainer, Fraza (17-2 with 10 knockouts) mimicked his mentor, mounting an offense based on a strong left hook.  For a majority of the match, Fraza landed the cleaner, harder shots, although he was never able to gain momentum in an awkward, sloppy match-up.

Cooper, a poorly-regarded Tennessean that was knocked out by Bonsante in week six, exhibited poor balance, causing a plethora of warnings for holding from referee Toby Gibson.  While the Nashville native began the bout with the best of intentions, he quickly reverted to the form of a man who holds a 0-1-1 record against the 66-273-17 Reggie Strickland.

The judges’ scorecards read 49-46 twice for Fraza, the dissenting vote going 48-47 to Cooper.  With the loss, Cooper drops to 20-4-2 (16).

 
Smith vs. Bonsante

In the second, and by far the best of the three matches, Ishe Smith won a foul-plagued unanimous decision over Anthony Bonsante.

Emotions spilled over from earlier in the show’s season, when Bonsante’s TKO of Cooper caused controversy, angering Smith.  At that point in the contest, the boxers had agreed on the remaining three match-ups, and it had been decided that Bonsante would be pitted against Lange.  Instead, Bonsante chose the easier mark in Cooper, defending his actions by declaring that he had to watch out for his kids, flouting his “#1 Daddy” hat whenever possible.

“Cats like him, you don’t even knock out,” Smith said angrily in the seventh episode.  “Cats like him, you just make him pay.”

Smith, guided by renowned trainer Joe Goossen, indeed inflicted punishment upon Bonsante, peppering him with lunging left hooks and frustrating his opponent with slick defensive movements.

Unable to land his heavy shots on “Sugar Shay,” Bonsante resorted to a variety of fouls, including hitting behind the head and lifting Smith over his shoulder and attempting to drop him.

After point deductions, the cards all read 49-43 for Smith, who improves to 16-1 (7).  Adding insult to injury, Bonsante’s conqueror brought his own baseball cap that read, “I’m the No. 1 Daddy.”

Bonsante, a thirty-four year old from Minnesota, has now lost three of his past four outings, leaving his record at 26-6-3 with 15 knockout wins.

Lange vs. Salmaci

Wrapping up the afternoon before the night’s feature bouts, Jimmy Lange outpointed Tarick Salmaci to gain a majority decision. The scores were 49-45 twice and the third judge scored it a draw with a score of 47-47.

With Buddy McGirt in his corner, Lange (25-2-1, 17 KOs) hoped to shift his momentum in a positive direction after being upset by Joey Gilbert in week eight.

Salmaci, 19-3 (5), also needed a win, so as to overcome his week seven loss to the less experienced Juan De La Rosa, a crushing defeat that had been the first fight in three and a half years for “The Arabian Prince.”

Neither man, however, demonstrated the urgency to turn their careers around, and aside from a freak flash knockdown of Salmaci from a Lange jab in the first round, the match was somewhat forgettable.