Official CONTENDER 2 Thread

[restless_438]

I know its reality TV but they should really show the whole fight, not highlights.

after catching this 'tivo' style an hour ago, i agree with most on the board here that the Contender is making a huge mistake in not showing fights in their full... it's almost insulting to the fans watching the show. In this comparison, the Ultimate Fighter has the Contender dominated.. still, i'm slightly impressed thus far, enjoyed both shows.

[guru]

it's not hard to understand.. TC(the contender) last year drew more than 4 million homes each week... if it showed entire fights, that # would have been cut drasticly... there are many shows where you can watch entire fights: boxing After Dark, Friday Night Fights, Fox, Shobox, Showtime Championship Boxing, HBO championship boxing, telemundo and PPV... but there's only one show like TC... if you dont like TC, thats fine, but there's no reason to hate it or bash it, because its good for boxing...

[restless_438]

it's not hard to understand.. TC(the contender) last year drew more than 4 million homes each week... if it showed entire fights, that # would have been cut drasticly... there are many shows where you can watch entire fights: boxing After Dark, Friday Night Fights, Fox, Shobox, Showtime Championship Boxing, HBO championship boxing, telemundo and PPV... but there's only one show like TC... if you dont like TC, thats fine, but there's no reason to hate it or bash it, because its good for boxing...

No hating or bashing from my end, i'm just saying overall, it's hurting more than helping..

Keep in mind, these 5 round fights are around 30 minutes tops in their entirety... what's wrong with doing less-important family interviews and keeping the formula: First 30- celebration from last eps win, preparation for fights, Last 30- the fight itself.. Or they could use more time showing the actual fight as opposed to the 20 or so close-ups of both fighters family member during the fights as well..

Considering they're not showing much training (at least not yet), i don't think it'd be that drastic of a change. Again, i'm enjoying the show so far, those are just a few things that IMO would make it that much better..

[Southpaw16]

Okay, here are some of my problems with the Contender.

Every single episode is almost exactly the same, because they have casted every single contestant for the exact same reason: because they are doing it for their family, so every episode introduces us to their family and talks about how they are doing it for their family. They have just casted 16 fighters with the same core values and have completely built the show around these values.

Another major problem I have with it is I can tell that Tommy Gallagher and Jeremy Williams have been coached on how to be cinematic and good for television in the corner, and they are focusing more on that then giving the fighters advice. They give very little technical advice in the area of ring positioning, jabbing, etc and instead just shout out things like "look at your wife and kids, you've got to do it for them, you've got to fight for your life, this is your one opportunity, blah blah blah". Everyone who watches boxing knows that this isn't how good trainers talk in the corner between rounds.

It pisses me off that these guys are fighting in a major tournament for half a million dollars, and they have to get cornered by some trainer who is playing for the cameras and not even trying to give them the real advice that they need to win. It isn't fair, and the reason why they won't just allow the fighters to be coached by their regular trainers is because actual legitimate trainers wouldn't talk like that and it wouldn't look as good. There is also of course the hour long wait by themselves in the dressing room before a fight, except for a visit by guess who?.... Their family!!!! When fighters are getting focused on a fight, they don't need or want to see their families in the dressing room a half hour before they get into the ring!!!

And then of course the fights are edited because if there is a fight that isn't close or competitive, this way they can manipulate it to look like a close fight. Like when they do the loud ****ing sound when punches aren't even landing.

If you want to have a reality show, then show reality. Don't do selective casting and false drama. My suggestion, just do a scripted TV show. It could be entertaining to watch a scripted Rocky style TV show where every episode the fighter had a fight on his climb towards the title, and at least you won't be trying to fool anyone.

Of course, like a lot of the rest of you, I am such a die-hard boxing fan I'll probably keep watching the Contender anyways because a really bad boxing show is still entertaining to me.

[vB Martin]

As a fan I would say that we gotta support this show to get boxing more into the mainstream as is used to be.

Unfortunately I don't see this working. Most of the people who are fans of The Contender would have unrealistic expectations of boxing and tune out when they started seeing a lot of lulls in the action in real fights.

[Easy-E]

Okay, here are some of my problems with the Contender.

Every single episode is almost exactly the same, because they have casted every single contestant for the exact same reason: because they are doing it for their family, so every episode introduces us to their family and talks about how they are doing it for their family. They have just casted 16 fighters with the same core values and have completely built the show around these values.

Another major problem I have with it is I can tell that Tommy Gallagher and Jeremy Williams have been coached on how to be cinematic and good for television in the corner, and they are focusing more on that then giving the fighters advice. They give very little technical advice in the area of ring positioning, jabbing, etc and instead just shout out things like "look at your wife and kids, you've got to do it for them, you've got to fight for your life, this is your one opportunity, blah blah blah". Everyone who watches boxing knows that this isn't how good trainers talk in the corner between rounds.

It pisses me off that these guys are fighting in a major tournament for half a million dollars, and they have to get cornered by some trainer who is playing for the cameras and not even trying to give them the real advice that they need to win. It isn't fair, and the reason why they won't just allow the fighters to be coached by their regular trainers is because actual legitimate trainers wouldn't talk like that and it wouldn't look as good. There is also of course the hour long wait by themselves in the dressing room before a fight, except for a visit by guess who?.... Their family!!!! When fighters are getting focused on a fight, they don't need or want to see their families in the dressing room a half hour before they get into the ring!!!

And then of course the fights are edited because if there is a fight that isn't close or competitive, this way they can manipulate it to look like a close fight. Like when they do the loud ****ing sound when punches aren't even landing.

If you want to have a reality show, then show reality. Don't do selective casting and false drama. My suggestion, just do a scripted TV show. It could be entertaining to watch a scripted Rocky style TV show where every episode the fighter had a fight on his climb towards the title, and at least you won't be trying to fool anyone.

Of course, like a lot of the rest of you, I am such a die-hard boxing fan I'll probably keep watching the Contender anyways because a really bad boxing show is still entertaining to me.

Well we only see about 5-10 seconds of the 1 minute they are in their corner, so im not sure if its safe to say if that is true or not, but I definitly get where your coming from.
Another reason for this, is it seems as though in many situations, from this season and last season, it comes down to an all out brawl, where technical skill wont make a difference.
That way, hyping them up may be the best thing for them.

[restless_438]

Unfortunately I don't see this working. Most of the people who are fans of The Contender would have unrealistic expectations of boxing and tune out when they started seeing a lot of lulls in the action in real fights.

that's just another reason why they shouldn't sugar-coat these contender fights, but money talks i guess

[vB Martin]

If you want to have a reality show, then show reality.

That would be a television first. Reality is the last thing they want in TV shows. Where is the entertainment value in real reality?

[undisputedchamp]

does any1 know where the new gym is located.

[Easy-E]

If you want to have a reality show, then show reality.

Like what shows?
The real world?
The point of all these shows is to play up the drama.