Commentary: Stakes too high on 'Contender'?

11:40 AM EST on Tuesday, March 8, 2005

By BRIAN MORAN / Special to WCNC.com

The Contender’s astounding premiere had less to do with a fist fight than it did with the fight of life. And the Stallion said it best, “This is a great fight.”

Some shows draw you into complex worlds that you know nothing about and never will. You get invested in the contestants on shows like 'American Idol' because it feels like their entire life is on the line and they’ve brought you along. You meet their families, you meet their friends and sometimes you’re let into their jobs and prospects. You see their future without the show. Often times it’s not pretty. You find yourself moving beyond rooting into begging and pleading, sometimes praying for their success.

That’s what 'The Condender' is all about.

Sixteen professional middleweights live together, train together and fight each other from week to week. The rainbow ends at Caesar’s Palace where a fight for $1 million awaits. Tragically, as most of you know, one of the fallen soldiers decided to end his own life on Valentine's Day. I’ve read he was an impressive individual. I hope his decision wasn’t based on the results of one reality show but a weaker part of me feels that might have been the case.

As for the daily grind, the gym scenes are gripping to say the least. Anthony makes note of the abnormality of the situation. He notices that you never get to see your competition train or spar in real life. That window into the interaction between the boxers during training is absorbing. The taunts are immediate. The head games are well played.

NBC

The guys met megastar Sylvester Stallone and six-time world boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard.

Each show ends with an actual bout. One of the weaker contestants, Alfonso, decides he wants a shot at the best fighter, Peter. When Peter tells his wife that he fights tomorrow, it’s great television. He didn’t announce it triumphantly. He said it modestly and her reaction looked mixed to me. Neither one of them looked confident.

It’s funny to watch the baddest dude in the competition stressing because he has to fight weaker competition. Tyson would always get scared before a fight even early in his career when his fights would be over before anybody could down one beer. But Peter sums it up after a deep stress relieving exhale, “What’s the worst that could happen? I could lose.”

Before the fight, that seems impossible. Peter is ripped and mean looking. Alfonso seems happy-go-lucky and his shape is not sculpted. His self affirmations do nothing to gain my confidence, “If you imagine it, it can happen. If I imagine I can fly, maybe in the future I will.”

This kid’s in trouble.

As the drums beat down, the suspense is palpable. There is fear and anger in both their eyes. What was keeping Peter up last night becomes clear. Alfonso comes out firing and gets in the zone early. The punches were so stifling that at first, I thought it had to be editing. But the comments from the crowd backed up the action, “Alfonso is killing him!”

In the second round Peter stings him early and Alfonso can’t take a punch as well as his opponent. His face opens and he covers up for the rest of the round.

Remember the feeling you had when Buster Douglass got up off the canvas? From that point on, you just knew an upset was in the making. You knew that this night was going to be historic. That’s what the third felt like. You knew Alfonso, like Buster, was not wasting this chance.

NBC

During sparring, Peter hit his partner so hard that the man had to stop the training.

Peter’s wife knew it too. Her voice told a complex story, “Peter let's go! Take care of this guy.” Her tone of voice wasn’t rooting for her husband to win a boxing match. Her tone wasn’t rooting for anything. It was begging for a better life with decisions like stucco or brick instead of should we pay the phone bill or the power. It wanted stability. It wanted peace of mind. Her high school sweetheart was fighting for a chance at a million bucks and her tone of voice stood out above all else.

He had to win. Her tone knew it.

Alfonso’s father was screaming in Spanish and his advice was insightful. It wasn’t meaningless nonsense just to be the dad. It was astute boxing observations about hand placement and breathing patterns that caused his corner to tell Alfonso to pay attention and follow his advice.

After the fourth, Peter asks his corner if he won the round. The answer was yes but the fight was over in my mind. Whenever someone asks that, it’s not their night. Alfonso bounces back to take the fifth as Peter’s wife looks on in horror.

Human drama is used so often to describe reality shows that it’s lost all meaning. But while crying in the shower Peter spoke of having his father’s voice in his head and I became attached yet again to these people I don’t know and never will. As Peter’s wife covered her mouth as her only love sobbed quietly, I became involved in their plight, their struggle. I wasn’t rooting for them ten minutes ago. But now, I wish I had.

It only got worse with the program’s final beat. I hate to say it, but we may have had an unfortunate glimpse into the tragedy of Najai’s suicide with Peter’s final lamentation to close the show, “Where do I go from here?”