The Contender 4 is nearer than expected!

I used to love watching The Contender when it first aired on AXN a few years ago. The unscripted drama, challenges and life stories of the boxers made for a riveting reality show produced by none other than Mark Burnett. It had all the right elements of production.

I remembered watching religiously from the first episode and as it progressed, slowly rooting for Sergio "The Latin Snake" Mora. He eventually fought Peter Manfredo in the finals, the first boxer to get eliminated but had the opportunity to come back and almost steal the title. The two ended the season in a thrilling match with Mora winning on points.

Then after the 2nd season, they took it all away.

Until the emergence of The Contender Asia that is, I was there at the finals. It took Asia by storm and was set right here in sunny Singapore. But this was Muay Thai kickboxing and although it was fun to watch, I still missed The Contender.

But for all we know it may be appearing nearer to home than expected. And I'm not too sure about the details of the show but we could be seeing Asian boxers in the series.

OK I'll make clear what I mean. I was working on the set of The Contender today, can't give out the location, but I will say that building a ring is not easy at all. I mean I've done it before, but this Everlast ring was a little different and by different I mean bigger, heavier and no instructions were given. So we battled with common sense and contrasting opinions to do a monkey's job and half a day in what should be done in half the time. Well at least now we know what to do and will complete everything by tomorrow.

So this marks day 1 in the making of The Contender, to be politically correct, probably season 4. Don't know much about the details yet, but we might be able to catch it on Channel 5, after all, why not endorse a show with sights and sounds of the heartlands in it? Fingers crossed.

The Bareboxer

Glory

Before Beijing, I never really cared or understood what the Olympics was about, the hype and what not. But after a glimpse of the opening and closing ceremonies, I realised it was about the importance of celebrating and testing the human spirit. The chance to represent your country in an Olympic sport must feel out of this world and I'm sure it is. For this I salute all the athletes and China for hosting and re-establishing itself as a dominant force in sporting games.

Beijing 2008 marked a new page in the history books and many old records were broken. This was an Olympics where you could throw tradition out the window, as far as boxing was concerned. It was a first of many things; China's dominating 51 gold medals, Usain Bolt's record breaking sprint, Liu Xiang's oust from hurdles glory, Michael Phelps 8 gold medals, Singapore's first medal in 48 years thanks to our ping pong team and Yelena Isinbayeva's pole vaulting sex appeal.

Yelena Isinbayeva is more taut than most men..

Usain Bolts his way past the competition

Boxing

Naturally, I was more concerned about the state of boxing and it didn't disappoint. Like I said tradition wasn't part of the show and for the first time, the Cubans who were favourites, went home without the gold. They were in no worst state than USA though who only managed a bronze as Evander Holyfield's prediction of 3 gold medals fell on deaf ears. In a surprising turn of events, the major stakeholders mostly came from Asia or the middle east.

The results:

Super Heavyweight (+91kg) - Finals Roberto Cammarelle (Italy) bt Zhilei Zhang (China), referee stopped contest 4th round
Light Heavyweight (81 kg) - Finals Xiaoping Zhang (China) bt Kenny Egan (Ireland) 11-7
Welterweight (69 kg) - FinalsBakhyt Sarsekbayev (Kazakhstan) bt Carlos Banteaux Suarez (Cuba) 18-9
Lightweight (60kg) - FinalsAlexey Tischenko (Russian Fed.) bt Daouda Sow (France) 11-9
Bantamweight (54kg) - FinalsBadar-Uugan Enkhbat (Mongolia) bt Yankiel Leon Alarcon (Cuba) 16-5
Light Flyweight (48kg) - FinalsShiming Zou (China) bt Serdamba Purevdorj (Mongolia), retired 2nd round
August 23Heavyweight (91kg) - FinalsRakhim Chakhkiev (Russian Fed.) bt Clemente Russo (Italy) 4-2
Middleweight (75kg) - FinalsJames Degale (Great Britain) bt Emilio Correa Bayeaux (Cuba) 16-14
Light Welterweight (64kg) - FinalsFelix Diaz (Dominican Rep.) bt Manus Boonjumnong (Thailand) 12-4
Featherweight (57kg) - FinalsVasyl Lomachenko (Ukraine) bt Khedafi Djelkhir (France), referee stopped contest 1st round
Flyweight (51kg) - FinalsSomjit Jongjohor (Thailand) bt Andris Laffita Hernandez (Cuba) 8-2

China spurred on by overwhelming support and clinched 2 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze in a sport they were never very good in. Thailand, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Ukraine, Russia and Italy had success and Ireland could have been up there with them. Kenny Egan dominated his opponents early on and looked to do the same to his Chinese opposition, but it just wasn't his day. Full credit to Zhang who naysayers(like me) said wouldn't last but proved to play defensively and score when needed. What heartbreak for the Irish, what triumph for the Chinese.

Boxing would be considered a boring sport to watch but here are some funny lines from commentary that kept people watching:

"He has more points than a compass."

"He's taking more hits than Google here!"

"thrown him down like yesterday's rubbish."

"throwing more hooks than a pirate's convention.."

"he's faster than a speeding ticket!"

"hung more gold around their necks than Mr. T."

"taking more hits than a Pamela Anderson website!"

"there's more beef here than a kettle ranch."

He's a funny bastard that guy. Well, the Olympics has ended and normal programs can commence, so bask in the glory while you Olympians can because for the rest of us, it's back to reality. Enjoy.

The Bareboxer

S1 Updates

The stage looks set for Singapore to hold its very own stand up fighting competition, much like its predessesors K1. A press conference was held on the 18 August, but news and details regarding the event is still very much in the air.

This is great news for fight fans and martial artists in Singapore, if it is the same as K1, it means fighters from all disciplines can compete with exception to takedown and submissions. I believe the rules are full contact, with a points system in place and KO rules. Can't wait to see when this takes off, it will be a stepping stone for the Singapore MMA and martial arts scene.

Check out some pictures at HFC.

Inspiration to the ladies

This is Gina Carano, and she kicks ass. See it for yourself.

How to be a millionaire through sports

Today was the last day of my exams, but after completing it, I felt no sense of elation. That may be due to the fact I blanked out for some questions but it could also be the impending reality that after this, I have to get a job. Why? Because everything cost money that's why.

The end of exams sparks the start of my fitness training once again, and it's high time I pay Farrer Park a visit and catch up with training. I also need to pass my IPPT before October, which is not far away.

This post is titled "How to be a millionaire through sports" and I had the idea while sitting in church just now. How do you do it really? I mean there are tonnes of people earning millions annually and a simple search on Google claims baseball and basketball to be the highest. The highest paid athletes in 2004 were Tiger Woods and Michael Schumacher, no surprise there. But then these people are at the pinnacle of their sport and worked for years to get there and stay there.

So if you're still wondering how, then you obviously have to see how big the market is for it? Football in England is huge and even young footies, or whatever they call it earn decent amounts, in British pounds mind you.

But for a Singaporean, I see an easy way out. Work very hard, train every day, live, eat, sleep and breathe a sport like boxing for example. Train and dedicate all your time and money to it, work with the best trainers and go for the Olympics. You have 4 years. The government's incentive for a gold medal = 1 million dollars. 0_0 It's that easy, which is why no one has done it yet. Ok, I was being sarcastic.

Speaking of the Olympics, the Singaporean table tennis team, which consist of Chinese exports (even the damn coach is from China I think), has made it to the finals of the team event and is guaranteed at least a silver medal. Go team Singapore! So if they win gold, does each of them get a million or does is a million split into 5? That is the question. Oh well two hundred thousand is more than enough i guess, i definitely wouldn't complain.

The bareboxer

Exams, Olympics, National Day

Yesterday, on the 8th of August 2008, the top prize of 8 million dollars was up for gamble. Everyone eagerly listened or watched the Toto results. There were 8 winners in total, going away with a little over a million dollars in cash. 8 being the significant number.

I wasn't one of the 8, damn. Looks like I'll have to slog it out for the rest of my life until that lucky break comes.

I haven't been blogging much because I haven't been training at all, this due to the fact I'm going through my exams now and all.

The Olympics was made official as of yesterday, it seems the 8/8/08 was a date for a lot of things, and what do you know, it's National Day for Singapore today! Happy 43th, my grandpa is older than you. Haha. OK, back to the Beijing Games, I just caught a couple of matches of Olympic boxing and it is truly an interesting sport.

No I don't mean Pro boxing, I'm not stupid, this is Amateur boxing we're talking about and the rules are so very different. A clear shot to the jawline will be considered as 1 point, anything else except a knockdown or K.O. doesn't make a shit difference. So I can be losing by say, 100 points, but if i knock my opponent out, then i win, end of story.

So here's a little piece of advice when watching Amateur matches, don't expect to be entertained. I mean I can enjoy the matches because I appreciate and understand the sport. These four 2-min rounds may seem boring because these guys are here to score points, not to entertain. Look back and see why so many Pro boxers have failed on the Olympic stage only to become Pro boxing's greats, biased judges decisions aside. Floyd Mayweather Jr, Evander Holyfield and Roy Jones Jr have have not had gold medal success but have illustrious boxing careers and millions in their pockets.

I just hope the Olympics averts disaster and turns out a success and I shall return to boxing soon. Cheers.

The Bareboxer