The Contender Australia

[Boundos]

Right this start on November 2nd on foxtel, figured we may as well start a thread as the winner gets the chance to take on Choc Mundine.

Heres a list and some background on the fighters involved

Sonny Michael Angelo
Record 15-8-2 (5 Ko's)
Fought to a draw with Shannon Taylor, has beaten Israel Kani and Les Piper

Nader Hamden
Record 41-6-0 (18ko)
easily the most experianced, fought for multiple world titles, has always come up short though. Been in with the worlds best guys in Arthur Abraham, Mads Larsen and Otis Grant. Got towled by Mundine in 2007 in a 12 round unanimous decision. Didnt win a single round on anyones scorecard. Red hot chance ot win this tourney though.

Garth Woods
Record 4-1-0 (2ko)
Hasnt fought anyone of note.

Pradeep Singh
Record 15-1-1 (8ko)
Only loss comes by Disqualification for using his elbows against Ryan Waters. Was held to a draw by a guy how holds a 4-7-1 record.

Kariz Kariuki
Record 18-7-2 (17 Ko)
13 of his KO's have come before the end of round 2. Obviously can whack. Has betean Sonny Michael Angelo and been knocked out by Victor Oganov. Big guy who started out as a light heavyweight.


Victor Oganov
Record 28-2-0(28ko)
Hand picked as a youngster by Kostya Tyzsu to come out to Australia from russia. had a falling out with Tszyu due to feeling he was being overlooked for fights and mis managed in favour of Kostya. 16 of his Knockouts have come i the first 2 rounds, His two losses were against world class opponents in Andre Dirrell and Fulgencio Zuniga. Red hot chance to take the tourney out.

Israel Kani
Record 9-2-2 (4ko)
Has drawn twice with Les Piper, and lost once to Sonny Michael Angelo. Seems to be just making up the numbers.


Luke Maloney
Record 13-4-0(0 ko)
Lost to Les Piper, hasnt really fought anyone else

Josh Clenshew
Record 26-16-0 (13Ko's)
Is known for two bloody wars against Daniel Dawson. Both he lost but slugged it out for 10 rounds with Dawson who is a world rated fighter. Has been defeated by Nader Hamden 4 times.


Ben McCulloch
Record 3-0-0(2 ko)
Inexperianced, but a great opportunity to fight some decent Aussie names and gain a higher profile

Junior Talipeau
Record 14-0-0 (5ko's)
Undefeated so far but hasnt fought any world rated opponents as yet. has cleaned up the Aussie middleweights though. Has fought regularly at the sharkies Leagues club.

Les Piper
Record 10-3-3 (2 ko)
Has drawn twice to Israel kani and lost to Sonny Michael Angelo. Was knocked out by Sam Soliman, who has been beaten by Mundine 3 times.

Adrian Taihia
Record 5-0-1 (3 ko)
First 2 fights lasted a combined total of 30 seconds. Avenged his only draw with a unanimous decision. Big puncher.

 

[Capital_Shark]

I'm looking forward to this. I enjoyed the original US The Contender - loss massive interest when they began fart arsing around and bringing in Muay Thai, but from what I've seen this Aussie version should be good.

F-ck me Mundine is a show pony though. Can't wait to see how he tries to keep strong his celebrity status and headline grabbing after his boxing career winds up. Granville comes to mind.

 

[Boundos]

rumours i heard were that team mundine had a huge say in who took part in this tourney.

While the winner in my opinion stands next to no chance of beating Mundine, they will take home $250k in prize money. Will be easily the biggest payday for most of these guys in their careers.

 

[Capital_Shark]

rumours i heard were that team mundine had a huge say in who took part in this tourney.

While the winner in my opinion stands next to no chance of beating Mundine, they will take home $250k in prize money. Will be easily the biggest payday for most of these guys in their careers.

Of course Mundine had a big say in who took part - he likes to know he's won before he gets in the ring.

 

[Bungy]

Of course Mundine had a big say in who took part - he likes to know he's won before he gets in the ring.

What about the day Mundine fell asleep on the canvas to the German guy Sven Ottke. The pub I was in all went up in unison. (Hooray infact).

 

[Capital_Shark]

What about the day Mundine fell asleep on the canvas to the German guy Sven Ottke. The pub I was in all went up in unison. (Hooray infact).

Every now and then he doesn't have much say in who he fights.

I remember I was meant to go watch that fight but for some reason didn't and was pissed I missed seeing Mundine get knocked.

 

[IceSharky]

I can't wait until it starts. Aus has some fantastic talent!! Before I moved here I'd watch the Contender USA so I'm sooooooooooooooooooooo looking forward to this. I'm secretly hoping someone comes through and whips Mundine. Don't laugh don't laugh......one can hope. Ohhhhh did anyone know that Mayweather is coming back!!!!!! I'd like to see him and Mundine in the ring! OH! or even pacquiao. Anyone catch him on HBO?

 

[Boundos]

Mayweather is already back Ice. Schooled Juan Manual Marquez a month ago. Pacman has to get through Cotto end of this month and then we get the superfight! Pac vs PBF!

Mind you they are both way to small to take Mundine. Hopefully Mundine gets whooped against Geale in the rematch, if not then Kelly Pavlik is always lurking around with one of the middleweight belts.

 

[IceSharky]

THat's right!!!! I was in canada in april just gone...visiting my fmaily and I was watching pac and the english guy ( i cna't believe i have forgotton his name already!) anyways....mayweather sr was coaching the english guy and thenmayweather's son had annoucned coming back!!!! I reckon if pacman bulked up or if somehow mundine and pacman were in the same weight class.....pac could take him. I'd LOOOOOOOOOOVe to see that fight!

 

[Megashark]

I was watching pac and the english guy ( i cna't believe i have forgotton his name already!)

Ricky Hatton - the highlight of his career was his defeat of Kostya Tszyu back in 2005, but he has since lost to both Pacman and Mayweather Jr.

 

[Boundos]

yep thats him, now he is more focussed on his promotional company. Geale and choc both made it past their opponents last night with easy wins, apparently Chocs fight was an absolute disgrace to boxing.

Geales was against a little known puncher, who was soundly beaten over 12 rounds for the IBO pan pacific title.
Choc calle dout Pavlik again after his fight, god i hope he gets it....Kelly will punch 8 shades of shit out of him

 

[Capital_Shark]

Reckon Geale will take Mundine in the rematch?

 

[Boundos]

depends on who runs the promotion. If its team mundine then no way in hell, if its split then i reckon he has a fair shot. IMO he would have won the first clash bar the knockdown. Mind you choc was dropped and it was ruled a slip which would have given Geale the edge. Plus there should have been points deducted for the tape fiasco when choc was knackered, not to mention the elbows with no warning.

I dont know if choc really wants this rematch and have a feeling he will duck and dodge it with everything he has until Geale looks elsewhere for a title.

 

[Capital_Shark]

Pretty sh!t start to the tournament tonight. Its tough to tell too much from the highlights you get on the show, but at least one judge was off his nut scoring it 50-45 in Clenshew's favour.

Considering this whole thing is tarted up for TV I think it was a weak move to sling two obviously well underdone blokes against. I understand why they did it how they did it but from a viewer's perspective I've been ripped off not only because the two most out of shape blokes put on a below their best performance but now we don't even get to see what Kani had in store. I would of much preferred to see two fit and ready blokes take the ring and Kani and Clenshew work on their fitness and whatnot and fight closer to their peak.

Something that baffles me a bit about The Contender is the emphasis on team work in what is ultimately not a team sport. Why bust a gut running a frigging obstacle course, risking injury, to tire yourself out for a potential fight a couple days later? I mean, if you can win and get a free pass to the quarters go for it, but if you're off to a poor start and no chance then I see no sense in not packing it in.

Charlotte Dawson and that other sh!thead host piss me off too. Those two jaw on all evening with out a hint of a clue and we hear f-ck all from a bloke like Johnny Lewis.

 

[hitman124]

I am not going to bother watching it, when I saw who is hosting it, I made my decision.

America had Sly, we have some stupid woman who should be hosting netball or lawn bowls. They should have someone half descent, ET would have been pretty good actually.

 

[Boundos]

you can watch the unedited fight from the fox8 website. Izzy definetly won it, but thats what happens in boxing when you let it go to the judges.

In Clenshaws defence, he only had 24 hours notice to join the comp after a late pullout, hence him not being in top shape. I couldnt beleive Viktor got picked last??? wtf! him and Nader should have gone 1 and 2!

 

[Capital_Shark]

you can watch the unedited fight from the fox8 website. Izzy definetly won it, but thats what happens in boxing when you let it go to the judges.

In Clenshaws defence, he only had 24 hours notice to join the comp after a late pullout, hence him not being in top shape. I couldnt beleive Viktor got picked last??? wtf! him and Nader should have gone 1 and 2!

Fox8 should tee up something where after the episode airs, one of the sports channels shows the whole fight sometime during the week.

I get ya that its the risk you run by not flooring the bloke but if 14 boxers, 2 trainers and pretty much the whole crowd can make a unanimous decision on who won, how can't the 3 men in charge come to the same unanimous conclusion?

It showed that he only had 24hrs notice. As I said, he shouldn't of been first up.

I figured the reason Viktor and Nader got picked last was just part of hamming up the suspense for the TV or some bullsh!t along those lines.

 

[Boundos]

end of the day Izzy has picked up a ton of new fans due to him as a person and this dodgey result, and thats really what the boys are on the show for. A higher profile in Aus means more fights and more money

 

[Capital_Shark]

Oganov got beat, that was bullsh!t. What makes it even more unfortunate is that it was probably the best fight (entertainment wise at least) of The Contender with the US and Australian series combined. Some judges need to lose their jobs after that one.

 

[ROB SHARK]

caps dont you mean talipeau got beat by oganov?