The Contender

I watched the premiere episode of “The Contender” on NBC tonight. You know, I actually liked it. I’m not at all a boxing fan, and quite frankly, I don’t quite understand its appeal. To me it just looks like two guys beating the crap out of each other and the one left standing wins. Perhaps this show will enlighten me to the world of boxing, who knows. But with that said, I was curious about this show due to all of the hype surrounding it. As far as reality shows go, this one was pretty good. It follows sixteen middleweight boxers, who are looking for their big break. They all want to be the next Oscar Delahoya. The show really hones in on the individual stories of these boxers, and some of their stories are pretty compelling. There is also a Minnesota connection. A boxer by the name of Anthony is from Shakopee, MN. He’s a single father of two, who works overnight shifts at Kmart, trying to support them. It was interesting to see how driven these guys are about their boxing, while still trying to maintain their lives outside of the ring. The show is definitely packed with punches, but if you’ve seen “Rocky,” and liked it, the fights on this show, I don’t think will bother you. More than the pummeling though is the human-interest side of the show that kind of draws you in. It should be interesting to see how the Minnesota guy fairs amongst these other boxers. It's too early to say whether or not I'll be Tivoing future episodes, oh that's right, we don't have Tivo, hmm, problem solved, but after tonight’s episode, it’s definately worth another viewing.