The Contender Challenge: UK vs. USA was a series of boxing

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 matches on March 30, 2007, held at Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle

Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, featuring 6 boxers from the US reality television

Reality television

Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...

 shows The Contender

The Contender (TV series)

The Contender is a reality television series that follows a group of boxers as they compete with one another in an elimination-style competition, while their lives and relationships with each other and their families are depicted. Produced by Mark Burnett, the show is hosted by Sugar Ray Leonard,...

and The Contender 2

The Contender 2

The Contender 2 is a reality television show based on the sport of boxing, but with an element of the competitor's lives and relationships with each other within the show's living quarters, based in Pasadena, California. Filmed in January and February 2006, the show began airing on July 18, 2006...

. The Contenders, in a team coached by Sugar Ray Leonard

Sugar Ray Leonard

Sugar Ray Leonard is an American retired professional boxer and occasional actor. He was named Ray Charles Leonard, after his mother's favorite singer, Ray Charles...

, took on 6 boxers from the UK, all promoted by Frank Warren

Frank Warren (promoter)

Frank Darren Warren is an English boxing manager and promoter.-Early life and early career:The son of a bookmaker, Warren trained as a solicitor's clerk with J Tickle & Co on Southampton Row in London....

, and coached by Barry McGuigan

Barry McGuigan

Finbarr Patrick McGuigan MBE , known as Barry McGuigan and nicknamed The Clones Cyclone, is a former Irish and British professional boxer who became a world featherweight champion.-Background:...

. The winning team was awarded the "Sugar Ray Leonard Cup," not unlike the Ryder Cup

Ryder Cup

The Ryder Cup is a biennial golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is jointly administered by the PGA of America and the PGA European Tour, and is contested every two years, the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe...

 in Golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

The bouts was the basis of a TV show broadcast in the US by ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

, and by ITV4

ITV4

ITV4 is a British television station which was launched on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc, and is part of the ITV network. The channel has a male-oriented line-up, including sport, cop shows and US comedies and dramas, as well as classic ITV action...

 in the UK, featuring 6 episodes, beginning on April 10, 2007, with commentary by the well-known ESPN team of Joe Tessitore

Joe Tessitore

Joe Tessitore is a national sports TV broadcaster.-Recent work:Joe Tessitore is a well known football, horse racing and boxing TV broadcaster. In 2011 Tessitore also was named executive producer of the new ESPN Film Roll Tide, War Eagle set to premiere in November. Among his primary assignments...

 and Teddy Atlas

Teddy Atlas

Theodore A. "Teddy" Atlas, Jr. is a well-known boxing trainer and fight commentator.-Personal life:...

, with British boxing commentator John Rawling

John Rawling

John Rawling is a Boxing and Athletics commentator. Currently commentating for boxing on Sky Television and BoxNation, he was the lead commentator for Channel 4 in their coverage of the 2011 IAAF World Championship in Korea. He is also lead commentator on yachting for the Americas Cup World Series...

 joining. Sugar Ray and Barry provided some analysis through the fight as well.

Format

Points were awarded to each team as follows:

Win	1 poin
Draw	1/2 point
Tiebreaker	Total KO count

In the event of a tie, the total number of knockout

Knockout

A knockout is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, Karate and others sports involving striking...

s by each team would have determined the winner.

The bouts were scored in the American style, with 3 ringside judges and a non-scoring referee—British non-title bouts are scored solely by the referee.

The referees and judges were a mix of both nationalities.

Matchups

The matchups, all scheduled for 8 rounds with weights ranging from welterweight

Welterweight

Welterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...

 to light heavyweight

Light heavyweight

In boxing, the light heavyweight is a weight division above 168 pounds [12 Stone or 76.204 kilograms] and up to 175 pounds [12.5 stone or 79.38 kilograms]), falling between super middleweight and cruiserweight...

, were:

US	vs.	UK
Walter Wright Walter Wright (boxer) Walter Wright is an American professional boxer.As an amateur, Wright amassed a 90-12 record, which led to high expectations for him as a professional. He opened his pro career by losing in his boxing debut to Matt O'Brien by knockout, despite leading on all three cards...		Anthony Small Anthony Small Anthony Small is a professional boxer who has held both he British and Commonwealth belts at light middleweight. He goes by the alias 'Sugar Ray Clay Jones Jr.' , in homage to Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Cassius Clay, and Roy Jones Jr. Small converted to Islam at the age of 24 and is...
Freddy Curiel Freddy Curiel Freddy Curiel is a professional boxer. He was a contestant on the ESPN reality show, Contender Season 2.Curiel began boxing as an amateur at age 14, and quickly turned professional at age 17...		Ross Minter Ross Minter Ross Minter is a professional boxer.Ross Minter is the son of Alan Minter, the former World Middleweight Champion....
Alfonso Gomez Alfonso Gomez Alfonso Salvador Gómez Becerra is a Mexican professional boxer. He was a competitor on the reality TV show The Contender, where he ended up ranked third out of sixteen fighters.-Personal life:...		Martin Concepcion Martin Concepcion Martin Concepcion is a professional boxer.Concepcion began boxing professionally on 6 December 2003, with his first bout being won by knockout, a theme that would be repeated 6 more times until 3 December 2004, when he won his first bout by decision. He racked up another KO before two more points...
Jerson Ravelo Jerson Ravelo Jerson Ravelo is a boxer from the Dominican Republic, who represented his native country at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney in the Men's 75 kg Division.-Personal:...		Paul Buchanan Paul Buchanan Paul Buchanan is a professional boxer, fighting out of West Denton. He turned pro on 31 January 2001....
Jesse Brinkley Jesse Brinkley Jesse Lee Brinkley is a professional super middleweight American boxer. He holds the WBC USNBC Super Middleweight Title as of February 22, 2008.-Personal life:...		Robin Reid
Cornelius Bundrage Cornelius Bundrage Cornelius Bundrage, , is a professional boxer and current IBF Junior Middleweight Champion. He is a former UBA Light Middleweight champion and was member of the ESPN reality show, The Contender.-Pro career:...		Colin McNeil Colin McNeil Colin McNeil is a professional boxer.McNeil began boxing professionally late in his life, debuting in 2004 at the age of 32. In his career, he has lost only once , but has faced and beaten some tough competition. Currently, he is scheduled to box in The Contender Challenge: UK vs...

Results

The matchup wound up a 4-2 US victory, with Curiel, Bundrage, Gomez, and Ravelo winning for the US, and Small and Reid winning for the UK.

EPISODE	Original US Air Date	About the Episode	Winner
1	4/10/07	Walter Wright was introduced to the crowd, and won some home-town appeal by wearing a Newcastle United jersey. Anthony Small walked to the ring wearing a Scream mask, carrying a riding crop that he called his "Yank spanker" in the interview. The fight was mainly consistent for the first 7 rounds; Small fought a very unorthodox style, with his hands very far down, often by his knees, and used extreme bobbing and weaving. Small would remain outside Wright's range, then jump in to score a quick, jabbing blow or two, weave to avoid counterpunches, then jump back out. Teddy Atlas, at ringside for ESPN, scored Small as having won 5 of the first 7 rounds, losing only round 2 (where Wright timed him coming in to score before Small could punch), and tying round 7. In round 8, Wright found his rhythm, and opened a cut to Small's mouth, even apparently stunning him, but Wright was unable to score the knockout, and Small won by split decision. Atlas, along with ringside commentators Joe Tessitore and John Rawling, noted the difficulty of scoring the fight, as Small's unusual style made him appear to be lacking aggression, which many judges look for.	UK
2	4/17/07	Freddy Curiel entered the ring with a 16-6-2 record and period of inactivity (he retired in 2002 and returned to the ring in 2006 for the Contender boxing reality show and had only one fight since losing in the first round of the show). Curiel's opponent was the younger and more recently active Ross "The Boss" Minter (son of former middleweight champ Alan Minter Alan Minter Alan Minter is a former middleweight world champion boxer.-Amateur career:Minter was the 1971 ABA Middleweight Champion. He won the bronze medal at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games... ) with a record of 17-1-1. Minter also had his challenges with layoffs—although he had recently fought in 2007, he had only one fight in 2006 due to injuries. Minter, a popular boxer in the UK with a reputation as a considerate and polite competitor, dominated the early rounds of the fight. Minter was the bigger fighter and was in excellent condition which quickly showed with his power shots and gritty in-fighting. Unfortunately for Minter he continued to be plagued by the cuts which had been seen in his previous fights. Minter was also able to open a cut on Curiel although it was disputed as being caused by a headbutt Headbutt A headbutt is a strike with the head, typically involving the use of robust parts of the cranium as areas of impact. Effective headbutting revolves around striking a sensitive area with a less sensitive area, such as striking the nose of an opponent with the forehead... . While Minter was strong up to the seventh round of the eight round bout, Curiel's experience started to show and he began to land more authoritatively. In the eighth round Curiel's corner told him he had to score a KO pie win, although Teddy Atlas had the fight 67-66 for Minter—a close fight. Both fighters started the round with hard punches and Curiel's right eye started to swell dramatically. In the last minute of the round Curiel countered a wide right thrown by Minter with a laser straight hard right which dropped Minter to the canvas. Minter was out and Curiel pulled out a dramatic victory from what appeared to be a certain points loss. Curiel demonstrated considerable sportsmanship by walking Minter around the ring with his hand raised and encouraged the fans to applaud their local fighter.	US
3	4/24/07	Alfonso Gomez Alfonso Gomez Alfonso Salvador Gómez Becerra is a Mexican professional boxer. He was a competitor on the reality TV show The Contender, where he ended up ranked third out of sixteen fighters.-Personal life:...  fought Martin Concepcion Martin Concepcion Martin Concepcion is a professional boxer.Concepcion began boxing professionally on 6 December 2003, with his first bout being won by knockout, a theme that would be repeated 6 more times until 3 December 2004, when he won his first bout by decision. He racked up another KO before two more points...  in the third match of the Challenge, getting a surprisingly friendly reception from the British crowd on his entrance due to his fan-friendly persona and style. He dominated the hard-punching Concepcion for the most part, with a combination of outboxing and infighting, dropping Concepcion in Round 3 with a double left hook to the body and head, then in the 7th Round finishing the courageous Concepcion with an uppercut that caused Concepcion to turn his back on Gomez in pain, necessitating a referee stoppage.	US
4	5/01/07	Jerson Ravelo Jerson Ravelo Jerson Ravelo is a boxer from the Dominican Republic, who represented his native country at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney in the Men's 75 kg Division.-Personal:...  fought Paul Buchanan Paul Buchanan Paul Buchanan is a professional boxer, fighting out of West Denton. He turned pro on 31 January 2001....  in the fourth match of the Challenge. In a mostly tactical affair, Ravelo outboxed Buchanan and won via a wide unanimous decision.	US
5	5/08/07	Jesse Brinkley Jesse Brinkley Jesse Lee Brinkley is a professional super middleweight American boxer. He holds the WBC USNBC Super Middleweight Title as of February 22, 2008.-Personal life:...  fought former Super Middleweight champion Robin Reid in the fifth match of the Challenge. In a somewhat sloppy affair, Reid outworked Brinkley(in a slow fight) for the majority of the eight rounds, winning via unanimous decision.	UK
6	5/15/07	Cornelius Bundrage Cornelius Bundrage Cornelius Bundrage, , is a professional boxer and current IBF Junior Middleweight Champion. He is a former UBA Light Middleweight champion and was member of the ESPN reality show, The Contender.-Pro career:...  fought Colin McNeil Colin McNeil Colin McNeil is a professional boxer.McNeil began boxing professionally late in his life, debuting in 2004 at the age of 32. In his career, he has lost only once , but has faced and beaten some tough competition. Currently, he is scheduled to box in The Contender Challenge: UK vs...  in the last match of the Challenge. "K-9" Bundrage proved to be too physically strong for McNeil throughout, winning most of the rounds of a somewhat ugly fight, and eventually stopped him with a body shot in the 7th Round.	US

There were also two fights not included in the official scoring on the card, Paul Smith

Paul Smith

Paul Smith may refer to:In music:*Paul Smith , British record label manager and art event producer*Paul Smith , prominent composer of American film music*Paul Smith , Los Angeles jazz pianist...

(UK) vs Jonathan Reid

Jonathan Reid

Jonathan Douglass Reid is a professional boxer. He is a single parent and has five children.He was a contestant on reality TV show The Contender. On the show, he was placed on the East Coast team, fighting Jesse Brinkley in the second first round fight...

(USA) and Nigel Wright(UK) vs Jonathan Nelson(USA). Smith beat Reid by a controversial stoppage in the 7th round, as Smith was winning the fight and seemed to have Reid hurt from a body shot earlier, but clearly pushed Reid to the canvas in the 7th round. The referee ruled the push correctly, but judged that Reid could not continue after he got up when Reid seemingly could still defend himself. Nigel Wright also stopped the outmatched Jonathan Nelson, who was a late sub, in the 2nd round of their fight on cuts. Neither of these matches counted towards the scoring of the challenge because ITV4 had issues with airtime, so only six fights of the Challenge could be aired on TV.

Controversy

The tourney got off to a late start, which ITV representatives said was due to ESPN micromanaging the matchups in order to guarantee a US victory, explaining how non-Contender fighter Jerson Ravelo fought in a bout for the cup. The last three bouts were heckled

Heckler

A heckler is a person who harass and try to disconcert others with questions, challenges, or gibes.Hecklers are often known to shout disparaging comments at a performance or event, or interrupts set-piece speeches, for example at a political meeting, with intent to disturb its performers or...

 by the crowd, with the last fight beginning at 2 AM, and members of Team US jeering along with the ticketholders. Additionally, one apparently drunken fan verbally threatened the cornermen for Team US just before the main event, drawing the ire of the entire Minter family, who were apparently seated nearby. When the fan threw a keychain at the US corner, security ejected him, drawing cheers from the crowd.

External links

• Official Website
• Boxing at ESPN
  ESPN
  Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
  
  .com
• Boxrec listing of the card