By ROBERT
JONES - Staff Writer
FightNightNews.com
Brewer and Bravo advance, Balletto
very much considering retirement
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After
tonight's episode of "The
Contender," we are now down to four
remaining contestants vying for the
$500,000 prize. Starting off the
show, we saw Cornelius "K9" Bundrage
returning to the house after his
victory over Walter Wright. We also
saw that Bundrage was sporting a
pretty big swelling, covered by a
band-aid, under his right eye. We
will have to see if the swelling
will be a problem for Bundrage when
he fights next week. For tonight,
though, the big story was about
which two fighters would be joining
the others in the final four. |
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Michael
Stewart was shown talking to his
wife in a trainer's room, where he
heard some surprising news.
Apparently Grady Brewer's wife told
Stewart's wife that Brewer was going
to win the whole thing. Stewart was
a little taken back by the comment
and told his wife not to worry,
saying, "I'm going to beat him so he
shuts up." These were pretty strong
words coming from a fighter who
seemed to be one of the more calm
fighters of the bunch.
On camera, Stewart was also saying
he was going to win because Brewer,
who has 11 losses on his
professional record, is "adapt to
losing."
Next we saw "Sugar" Ray Leonard's
beautiful house, so beautiful it
left Steve Forbes asking, "Is this a
hotel?"
No, it wasn't a hotel, but a house
that Leonard said his fists built a
brick at a time. Leonard then said,
with the group peering over from a
deck to his tennis courts, "I'm
proud of each and everyone of you
guys. I'm proud of where you are and
I'm proud of where you are going."
Pretty soon we would find out who'd
be going home and who'd be going on.
A few of the fighters were shown
sitting in the bedroom just shooting
the breeze. Norberto Bravo, who
fought Gary Balletto on tonight's
show, said, "I'm taking advantage of
the situation I'm in now. I'm doing
it for my family." He continued, "If
it wasn't for my family, I probably
wouldn't be doing this at all."
Balletto said the reason he didn't
fight for two years is because "his
wife didn't let him," before
settling down to read a note she
wrote him. The note was so moving to
him that he showed it to Forbes who
said, "That's beautiful, man." Near
the end of the letter Balletto's
wife told him, "I always knew you
were destined for greatness from
when we first met."
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In the dressing room just
before the first fight,
Brewer told us on camera one
of the reasons he thinks he
has so many losses on his
ledger. "I used to work 12
hour shifts at a tire
factory, then I would go and
train. Now that I'm in
shape, I'm ready for
anybody." These words would
ring especially true
tonight.
As Stewart was walking to
the ring we heard him say,
"I feel like the terminator
when I fight. If you are
going to beat me, you're
going to have to absolutely
kill me." |
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Brewer was the aggressor from the
start of the fight, landing jabs and
uppercuts the entire first round.
Brewer was so good in the round that
it prompted his trainer for the
night, Tommy Gallagher, to say, "You
were beautiful," about three times.
Brewer continued his winning ways in
the second round. Jeremy Williams'
attempts to get his fighter to go to
the body were useless. "Another
round for Brady," said season one
champion Sergio Mora to Leonard.
In an attempt to motivate his
fighter Williams reached for a
classic line, "You're blowing it,
son," Angelo Dundee must be proud.
It was no use though, Brewer would
continue the one sided drubbing on
route to a 50-45 victory on every
judges scorecard.
"I proved a lot tonight. I am one
step closer to my dream," said the
victor Brewer.
"I couldn't do it tonight," said
Stewart. "I'm not a quitter though,
I'm only 28 years old and I think I
have a lot of fight left in me."
Balletto was now seen in his
dressing room with his wife, who was
giving him boxing advice, "Try to
control the fight," as his three
children looked on.
Bravo didn't seem too worried about
his opponent for the night saying,
"I think Gary is just going to be
another notch on my belt."
"Get off the ropes," came the cry
from Bravo's wife. She was right,
because while he was there, Balletto
was landing multiple shots off of
his head and body. The remaining
contenders sitting at ringside
seemed to agree that round one
belonged to Balletto.
Bravo would bounce back strong,
though, scoring with a couple of
uppercuts while avoiding most of the
punches coming his way. It was safe
to say it was tied with three rounds
to go.
Prior to round three we saw Bravo's
two teenage sons slapping each other
high fives, one of them saying,
"Hell yeah, baby! We got this!" They
would be right. After a close third
round, Bravo would go on to control
the final two rounds.
At the end of round four, in which
Balletto took a lot of shots, he
told trainer Gallagher that he was
tired and he wasn't sure if he could
go on, but he would. It didn't
matter because Bravo would take
another one sided round to close the
show and to give him the victory by
the scores of 48-47 and 49-46 twice.
Balletto wasn't exactly depressed
with the loss, "I feel bad, but it's
somewhat of a relief. Now I can go
on with my normal life." He
continued with what was beginning to
sound like a retirement speech, "I
didn't like this game anyway, but I
wanted to give it one last shot. I
think I'm satisfied and I don't
think I'll be fighting anymore." |
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