''The Contender 2'' is a

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

show based on the sport of

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

, but with an element of the (

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

) competitor's lives and relationships with each other within the show's living quarters, based in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

. Filmed in January and February 2006, the show began airing on July 18, 2006. The winner of ''The Contender Season 2'' was decided in a bout at the

Staples Center Crypto.com Arena (originally and colloquially known as Staples Center) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in downtown Los Angeles. Opened on October 17, 1999, as Staples Center, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along F ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, broadcast live on September 26, 2006, winning a purse of

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

500,000. The Contender 2 was shown on

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

in the US, in the UK on

ITV4 ITV4 is a British free-to-air television channel which first aired on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV plc. The channel focuses primarily on general entertainment programming targeting a male audience, including action series and films, ...

, in Canada on TSN, in Australia on FOX8, in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

on TV2, and on

AXN AXN is a pay television channel brand by Sony Pictures Television, which was first launched in September 1997 in Asia. Local versions have since been launched in several parts of the world, including Europe, Asia, and Latin America, with some ne ...

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

. The show took the format of a gameshow, with the boxers divided into two teams (blue and gold) in a "playground pick" on the first episode. These teams competed for the right to choose which of their team members fights that week, and who he fights against. The second half of the hour long episodes are mostly taken up with that fight: the loser is eliminated. The program was hosted by

Sugar Ray Leonard Ray Charles Leonard (born May 17, 1956), best known as Sugar Ray Leonard, is an American former professional boxer. Often regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, he competed professionally between 1977 and 1997, winning quintuple c ...

, former champion boxer.

Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Gardenzio "Sly" Stallone (; born July 6, 1946) is an American actor and filmmaker. In a Sylvester Stallone filmography, film career spanning more than fifty years, Stallone has received List of awards and nominations received by Syl ...

, who famously portrayed the boxer ''Rocky Balboa'' in the

Rocky ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American independent film, independent sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the Rocky (film series), ''Rocky'' franchise and also star ...

series of films, is the show's executive producer. It was also produced by

Mark Burnett James Mark Burnett (born 17 July 1960) is a British television producer who has won thirteen Emmy Awards including ten Primetime, one Sports Emmy Award and two Daytime Emmy Awards. His other accolades include five Producers Guild of America A ...

. Unlike in season 1, Stallone does not appear on camera; at the time the series was taped, he was making ''

Rocky Balboa Robert "Rocky" Balboa (also known by his ring name the Italian Stallion) is a fictional character and the titular protagonist of the ''Rocky'' franchise. The character was created by Sylvester Stallone, who has also portrayed him in eight of ...

'', the sixth installment in the ''

'' movie series. The movie premiered in December 2006.

Contestants

Episode guide

Episode numbers refer to the progression of matches in the tourney. Episodes one and two aired together at full length, while seven and eight, eleven and twelve, and thirteen and fourteen were one-hour "doubleheaders" featuring two bouts.

Tournament Tracker

While ''The Contender: Season 2'' is a reality TV show, it does contain a serious competition with a proper format - a 16-man

knockout tournament A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

Preliminary round

:''1. Cornelius'' (B) beat ''Michael C'' (G) by majority decision. :''2. Norberto'' (B) beat ''Rudy'' (G) by split decision. :''3. Gary'' (G) beat ''Aaron'' (B) by split decision. :''4. Walter'' (G) beat ''Andre'' (B) by unanimous decision. :''5. Grady'' (B) beat ''Vinroy'' (G) by unanimous decision. :''6. Michael S'' (B) beat ''Ebo'' (G) by KO. :''7. Nick'' (B) beat ''Jeff'' (G) by unanimous decision. :''8. Steve'' (G) beat ''Freddy'' (B) by unanimous decision.

Quarterfinals

Quarterfinal bouts are determined by the individual winner of each preliminary bout. The winner can choose which episode they will box in, and may choose their own opponent. :''9. Steve'' beat ''Nick'' by split decision. :''10. Cornelius'' beat ''Walter'' by unanimous decision. :''11. Grady'' beat ''Michael'' by unanimous decision. :''12. Norberto'' beat ''Gary'' by unanimous decision.

Semifinals

Semifinal bouts are determined by the individual winner of each quarterfinal bout. The winner can choose which episode they will box in, and may choose their own opponent. :''13. Steve'' beat ''Cornelius'' by unanimous decision. :''14. Grady'' beat ''Norberto'' by majority decision.

Finals

:''15. Grady'' beat ''Steve'' by split decision to win the contender title. Grady got ahead early with body shots. Steve then beat him inside in the 4th and 5th. There was slow fighting until the end of the bout, but Grady landed more punches in the final 5 rounds. Grady won in a split decision. The scores were: David Mendoza 93–97, Max DeLuca 96–94 and José Cobián 94–96. For third place, Cornelius beat Norberto by TKO in the 7th round of 8. Cornelius knocked Norberto down in the 2nd, and was eventually penalized a point for shoving, but overall the match was one-sided, as Cornelius simply jabbed and set up straight rights to win. As undercard bouts on the final, Walter beat Vinroy by TKO in the 4th of 6, Freddy beat Aaron by unanimous decision in 6, and Nick beat Nurhan Suleymanoglu by unanimous decision in 6.

Storm Large Storm Large (born Susan Storm Large, June 25, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and author. She attracted national attention as a contestant on the CBS reality television show '' Rock Star: Supernova''. A resident of Portland, Ore ...

, who was a contestant on Burnett's '' Rock Star: Supernova'', sang "

The Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written by American lawyer Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814, after he witnessed the bombardment of Fort ...

" prior to the card. ''(Numbers refer to the episode in which the fight took place.)''

Weekly results

: Cornflower blue and WIN means the boxer won the match. : Red and LOSE means the boxer lost the match.

Guest appearances

A number of professional athletes appeared on the show, offering advice to the contestants, including: * Peter Manfredo Jr. * Sergio Mora * Alfonso Gomez * "Sugar" Shane Mosley *

Willie McGinest William Lee McGinest Jr. (born December 11, 1971) is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker for 15 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily with the New England Patriots. He played college footbal ...