| From MOP Squad Sports Boxing
Once someone has chatted with a celebrity or an athlete and watched them work in person they tend to feel as if they know that individual, or at least have a little vested interest in what they do. It gives one somebody to root for. That is how I felt about the man who was to fight the fifth fight in the Contender Challenge, Jesse Brinkley. As planned, my DVR got the show and I was really looking forward to watching his fight against Robin Reid. Imagine my horror – well, maybe that is too strong a word – when I realized that this program had been erased to make room for some others, never to be found again.
Brinkley lost this fight in a unanimous decision, and he was not happy about it. Obviously I cannot voice an opinion. Jesse lost, and the USA is still ahead in the team competition, 3-2. I’m disappointed, so let’s just move on to fight six.
With regard to who would win the first Sugar Ray Leonard Cup, this fight was immaterial. With the US in the lead by one, a knockout win by the Brits would tie it up 3-3. Knockouts were the tiebreaker however, and Leonard’s team already had two of those. There was no way that Great Britain could pull this out.
As far as a fight goes though, this one had a lot to offer. Cornelius “K-9” Bundrage would go against Scotland’s Colin McNeil. Bundrage could put another notch in his belt with a victory against the southpaw, and McNeil would move way up the ladder if he were able to conquer K-9.
Physically, Bundrage looked absolutely super. I don’t think that he was in this kind of shape during The Contender – he looked great! Certainly McNeil looked good as well. These athletes have to be fit, to be sure. But K-9, well, I’ll just leave it there.
The first three rounds were nothing special. Bundrage was measuring his opponent with his left hand to land the right. Teddy Atlas pointed out that the right hand was a favorite and effective punch against a southpaw, and that just happens to be Cornelius’ best punch.
Things picked up in round four when K-9 delivered that right hand to the head of McNeil, sending him to the canvass. A huge body shot by Bundrage in the sixth brought Colin down again. You could almost feel the physical and mental breakdown that McNeil was suffering, and with only 40 seconds into round seven another body shot brought a stop to the fight.
That put a huge cap on the competition. The USA was victorious, four to two, with three TKO’s added on for good measure. The results of the fights are as follows:
Anthony Small (GB) defeated Walter Wright (USA) – points.
Freddie Curiel (USA) defeated Ross Minter (GB) – eighth round TKO.
Alfonso Gomez (USA) defeated Martin Concepcion (GB) – seventh round TKO.
Jerson Ravelo (USA) defeated Paul Buchanan (GB) – points.
Robin Reid (GB) defeated Jesse Brinkley (USA) – points.
Cornelius Bundrage (USA) defeated Colin McNeil (GB) – seventh round TKO.
Congratulation to all of the Contender competitors who participated in this first Contender Challenge. It was said that the Contender boys were a credit to the sport of boxing, so kudos to them also for being class acts.
Be safe and God Bless,
Viva La Raza,
Barb. |