The beginning of the program had Sugar Ray Leonard, Buddy McGirt, and Pepe Correa paying tribute, as it were, to those that had fallen as The Contender marched along to its finale. Brian Vera, Max Alexander, Miguel Hernandez, Donny McCrary, David Banks, Paul Smith, and Wayne Johnson were all mentioned. There was positive feedback about all the fighters. Smith got a special compliment from Correa, as Pepe said he feels that Paul will be a World Champion.

As the eight-round contest began, Bika showed that he was not the same person that Soliman faced those five years ago. He is a stronger, wiser fighter. The first few rounds saw Sakio display patience and skill that reinforced his maturity. In the second round he landed a hard uppercut that definitely found its mark. Soliman pressed the issue in the third, but Sakio came back strong in the fourth.

The sixth round was, for me, Soliman’s strongest round. He caught Bika with a hard right hand that sent him across the ring and into the ropes. He continued his attack throughout this round.

In the eighth, both men were firing shots. It was apparent that each of the two men wanted this, but who wanted it more? Judge Max DeLuca had the fight 78-77, Soliman. Judges Jack Reiss and Pat Russell both had the fight 78-74, Bika. Sakio more than evened the score with Soliman in a big way, and moves on the finale.

Following his loss to Bika, Soliman said, “There is no shame to lose to a great champion like Bika.”

When I caught up with Sam, he had just finished sparring in preparation for his bronze medal fight against Johnson. “The dream shot at being the bronze medallist, and continue what Alfonso’s (Gomez) started,” as he put it.

I mentioned that he and Johnson knew each other very well, and wondered how he felt about that. “We do know each other well,” he agreed. “He’s a gentleman outside the ring and all business inside the ring, but once the fight’s over he can come to my house for a barbeque anytime. We can chat about the fight, whoever’s victorious. May the best man win.

“We’re going to go at it a hundred miles an hour and the winner’s going to get the bucks. Neither of us are going to pull any punches, that’s for sure. It’s a win-win situation either way. I know that after the fight we’ll be good mates.”

He told me that his Contender experience was “priceless. Put it this way; out of 100% of boxers around the world, 100% of them would want to be there. In saying that, I thank the Lord Jesus Christ for one, giving us the strength, and two, giving us the opportunity. We appreciate it by giving our best inside the ring, going toe to toe and thank all the fans that pay money and come to watch this fight, and go out of their way to watch this fight and support it.”

Sam reminded me that Johnson is very fit. It was Wayne who won the SPARQ test. “We had to do all those crazy training drills,” he remembered. “With Wayne winning, I expect a very rugged Wayne Johnson getting into the ring.”

Soliman is actually a middleweight, but is fighting – obviously – as a super middleweight for the sake of this competition. After his fight with Johnson he will go down to his natural weight and fight again as a middleweight. “If you fight out of your weight you’re giving away an advantage. No matter how good a boxer you are, you always give away an advantage.”

There were a couple of things I wanted to ask him specifically. One was about his experience of being a kick boxer. I wondered if, when he was starting out, it was hard for him to not use his feet. “Actually it was the opposite,” he explained. “Instead of two hands, two arms, two legs and two feet coming at me, it was just two hands. My amateur experience as a boxer really helped with that, also. If I hadn’t been an amateur boxer it would have been hard. I boxed as an amateur while I was kick boxing.” He believes that it is very important to go through the amateur ranks of boxing for the sake of learning before turning professional.

The other thing I wanted to know was, what about those ice baths?!? “Did you try it, do you like it?” was his question to me. After assuring him I did NOT try it, he continued. “The soreness you get after a fight is from the lactic acid buildup. For example, if you get a bruise and put ice on it, you bring that swelling down. Well, torn muscle tissue that you get from the hard work you do in a fight, or in a crazy pushup or sit-up routine, or a squat routine – that lactic acid buildup from the torn muscles you have in your body – if you don’t ice bath it just takes an additional four or five days longer before you can get back in a training day. Why have that? Why not heal up straight away, go back to work. We don’t do this because we’re forced to; we do it because we love it.”

Finally, I wanted to know his thoughts on the main event of the evening. How did he feel about the match-up between Bika and Jaidon Codrington? He does think they are well matched. “Bika has the experience, since he has fought (Joe) Calzaghe and (Lucian) Bute. He has had some big championship fights and has gone 12 rounds. He’ll get no shell shock walking to the ring.

“Jaidon Codrington, he’s just a walking piece of skill. He can box, he can brawl, he can punch, he can evade; he’s just a package. Whoever schooled him in the gym, schooled him well. He’s a perfect package.”

So Sam Soliman will go against Wayne Johnson for the bronze medal match, and Sakio Bika will face Jaidon Codrington for the $750,000 that the winner will take home. This fight will take place next Tuesday night at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. As has been all season, the fight will be on ESPN. Check your local listings for the time of this telecast. Better yet, if you are in the Boston area, catch the fight live! Tickets are still available.

I wish all of the men the very best of luck in their fights!

Be safe and God Bless,

Viva La Raza,

Barb.