This week was the first time we saw competition in the Contender arena. There were also some changes already in the works, and I want to start with those. First, Henry Buchanan of the Gold team was out of the tournament before he even began due to “personal issues”. Miguel Hernandez was the fighter invited back to replace Buchanan.
Secondly, Oscar de la Hoya made an appearance with boxers Francisco Bajado and Kassim Ouma in tow. Bajado was to face Steve Forbes and Ouma was to go toe to toe with first season winner Sergio Mora. Sugar Ray Leonard and de la Hoya arranged a little bet pitting Leonard’s Contender boys against Bajado and Ouma. The loser would have to be ‘ring girl’ for one round.
That would have been fun to see, and was a great way to promote the fight, which was to take place this Saturday in Las Vegas, Nevada. Notice that I put everything in the past tense here, because unfortunately one of the fighters in the main event, Juan Manuel Marquez, injured his hand and then developed an infection. That fight has been moved, as of now, to November 3rd.
As for Forbes and Mora, Steve’s fight is now scheduled for October 6th, and Sergio’s next fight is still up in the air. What bad luck for all of those athletes involved.
OK, back to Contender action, and things heated up early between Jaidon Codrington and Brian Vera. They had faced each other earlier in their careers when both were fighting in the amateur ranks. Codrington was victorious that time, and the bad blood started up again when Codrington got in the face of Vera. When the time came to choose fighters, it was probably no surprise that this was the pair to kick things off.
Vera came out fast in the first round, looking a little too excited perhaps, but definitely ready to score. Codrington bided his time and was making quite a bit of headway when the bell rang to end the first round. In round two it appeared that Vera was making the same mistake by hurrying, and he paid dearly for that. One minute and 32 seconds into round two the fight was stopped. Jaidon had proved to be steadier and faster in the end, and scored with a lot of punches that seemed to hurt Brian.
Vera himself said, “I beat myself.” This was the first loss of his professional career, and I was hoping to find out more about that comment, along with answers to other questions that I had. Unfortunately, I was not able to catch up with Brian to get his responses. I hope to speak with him at a later date.
As with last year, the winning team has the power to choose the next fight, so Buddy McGirt’s men get to make that pick for next week. Unlike last season though, there is a performance ranking for these round one fights. Knockout victories or dominance will rank higher than a split decision, for example. The top four fighters will move on to the semi-finals. With his second round stoppage, Codrington is in an excellent spot on the board.
Who will the Gold team pick to follow Codrington? It is too soon for me to get a feel of the boxers in the house, so I’ll just sit back and enjoy watching how the strategy plays out. It gets harder for me later when I do have my favorites, and really get into things.
Best of luck to all of those men left in the tournament.
Be safe and God Bless,
Viva La Raza,
Barb.
