The Contender | The Blog

The Contender | The Blog | Versus

By Angel “Big Papo” Mercado
December 4, 2008

This is it, 16 cruiserweights on the big stage with every fighter given the opportunity to shine. On Wednesday night’s opening of the Contender, Tony Danza welcomes the fighters, explains the rules of the tournament and the doors that this competition can open. Tony Danza had the same dream as a pro fighter that these Contenders have now.

The 16 contenders were broken up into two teams: the Blue led by John Bray and the Gold led by Tommy Brooks. Not only do we have the Blue vs. Gold, but we also have student vs. teacher. At one time, John Bray was being trained by Tommy Brooks. WOW, does it get better than this!?

Yes it does… the first night you can already see the tension between all the fighters. It was especially intense between Erick Vega and Joell Godfrey. This is only the beginning; the bad blood will continue with the rest soon enough.

I’m not going to lie: I wanted to see Vega and Godfrey meet and settle their differences in the ring. Instead the Blue matched up Felix Cora Jr. (18-2-2 9KOs) vs. the Gold's Godfrey (9-0-1 5KOs). Godfrey seemed to control the first round, but then lost control of the rest of the fight. He never looked comfortable with the pressure Cora was applying and couldn’t stay away from the ropes, like Tommy Brooks was telling him to do. Not only was Cora throwing ripping body shots, he also made Godfrey pay as he countered almost every shot thrown by Godfrey from rounds 2-5. Cora got the “W” by a unanimous decision, total domination by bad news Cora!

Cora not only won the fight, but he also won the power of choice for the Blue, which means they get to pick the fighters from both teams in the next bout. Like Tony Danza says, “Power is choice and choice is power.”

The Blue goes into the next fight with the upper hand, a huge advantage. Cora you're one bad dude!

Who will be next to hang up the gloves? Let’s get it on!