By John Wayne Parr
December 11, 2008

At the start of episode two we see Felix getting his hand raised against his opponent Joell.  In his interview, you can see he is truly humbled and honored by the experience of getting his first win in the house. His house and home town had been ripped apart by Hurricane Ike and he has nothing to go home to. So, the Contender loft has become his new home and he has to keep winning if he wants to stay there. He receives the first necklace, a symbol of making it to the next round and a token he will treasure forever as a reminder of how he won it.

 

The Gold team now realizes this isn’t a game. They are now at the mercy of the Blue team, and they are sitting ducks with no choice in the decision with who will fight next; everyone has to be ready at all times. Even though the Blue team now has the power, they have their own problems because picking who will be next draws tension. Everyone is ready to punch, but who will get the easy opponents and who will get stuck with the harder fights with a possibility of going home??

 

Mike Alexander caused a bit of a ruckus in the Gold team's room.  Without any conscience, he walked straight past everyone and stole Joell’s mattress. The beds in the loft are not the most comfortable; in a dog-eat-dog world you got to look after yourself. Mike will be sleeping well over everyone else for the rest of his stay. (Good work Mike. Smart move that no one else thought of. Who’s laughing now, ha ha).

 

Tommy Brooks goes into the Gold team to give his boys a pep talk. He had all the right advice to help Joell to victory, but if a fighter doesn’t want to listen, then he is wasting his time. He is the eyes for the fighters in between rounds and sees things they can’t. All he asks is for his fighters to trust him and listen to what he has to say.

 

The boys have a training session and once again it’s a great time to spy on each other for weakness and strengths on who will choose who. A lot of the boys notice Jon Schneider (Gold team).  He is one of the smaller men in the loft and one of the least experienced, making him a target as an easier opponent to pick off. Alfredo Escalera Jr. shows the blue team what he is made of in his sparring session showing good skills giving his sparring partner a hard time and his team believes he is ready. Ryan Coyne wasn’t so lucky in his sparring, after one round, John Bray told him to take advantage of being a southpaw keeping his foot on the out side and use his range. Next round though, he goes back to his old mistakes and because of this ends up getting caught with a punch that splits his eye. He makes a trip to the doctor’s and comes back with 5 stitches; this is terrible news for any fighter.  Now he has to be careful he isn’t picked next, otherwise it could be an early night for him. Flying back to America because of a cut would be devastating.

 

In the bracket room Felix was given his name card and was told to put it on the board anywhere he wants to fight in the next round. He chooses the first place showing everyone in the room he is ready to go. Who will be the fighter that wants to take him on next?? It will be exciting to see what happens once all the fighters get their first fight out of the way.

 

Tony Danza calls out the teams and asks the Blue team to announce who is going to fight. Alfredo Escalera Jr. (16-1) steps forward and with the power to choose, confidently chooses Jon Schneider (7-2-1).

 

Both fighters are in the back room preparing for their fights, going over their game plans.  Alfredo knows he has the better skills and must circle to his left staying away from Jon’s power and look for the upper cuts on his smaller opponent.  Jon’s plan is to use his power to break down Alfredo’s defences. He will bust up his arms and shoulders so he drops his hands which will expose his chin.

 

Opening Round: Both fighters are circling around throwing out some feelers to see what the other fighter has. Jon has a very wide, open southpaw guard while Alfredo is tight and compact. Alfredo shoots out a sneaky straight right landing flush on Jon’s jaw putting his back onto his heels; he looks rocked and is now aware of Alfredo’s power. Now Alfredo knows he has the upper hand and nice and relaxed starts picking Jon off. Setting up his punches Alfredo lands a beautiful upper cut snapping Jon’s head back again but not enough to put him down. With 30 seconds to go Jon lets go with a barrage of punches and starts to land some good shots flush on Alfredo’s face. It’s good work from the smaller man but not enough to win the round.

 

Round 2: Jon starts the round aggressive knowing he has to let his hands go if he wants to be in this fight, only problem though is this leaves him wide open for Alfredo’s counter punches. Alfredo is landing some very nice punches and giving Jon a hard time, Jon is very though and keeps coming back for more. Once again as the round almost comes to an end, Jon once again, starts to find his range and pushes Alfredo back against the ropes. Its good work by the smaller man but still not enough to get the points on the cards.

 

Round 3: Both fighters are starting to look tired and the punches are not as crisp or as powerful with lots of holding. Middle of the round, after coming out of a clinch, Alfredo switches to southpaw and fires out three right hooks in a row with the last one landing flush on Jon’s jaw putting him down for an eight count. Jon was rocked and tries to hold on for the rest of the round.

 

Round 4: Jon is really down on points and really needs something special if he wants to be in this fight. Alfredo is getting tired and lazy and holes are starting to open up in his defence, Jon finds his second wind and lets go with some good combinations scoring some much needed points and taking the round on the cards.

 

Round 5: Still down three rounds to one; the only way Jon is going to win is by way of a knock out, but Alfredo is too clever landing the more devastating blows, one of Jon’s eyes is almost swollen shut and now the other eye is cut with blood streaming down his face. It was not the most technical round but another one in the bag for Alfredo. The final bell sounds and the fight is over.

 

The scores cards are in with all three judges leaning towards the blue corner: 49-45, 50-44, 49-45.

 

Jon is sad he lost the fight but is happy he left it all in the ring. As a fighter that is all you can do, give 100% of your skills and energy so there is no questions asked. If you get beaten by the better boxer, then you go back and fix your mistakes in the gym and make sure it doesn’t happen again.