By Angel "Papo" Mercado
January 5, 2009

After two impressive knockouts and only fighting 2½ rounds thus far, Troy Ross secures his spot in the semi-finals.  Troy will get a first look of some of the things he can work on going into his next bout and prepare himself going back into the gym for his next opponent.

Back at the loft, Ryan Coyne received a visit from Tony and the doctor.  After looking at Ryan’s eye, the doctor found it to be worse and puffed up with puss.  It was getting to the point where it was going to turn into an infection and the doctor recommended Ryan not to continue to fight in the tournament.  The tournament ends here for Ryan, leaving Escalera as the last Blue man standing.  Talk about pressure.

With Ryan out of the tournament and leaving Rico Hoye without a fighter in the 2nd round, Tony gives the Contenders 3 options of fighters to bring back: Joell Godfrey, Mike Alexander and Erick Vega.  Tony left it up to the fighters who to bring back.  Each fighter had their own opinion on who should come back, but over all it was Rico’s choice who he wanted to face in the ring.  Alfredo took a shot at Rico stating his opinion that Rico was going to pick the easier fight, which almost caused the 2 fighters to have a fight of their own.

The team decided to bring Joell Godfrey back into the tournament to square off against Rico Hoye.  Joell Godfrey will have his work cut out for him because back at the gym he came back looking very rusty.  Hopefully he has enough time to shake out the rust before his fight.  Fans, if you had to pick out of the 3 fighters as Rico Hoye’s next opponent, who would you have picked?

Going into the fight, AK’s game plan as he states, “Alfredo is the enemy right now.  To go to the semi-finals, I have to do whatever it takes to get him out the way.  I’m going to be typical AK.  I’m going to be throwing a lot of punches, applying a lot of pressure in every round and chin check him to make sure I send him home packing.”

Alfredo’s game plan as he states, “AK-47 is a slick and crafty fighter, that’s the kind of guy I’m used to fighting.  I’m looking to pose my will and slowly break AK apart.

At the sound of the bell both fighters came out fighting both landing good shots and exchanging combinations, but Alfredo was utilizing his jab more winning him the first and only round.  Alfredo came out strong, but AK forced the action the rest of the way.  Round 2, I scored even with both fighters exchanging non-stop combinations throughout the round.  AK landed more to the body in round 2, which took a toll on Escalera.  Alfredo was already breathing heavy at the end of round 2.  AK walked Alfredo down from rounds 3 thru 5, banking the last 3 rounds wearing Alfredo out.

By the 5th round, Alfredo was exhausted and on his way to being floored.  AK continued to bring countless pressure, throwing endless shots until Alfredo’s only way out was to go down.  AK gets the victory by way of KO and will meet Troy Ross in a semi-final battle.  AK takes out the last man from the Blue, now it’s Gold vs. Gold.  You know I keep hearing fighters say AK-47 is the smallest guy, but AK-47 fights big.  Troy vs. AK-47.  This is a battle I can’t wait to see.  Fans, who do you think wins this bout?  What’s your prediction?