It's Back, Baby!

The Contender is back! Prime time, baby! WOO HOO!! Unfortunately for Chrissy, the two-hour premiere started at 10:00, so she didn't make it to the second fight. She's just not a night owl. First fight shocked me. From everything that everyone had seen to that point, I don't think anyone expected "K-9" Bundrage to beat Michael Clark. He just seemed too awkward and raw during sparring. Clark seemed to be the experienced one with the skills. Unfortunately for him, though, K-9 was too strong and he kept Clark away with the long jab. He used it effectively to keep Clark from getting close enough to hurt him. Kept him from putting together combinations. The second fight, Norberto Bravo (35 years old!) beat Rudy Cisneros by split decision. I was surprised it wasn't unanimous. Not shocked, but surprised. Both fighters scored pretty much non-stop for 5 rounds, but Bravo was just the more skilled fighter. Cisneros looked good, though. Nothing to be ashamed of. A few interesting changes from last season. No challenges on the first episode. Pretty much introduced the fighters, let them choose teams, and let them pick their first fighter without knowing what the other side would do. The team that won the first fight chose the second fight. The winning boxer also got to choose his place for the next fight. They had a big ol' board on the wall with a playoff-style bracket showing the matchups through the final round. The trick is that K-9 got to choose his spot in Round 2 (1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th fight), but no one knows yet who his opponent will be. Interesting. Can't wait for next week!