The Contender, Episode 11: Heart and Soul

Attention Contender fans: tickets are still available for the “Battle for the Bronze” match live at Caesar’s palace on the evening of the finale. The million dollar match is sold out. For ticket information, visit the official Contender site.

Last episode:

• Joey threw the Choice Challenge, allowing Peter to win a truck, as well as the power of choice.
• During the challenge, Anthony hurt his hamstring.
• Peter matched Ahmed Khaddour against Alfonso Gomez
• The winner ... Alfonso Gomez!

“I almost died in that ring,” Alfonso tells us as we see him celebrating his victory over Ahmed. Although he won handily, his face still shows all the marks of Ahmed’s powerful punch.

In the loft, Sergio refers to his friend Alfonso as “ the little Mexican engine that could.” Jesse tells us that with only two fights left this round, the plan is that he will fight Anthony, and Peter will fight Joey. Do they not remember what happened in the final fights of the first round? Peter trusts Jesse and Joey, but is concerned about Anthony. As far as Joey is concerned, it is a foregone conclusion that he will win the final Choice Challenge, giving him the power to decide both of this round’s remaining fights.

The next morning, Anthony’s injury is revealed to be a torn hamstring—worse than a pull. He knows he doesn’t have the luxury of postponing his impending fight and says he will fight his heart out when the time comes.

Downstairs, everyone else is training hard. “I’m getting a little worn down,” Joey admits. In the ring, his sparring partner lands a punch and Joey goes a little berserk until Sugar Ray breaks it up. Joey reveals that he’s wary of the challenge Peter will present in the ring, and is considering fighting Anthony instead, despite his injury. “Someone’s gonna be in there with Anthony, why shouldn’t it be me?” he wonders.

Afterwards, Joey mentions to Jesse that he’d like to fight the injured Anthony. Jesse is uninterested in changing the plans that have been made, and interviews that he is disgusted with his pal. “When are you gonna fight?” he says to the camera. “Do you just want everything given to you?”

While watching a tape of one of Ray Leonard’s title fights, Jesse and Peter discuss Joey’s latest epiphany. Although Joey gave him a car last episode, Peter still has every intention of choosing Joey as his opponent should he win the Choice Challenge. Jesse is disappointed that Joey would backstab him and knows he needs to win the challenge to prevent Joey from taking the easy way out.

Sly, Ray, and Jackie show up in the loft to award Alfonso his Final Four medallion. Surprise, surprise, he plans to win the whole tournament. Alfonso chooses to bring Sergio with him on the reward, which turns out to be a shopping trip on Rodeo Drive chaperoned by Jackie. Sergio experiences sticker shock when he learns a shirt he has just tried on costs $460. “It felt like Pretty Woman... kind of,” says Sergio. Fortunately, there is a discount for pro boxers!

At home, Joey informs Anthony that if he wins the challenge, he’ll match Peter and Jesse, giving Anthony extra time to heal up before their fight. Privately, he tells us that if he wins, he’ll do whatever gives him the greatest advantage (presumably forcing Anthony to fight him right away). “Hey, did I tell you I need a truck?” jokes Anthony. Joey doesn’t laugh.

In the morning, Anthony is given the option to sit out the Choice Challenge. Jesse and Joey are both chomping at the bit, knowing that they must win to get the fight they want. “It’s on like Donkey Kong today!” Jesse says. This is why I’m rooting for Jesse!

This week’s Choice Challenge takes place on a baseball diamond, and all the contenders are wearing baseball pants, which Alfonso has hiked up as far as possible. There are six posts set up at various places throughout the baseball diamond. Each post has a number and a color on it. The contenders will start from home plate, lying down with their eyes closed. Sugar Ray will call a number or a color, and the contenders will have to race to the post to pick up a speed bag. The one contender left without a bag will have to challenge someone else to a one-on-one contest, with the loser being eliminated. This will continue until there are two contenders remaining, and they will have a best of three contest to determine the winner.

Before the challenge begins, Anthony decides not to compete. Good choice—with the amount of running involved, I doubt he’d have a shot anyway. “Blue” is Ray’s first command, sending the five contenders running into the outfield. Jesse leads the pack, with Joey right behind him, followed by Peter and Alfonso, with lanky Sergio left empty-handed. Sergio challenges Alfonso, and beats him easily as Alfonso gives up quickly.

Next, Ray calls “Four!” Sergio is again left in the dust, and must challenge someone else. He selects Peter, and wins again, this time because Peter mistakes Ray’s command of “Red!” for another “Ready?” and doesn’t even get up.

Continuing on, the remaining three take their positions and “White” is called. It is a close race between Jesse and Joey for the first bag, but Jesse takes it. Joey grabs the second bag, leaving Sergio in the lurch yet again. This time, Sergio challenges Jesse. You know, everyone has this conception that Joey is the challenge master, but Jesse’s won his share, including a match-up against Joey in the first week of round two. The decision comes back to haunt him as Jesse blows Sergio away.

It comes down to Joey and Jesse in the best-of-three finals. “Orange!” is the call, and Jesse gets a lead in his first strides that Joey can’t overcome. Jesse ends up with the bag, and Joey ends up with Jesse’s ankle. “You can’t beat me!” Jesse yells, playfully chucking the bag at Joey’s head.

Both guys cool off with some water before the next round. “Very fashionable,” comments Tommy as Jesse spits. For this, Jesse gleefully throws the rest of the cup of water all over Tommy, to the delight of all (well, not Tommy).

“Three” is the next call, and Jesse arrives first, despite Joey’s attempts to muscle him out of the way. But as the two come crashing down, Joey manages to knock the bag away, then recovers it.

In the final heat, Jesse blows a little dust toward Joey’s face right as Ray calls “Two,” which may or may not have been responsible for his one-step lead. The two push and pull, striving to overtake each other. With a final shove, Jesse breaks away, easily beating Joey to the bag. With that, Jesse earns the power to choose who will fight! He complains of a slight hamstring injury, but it doesn’t seem too serious.

Back in the gym, Jesse seems to relish his ability to keep Peter, Joey, and Anthony guessing about what he will do. Jesse begins to cook something that looks like stew, perhaps aware of the coincidence. In an interview, he tells us that Joey has a cowardly heart.