530:(USA) and Nigel Wright(UK) vs Jonathan Nelson(USA). Smith beat Reid by a controversial stoppage in the 7th round, as Smith was winning the fight and seemed to have Reid hurt from a body shot earlier, but clearly pushed Reid to the canvas in the 7th round. The referee ruled the push correctly, but judged that Reid could not continue after he got up when Reid seemingly could still defend himself. Wright also stopped the outmatched Nelson, who was a late substitute, in the 2nd round of their fight on cuts. Neither of these matches counted towards the scoring of the challenge because ITV4 had issues with airtime, so only six fights of the Challenge could be shown on TV.
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fighters started the round with hard punches and Curiel's right eye started to swell dramatically. In the last minute of the round Curiel countered a wide right thrown by Minter with a laser straight hard right which dropped Minter to the canvas. Minter was out and Curiel pulled out a dramatic victory from what appeared to be a certain points loss. Curiel demonstrated considerable sportsmanship by walking Minter around the ring with his hand raised and encouraged the fans to applaud their local fighter.
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Minter, a popular boxer in the UK with a reputation as a considerate and polite competitor, dominated the early rounds of the fight. Minter was the bigger fighter and was in excellent condition which quickly showed with his power shots and gritty in-fighting. Unfortunately for Minter, he continued to
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Freddy Curiel entered the ring with a 16–6–2 record and period of inactivity (he retired in 2002 and returned to the ring in 2006 for the
Contender boxing reality show and had only one fight since losing in the first round of the show). Curiel's opponent was the younger and more recently active Ross
406:
Teddy Atlas, at ringside for ESPN, scored Small as having won five of the first seven rounds, losing only round 2 (where Wright timed him coming in to score before Small could punch), and tying round 7. In round 8, Wright found his rhythm, and opened a cut to Small's mouth, even apparently stunning
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by the crowd, with the last fight beginning at 2 am, and members of Team US jeering along with the ticketholders. Additionally, one apparently drunken fan verbally threatened the cornermen for Team US just before the main event, drawing the ire of the entire Minter family, who were apparently
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While Minter was strong up to the seventh round of the eight round bout, Curiel's experience started to show and he began to land more authoritatively. In the eighth round Curiel's corner told him he had to score a KO pie win, although Teddy Atlas had the fight 67–66 for Minter—a close fight. Both
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Alfonso Gomez fought Martin
Concepcion in the third match of the Challenge, getting a surprisingly friendly reception from the British crowd on his entrance due to his fan-friendly persona and style. He dominated the hard-punching Concepcion for the most part, with a combination of outboxing and
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The fight was mainly consistent for the first seven rounds. Small fought a very unorthodox style, with his hands very far down, often by his knees, and used extreme bobbing and weaving. Small remained outside Wright's range, then jump in to score a quick, jabbing blow or two, weave to avoid
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him, but Wright was unable to score the knockout and Small won by split decision. Atlas, along with ringside commentators
Tessitore and Rawling, noted the difficulty of scoring the fight, as Small's unusual style made him appear to be lacking aggression, which many judges look for.
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Cornelius
Bundrage fought Colin McNeil in the last match of the Challenge. "K-9" Bundrage proved to be too physically strong for McNeil throughout, winning most of the rounds of a somewhat ugly fight, and eventually stopped him with a body shot in the 7th round.
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infighting, dropping
Concepcion in round 3 with a double left hook to the body and head, then in the 7th round finishing the courageous Concepcion with an uppercut that caused Concepcion to turn his back on Gomez in pain, necessitating a referee stoppage.
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in the fifth match of the
Challenge. In a somewhat sloppy affair, Reid outworked Brinkley(in a slow fight) for the majority of the eight rounds, winning via unanimous decision.
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Jerson Ravelo fought Paul
Buchanan in the fourth match of the Challenge. In a mostly tactical affair, Ravelo outboxed Buchanan and won via a wide unanimous decision.
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429:) with a record of 17–1–1. Minter also had his challenges with layoffs — although he had recently fought in 2007, he had only one fight in 2006 due to injuries.
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be plagued by the cuts which had been seen in his previous fights. Minter was also able to open a cut on Curiel although it was disputed as being caused by a
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The bouts were scored in the
American style, with three ringside judges and a non-scoring referee. British non-title bouts are scored solely by the referee.
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the matchups to guarantee a US victory, explaining how non-Contender fighter Jerson Ravelo fought in a bout for the cup. The last three bouts were
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The matchup finished as a 4–2 US victory, with Curiel, Bundrage, Gomez and Ravelo winning for the US, and Small and Reid winning for the UK.
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seated nearby. When the fan threw a keychain at the US corner, security ejected him, drawing cheers from the crowd.
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Walter Wright was introduced to the crowd, and won some home-town appeal by wearing a
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The tourney got off to a late start, which ITV representatives said was due to ESPN
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joining. Leonard and McGuigan provided some analysis through the fight as well.
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157:. The winning team was awarded the "Sugar Ray Leonard Cup", not unlike the
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Two other fights were not included in the official scoring on the card,
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The matchups, all scheduled for eight rounds with weights ranging from
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The master of ceremonies throughout the tournament was
Michael Pass.
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The bouts was the basis of a TV series broadcast in the US by
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Jesse
Brinkley fought the former Super Middleweight champion
133:, England. Six boxers from the US reality television shows
425:"The Boss" Minter (son of former middleweight champ
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that he called his "Yank spanker" in the interview.
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The referees and judges were of both nationalities.
390:jersey. Anthony Small walked to the ring wearing a
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149:, took on six boxers from the UK, all promoted by
233:by each team would have determined the winner.
198:Points were awarded to each team as follows:
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229:In the event of a tie, the total number of
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643:2000s American reality television series
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18:2007 multi-national TV series or program
653:2007 American television series endings
564:Dan Rafael's column about the Challenge
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668:2007 British television series endings
658:2000s British sports television series
648:2007 American television series debuts
183:, with the British boxing commentator
663:2007 British television series debuts
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403:counterpunches, then jump back out.
595:Boxrec.com record of the fight card
118:The Contender Challenge: UK vs. USA
25:The Contender Challenge: UK vs. USA
125:matches on 30 March 2007, held at
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633:2007 American television seasons
638:2007 British television seasons
1:
683:ITV reality television shows
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678:ESPN original programming
673:The Contender (TV series)
616:. Retrieved 10 April 2007
597:. Retrieved 4 April 2007.
585:. Retrieved 10 April 2007
566:. Retrieved 24 March 2007
145:, in a team coached by
612:19 April 2007 at the
607:Fightfan.com coverage
576:BBBoC Rules of Boxing
581:1 July 2007 at the
372:About the episode
339:Cornelius Bundrage
307:Martin Concepcion
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396:mask, carrying a
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253:light heavyweight
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171:and in the UK by
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147:Sugar Ray Leonard
127:Metro Radio Arena
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46:Country of origin
35:Sugar Ray Leonard
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223:Total KO count
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121:is a series of
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155:Barry McGuigan
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51:United Kingdom
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40:Barry McGuigan
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540:micromanaging
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528:Jonathan Reid
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301:Alfonso Gomez
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280:Anthony Small
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273:Walter Wright
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177:Joe Tessitore
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136:The Contender
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103:17 April 2007
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346:Colin McNeil
249:welterweight
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185:John Rawling
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151:Frank Warren
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61:Running time
24:
15:
534:Controversy
427:Alan Minter
398:riding crop
367:Original US
294:Ross Minter
220:Tiebreaker
181:Teddy Atlas
627:Categories
551:References
524:Paul Smith
492:Robin Reid
332:Robin Reid
215:1/2-point
107:2007-04-17
97:2007-04-10
56:Production
369:air date
231:knockouts
159:Ryder Cup
131:Newcastle
610:Archived
579:Archived
526:(UK) vs
507:5/15/07
487:5/08/07
471:5/01/07
454:4/24/07
434:headbutt
421:4/17/07
383:4/10/07
364:Episode
255:, were:
243:Matchups
207:1 point
93:10 April
31:Starring
544:heckled
375:Winner
354:Results
105: (
101: –
95: (
90:Release
74:Network
393:Scream
194:Format
123:boxing
80:(USA),
64:Varies
212:Draw
264:vs.
204:Win
179:and
173:ITV4
169:ESPN
163:Golf
139:and
85:(UK)
83:ITV4
78:ESPN
267:UK
261:US
251:to
161:in
629::
515:US
504:6
498:UK
484:5
478:US
468:4
462:US
451:3
445:US
436:.
418:2
412:UK
380:1
129:,
109:)
99:)
37:,
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