The Contender (NBC) and Jesse Brinkley Get Their Knockout On

The fights keep getting better each week. Maybe it’s because we’ve come to know the contenders fairly well by now, as this week wrapped up the end of the second round. Perhaps it’s because the level of competition continues to rise.

All I know is that the climactic fight between Jesse Brinkley and Anthony “The Bullet” Bonsante was one of the most exciting sporting events (heavily and cleverly edited though it was) I have ever seen.

All the signs were there from the outset. Brinkley had been resting on his laurels since his early first round victory, taking care to mess with other fighter’s heads and form alliances during his time off. Couple that with a hamstring tweak during a recent physical challenge and the need to lose eight pounds to make weight in one day (by the way: where do I get me one of those sweat suits?) and Brinkley looked like he might be in trouble.

Bonsante, on the other hand, has been a one-man daddy-a-thon since the outset (see: his victory during the epic Kids vs. God match-up in Round One). Every third or fourth word out of his mouth is “kids” or “daddy” or “father.” His physical ministrations include adjusting his “#1 Daddy” hat and wiping tears from his eyes. That said, he translates this emotion into some kind of psychotic stampede in the ring that is downright frightening.

Brinkley observed that Bonsante doesn’t box, he fights.

Brinkley did not mention that Bonsante is the guy that you would discreetly make for the nearest exit for if you happened to catch him staring at you in a public place.

Many of the five-round fights up until now have been a seesaw battle: one guy looks like he’s winning, then tires as the other fighter stages a comeback. Almost every week, the fifth and final round has ascended to an all-out war between men with great hearts and mighty fists.

This week’s fight was that exactly that, and more. Bonsante, scrapping any semblance of discipline, landed dozens of bruising blows on the smaller, shaky-looking Brinkley well into the fourth round. It looked as though Brinkley would have to turn things around with an unlikely knockout in the fifth round to advance.

And he did.

A timely uppercut to the charging Bonsante’s chin laid him out on the canvas, a devastating and classic blow that turned around the entire fight. Bonsante was done at that point, though it took another 30 or so seconds for the fight to be called.

In the end, the Kids could only go so far.

Now we’re left with Brinkley, Peter Manfredo, Mora (The Latin Snake), and Gomez. All worthy fighters going after the $1 million prize in Las Vegas.

This is getting really really good.