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Brandon Adams was a Worthy ‘Contender’: Now Comes the Hard Part

Brandon Adams had a lot of options going forward after winning season five of “The Contender” reality show. Last week he was weighing offers from Gennady Golovkin and Jermall Charlo. “Pick your poison,” said the wags.
Adams chose Charlo. Although it isn’t official, they will reportedly meet on June 15 on SHOWTIME. (That would mean butting heads with Tyson Fury vs. Tom Schwarz that same night on ESPN+).
“The Contender,” which ran from 2005 through 2009 and was resurrected last year, is the brainchild of Mark Burnett, the man behind “Survivor” and “The Apprentice” (the latter starring a future U.S. President, as if you didn’t already know), two of the most popular shows in the history of American television.
Burnett had less success with ‘The Contender” which follows the lives of boxers competing in a 16-man, single-elimination tournament. During the first run of the series, the show bounced around between three networks, never finding a permanent home. The 2018 revival aired on Epix, one of the newer premium cable and satellite networks.
To land a spot on “The Contender,” one has to be an accomplished boxer, but of greater consideration is a good back story. The cast of the 2018 season included these contestants:
Marcos Hernandez – Having been bullied from a young age, Marcos is fighting for his young autistic son.
John Thompson – A performing artist, he was 6 years old when his mother died of AIDS.
Eric Walker – Incarcerated in Louisiana at age 15, he spent 14 years behind bars.
Gerald Sherrell – A zoo security guard by day and a young father by night, Sherrell looks to bring boxing glory back to his hometown of Pittsburgh.
John Jackson – The son of Julian Jackson, he “comes from wealth but cares for the underprivileged.”
Brandon “The Cannon” Adams, the father of two from a poverty-stricken Los Angeles neighborhood, fit right in. And it helped his cause that his career had stalled, as was true of so many Contenders before him. This show was all about second chances.
On May 22, 2015, then 25-year-old Brandon Adams, sporting a 17-1 record, stepped into the ring against the aforementioned John Thompson in Corona, Calif. Although both he and Thompson were relatively obscure, their match attracted considerable buzz as the winner would be crowned the champion of the ESPN Boxcino 154-pound tournament and this was the final episode of ESPN’s “Friday Night Fights” which was folding its tent after a 17-year run.
Adams was favored, but he left his fight in the gym. Thompson was all over him from the opening bell and stopped him in the second round. Adams was so soured by the experience that he stepped away from boxing. Complicated by managerial problems, he was gone for three full years before resurfacing as a Contender.
Adams had a tough road to the finals. In his first match he stopped Philadelphia veteran Tyrone Brunson in the fourth round. Then he outpointed tournament favorite Ievgen Khytrov, a former Olympian, and Eric Walker, who had eliminated Adams’ nemesis John Thompson. These three bouts, all slated for five rounds, were held behind closed doors in a Los Angeles studio that had been carved out of a furniture manufacturing plant.
In the finals, staged at the Inglewood Forum, Adams was matched against Shane Mosely Jr. in a 10-rounder. The prize for the winner was $250,000 and a #10 rating by the World Boxing Association.
The hook for Mosley, said the pre-event press release, was that he was “trying to step out of his father’s shadow and carve out his own legacy.” But the younger Mosely was a pale imitation of his old man and Adams outpointed him by a lopsided margin.
“The Contender” proved to be a great career-booster for previous winners, a steppingstone to good paydays.
Of the first four winners – super welterweight Sergio Mora, super welterweight Grady Brewer, super middleweight Sakia Bika, and cruiserweight Troy Ross – only Brewer failed to land a world title shot. Mora and Bika went on to become world title-holders although their tenures were brief. (Sakia Bika, now 40, will be in action on the 13th of this month on a card in Minneapolis featuring Sergiy Derevyanchenko and local fan favorite Caleb Truax in separate bouts.)
However, achieving the status of a title-holder nowadays isn’t what it used to be. Although two future world champions emerged from the reality series, one can fairly say that overall the post-“Contender” careers of the winners were spotty, none more so than Grady Brewer who retired with a record of 32-20.
Brandon Adams hopes to emulate Sergio Mora who sprung a huge upset when he dethroned WBC 154-pound world champion Vernon Forrest in their first meeting in June of 2008. Adams (21-2, 13 KOs) will be a Mora-sized underdog when he takes on former IBF 154-pound champion Jarmall Charlo, notwithstanding the fact that the undefeated Charlo (28-0, 21 KOs) didn’t look sharp in his last outing against late sub Matt Korobov.
Brandon Adams made the most of his second chance. Now the road gets tougher for the erstwhile Contender.
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Mercito Gesta Victorious Over Jojo Diaz at the Long Beach Pyramid

LONG BEACH, CA.-Those in the know knew Mercito Gesta and Jojo Diaz would be a fight to watch and they delivered.
Gesta emerged the winner in a super lightweight clash between southpaws that saw the judges favor his busier style over Diaz’s body attack and bigger shots and win by split decision on Saturday.
Despite losing the main event because the star was overweight, Gesta (34-3-3, 17 KOs) used an outside method of tactic to edge past former world champion Diaz (32-4-1, 15 KOs) in front of more than 5,000 fans at the Pyramid.
The speedy Gesta opened up the fight with combination punching up and down against the peek-a-boo style of Diaz. For the first two rounds the San Diego fighter overwhelmed Diaz though none of the blows were impactful.
In the third round Diaz finally began unloading his own combinations and displaying the fast hands that helped him win world titles in two divisions. Gesta seemed stunned by the blows, but his chin held up. The counter right hook was Diaz’s best weapon and snapped Gesta’s head back several times.
Gesta regained control in the fifth round after absorbing big blows from Diaz. He seemed to get angry that he was hurt and opened up with even more blows to send Diaz backpedaling.
Diaz targeted his attack to Gesta’s body and that seemed to slow down Gesta. But only for a round.
From the seventh until the 10th each fighter tried to impose their style with Gesta opening up with fast flurries and Diaz using right hooks to connect with solid shots. They continued their method of attack until the final bell. All that mattered was what the judges preferred.
After 10 rounds one judge saw Diaz the winner 97-93 but two others saw Gesta the winner 99-91, 98-92. It was a close and interesting fight.
“I was expecting nothing. I was the victor in this fight and we gave a good fight,” said Gesta. “It’s not an easy fight and Jojo gave his best.”
Diaz was surprised by the outcome but accepted the verdict.
Everything was going good. I thought I was landing good body shots,” said Diaz. “I was pretty comfortable.”
Other Bouts
Mexico’s Oscar Duarte (25-1-1, 20 KOs) knocked out Chicago’s Alex Martin (18-5, 6 KOs) with a counter right hand after dropping him earlier in the fourth round. The super lightweight fight was stopped at 1:14 of the round.
A battle between undefeated super welterweights saw Florida’s Eric Tudor (8-0, 6 KOs) emerge the winner by unanimous decision after eight rounds versus Oakland’s Damoni Cato-Cain.
The taller Tudor showed polished skill and was not bothered by a large cut on his forehead caused by an accidental clash of heads. He used his jab and lead rights to defuse the attacks of the quick-fisted southpaw Cato-Cain. The judges scored the fight 80-72 and 78-74 twice for Tudor.
San Diego’s Jorge Chavez (5-0, 4 KOs) needed less than one round to figure out Nicaragua’s Bryan Perez (12-17-1, 11 KOs) and send him into dreamland with a three-punch combination. No need to count as referee Ray Corona waved the fight over. Perez shot a vicious right followed by another right and then a see-you-later left hook at 3.00 of the first round of the super featherweight match.
Photo credit: Al Applerose
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Jojo Diaz’s Slump Continues; Mercito Gesta Prevails on a Split Decision

At age 30, Jojo Diaz’s career is on the skids. The 2012 U.S. Olympian, a former world title holder at 126 and 130 pounds and an interim title holder at 135, Diaz suffered his third straight loss tonight, upset by Mercito Gesta who won a split decision at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, CA.. The scoring was strange with Gesta winning nine of the 10 rounds on one of the cards and only three rounds on another. The tie-breaker, as it were, was a 98-92 tally for Gesta and even that didn’t capture the flavor of what was a closely-contested fight.
Originally listed as a 12-rounder, the match was reduced to 10 and that, it turned out, did Diaz no favors. However, it’s hard to feel sorry for the former Olympian as he came in overweight once again, having lost his 130-pound title on the scales in February of 2021.
Diaz also has issues outside the ropes. Best elucidated by prominent boxing writer Jake Donovan, they include a cluster of legal problems stemming from an arrest for drunk driving on Feb. 27 in the LA suburb of Claremont.
With the defeat, Diaz’s ledger declined to 32-4-1. His prior losses came at the hands of Gary Russell Jr, Devin Haney, and William Zepeda, boxers who are collectively 83-2. Mercito Gesta, a 35-year-old San Diego-based Filipino, improved to 34-3-3.
Co-Feature
Chihuahua, Mexico super lightweight Oscar Duarte has now won nine straight inside the distance after stopping 33-year-old Chicago southpaw Alex Martin in the eighth frame. Duarte, the busier fighter, had Martin on the deck twice in round eight before the fight was waived off.
Duarte improved to 25-1-1 (20). Martin, who reportedly won six national titles as an amateur and was once looked upon as a promising prospect, declined to 18-5.
Other Bouts of Note
New Golden Boy signee Eric Tudor, a 21-year-old super welterweight from Fort Lauderdale, overcame a bad laceration over his right eye, the result of an accidental clash of heads in round four, to stay unbeaten, advancing to 8-0 (6) with a hard-fought unanimous 8-round decision over Oakland’s Damoni Cato-Cain. The judges had it 80-72 and 78-74 twice. It was the first pro loss for Cato-Cain (7-1-1) who had his first five fights in Tijuana.
In the DAZN opener, lanky Hawaian lightweight Dalis Kaleiopu went the distance for the first time in his young career, improving to 4-0 (3) with a unanimous decision over 36-year-old Colombian trial horse Jonathan Perez (40-35). The scores were 60-52 across the board. There were no knockdowns, but Perez, who gave up almost six inches in height, had a point deducted for a rabbit punch and another point for deducted for holding.
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‘Big Baby’ Wins the Battle of Behemoths; TKOs ‘Big Daddy’ in 6

Lucas “Big Daddy” Browne weighed in at a career-high 277 pounds for today’s battle in Dubai with Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller, but he was the lighter man by 56 pounds. It figured that one or both would gas out if the bout lasted more than a few stanzas.
It was a war of attrition with both men looking exhausted at times, and when the end came it was Miller, at age 34 the younger man by nine years, who had his hand raised.
Browne was the busier man, but Miller, whose physique invites comparison with a rhinoceros, hardly blinked as he was tattooed with an assortment of punches. He hurt ‘Bid Daddy’ in round four, but the Aussie held his own in the next frame, perhaps even forging ahead on the cards, but only postponing the inevitable.
In round six, a succession of right hands knocked Browne on the seat of his pants. He beat the count, but another barrage from Miller impelled the referee to intervene. The official time was 2:33. It was the 21st straight win for Miller (26-0-1, 22 KOs). Browne declined to 31-4 and, for his own sake, ought not fight again. All four of his losses have come inside the distance, some brutally.
The consensus of those that caught the livestream was that Floyd Mayweather Jr’s commentary was an annoying distraction that marred what was otherwise an entertaining show.
As for what’s next for “Big Baby” Miller, that’s hard to decipher as he has burned his bridges with the sport’s most powerful promoters. One possibility is Mahmoud Charr who, like Miller, has a big gap in his boxing timeline. Now 38 years old, Charr – who has a tenuous claim on a WBA world title (don’t we all?) — has reportedly taken up residence in Dubai.
Other Bouts of Note
In a 10-round cruiserweight affair, Suslan Asbarov, a 30-year-old Russian, advanced to 4-0 (1) with a hard-fought majority decision over Brandon Glanton. The judges had it 98-92, 97-93, and a more reasonable 95-95.
Asbarov was 12-9 in documented amateur fights and 1-0 in a sanctioned bare-knuckle fight, all in Moscow, entering this match. He bears watching, however, as Glanton (18-2) would be a tough out for almost anyone in his weight class. In his previous fight, at Plant City, Florida, Glanton lost a controversial decision to David Light, an undefeated Australian who challenges WBO world title-holder Lawrence Okolie at Manchester, England next week.
A 10-round super featherweight match between former world title challengers Jono Carroll and Miguel Marriaga preceded the semi-windup. Carroll, a 30-year-old Dublin southpaw, overcame a cut over his left eye suffered in the second round to win a wide unanimous decision in a fairly entertaining fight.
It was the sixth straight win for Carroll (24-2-1, 7 KOs) who elevated his game after serving as a sparring partner for Devin Haney. Marriaga, a 36-year-old Colombian, lost for the fourth time in his last five outings, declining to 30-7.
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