The show opens by recapping Sam Soliman’s win last week. They hype up the Gold Team being undefeated and Sam says the Blue Team is on the run. This first round is playing out with no surprises so far as the Blue Team has been represented by its worst fighters so far whilst just the opposite for the Gold Team. The Blue Team ought to win the next three fights. Sam Soliman jumps in an ice bath before going back to the house, where the Gold Team starts to talk about who gets to fight next.
Pepe tries to motivate his remaining three fighters, using Max’s loss as a lesson. The Blue Team watches the Gold Team spar. In fact, I think Paul Smith does that and only that on a daily basis. I haven’t seen him throw a punch or get into a ring since the training evaluations.
Bad News
Jaidon Codrington got a call from home and learned that his father passed away. That’s unfortunate. Jaidon wants to stay in the competition as he thinks it will be harder to go through this tragedy at home. Jaidon now wants to win the tournament for his father.
Power of Choice
Sam beat Max by a total of 12 points on the judges’ scorecards. That puts him in second place on the board and more than likely into the semifinals. Sugar Ray is worried about Pepe’s psyche is he were to lose one more fight.
Buddy didn’t like the way Banks looked in sparring and says that Donny isn’t close in making weight, so Miguel Hernandez will be fighting for the Gold Team tonight. He gets to choose whether he gets beat by Sakio Bika, Wayne Johnsen, or Paul Smith. Miguel chooses Wayne Johnsen. Pepe says it will be one hell of a fight.
Wayne Johnsen played college football until he blew out his knee during his sophomore season. This is his second chance at becoming a professional athlete, as he puts it. Miguel comes from a family of fighters. Now that he has children he uses his fighting as a means of support instead of as a means of getting into trouble.
Cheesy Family Time
Both guys say that this is the biggest fight of the their career. Miguel sees his kids and cries. Miguel gets a video from Grandma and cries again. Wayne gets a visit from his daughter and his fiancee. Miguel’s son tell his Dad that loves him no matter what and starts crying. Enough already with the Crying Hernandez Family. The celebrity audience radar shows us that Jeff Ross and Alfonso Gomez are in the house. I guess that all the Baldwin brothers were busy.
The Fight: Miguel Hernandez vs. Wayne Johnsen
He may have said “Macho,” but it sounded like the ring announcer used “Nacho” as Miguel’s nickname. I certainly hope it was the latter.
Wayne has the reach advantage and is a better athlete. Miguel tries to get inside and lands a nice uppercut when he finally reaches that destination. The first round looks like a lot of Wayne staying on the outside and circling while Miguel stalks him. Wayne is making Miguel look pretty slow.
Miguel is able to get into a couple of clinches in the second round and lands some nice punches out of it. Miguel’s son yells for his Dad to “get inside and get up and go.” Pepe tells Wayne he has two rounds in the bank while Buddy lets Miguel know that he’s giving the fight away.
Wayne starts the third with more jabs and circling. Miguel needs to put pressure on Wayne but he’s having a tough time keeping up with him. Wayne backs Miguel up and goes in for the knockout. Miguel lures him in and makes a comeback, landing some big punches. The crowd is really into the fight now. Miguel is playing up to the crowd but Buddy wants him to focus. Pepe wants Wayne to throw 19 jabs or something.
The fourth round begins and momentum may or may not have swung in Miguel’s favor. It’s difficult to tell in an edited fight. Wayne uses his jab and Miguel is waiting for an opening. Wayne lands a nice counter right off of a jab. Wayne is making Miguel look bad in this fight. Buddy lets Miguel know that he needs a knockout in the final round for the win.
Miguel is throwing haymakers but mostly coming up short, allowing Wayne to land counters each time. With only a minute left Miguel needs to make a big move but Wayne isn’t letting him and is actually getting the better of Miguel. Miguel finally lands that big shot in the final ten seconds and knocks Wayne into the ropes but Wayne holds on for the final seconds to survive.
The scores for the fight are 48-47, 50-45, and 50-45 in a unanimous decision in favor of Wayne Johnsen. Miguel is happy with his performance and feels blessed to have a healthy family. Miguel then cries. Again.
Next Week
The Blue Team now has the Power of Choice. It’s pretty clear that Paul Smith is going to fight David Banks. That leaves the other fight as Sakio Bika against Donny McCrary. The only question is which fight will be up first.
