Sakio Bika moved into the semi-finals last week with a big win over Donny McCrary. The stage is being set up for the final first round bout, Paul Smith vs. David Banks. If the winner of that fight defeats his opponent by more than 11 points or by KO, then he will advance to the semi-finals. If the fight goes the distance and the winner has less than an 11 point difference, then that man will be eliminated and Wayne Johnsen will enter the semi-finals. Jaidon Codrington, Sam Soliman, and Sakio Bika have all secured their spot in the semi-finals.
Cheesy Family Time
They are jumping into this stuff early. Paul is happy to see his son after all the time he has spent away from him. His girlfriend or wife is pretty hot. Good job Paul. David said his Mom didn’t want him to box because he was too pretty. David is also happy to be reunited with his son and plays with him a bit in the locker room prior to the fight.
Paul’s gameplan is to put pressure on David which includes smashing his ribs and breaking his face off. Buddy wants David to throw fast combinations and not let Paul get time to throw his heavy shots. David is willing to sacrifice his pretty face for a win over Paul.
The Fight: Paul Smith vs. David Banks
David dances in front of Paul before the fight with an American flag in his face. Smith is British. An intense staredown was expected before this fight and it most certainly delivered. David is certainly the faster of the two and Paul isn’t landing the heavy punches he intended on throwing. I guess it was a close round, but as you know it is edited so it may not have been.
Paul gets off a big overhand right at the start of the second that connects with Banks’ head. Paul lands another big shot later and just misses on a follow-up uppercut. Paul leans in and David catches him with an uppercut that wobbles Paul, but Paul doesn’t go down and actually shrugs it off. Paul just took David’s best shot and didn’t go down. He will probably be a lot more aggressive with a lack of respect for David’s punching power.
Paul lands a good body shot in the corner but Pepe wants to see more of that. Paul resorts to headhunting. David is looking better than I thought he would but Paul is letting him look good. He’s not keeping the pressure on David as he stated he would in his gameplan. David looks gassed after the third round. Paul seems to be doing much better with his stamina. David may be trying too hard to keep up in these early rounds. He may wear himself down in the final two rounds, allowing Paul to capitalize with his power and experience.
Paul wobbles David with a left hook early in the fourth and Banks is in bad shape. David has no legs and immediately goes for the clinch. Paul is going after the body and landing good shots. David is running and lands a good counter right to Paul but he can’t hurt him. Buddy is yelling for David to come forward, I guess to give the impression to the judges that he is being aggressive. David survives the round but he didn’t look good. Pepe tells Paul to go to the body. Buddy reveals to David that he wants him to come forward because Paul consistently catches David when he backs up.
David is still backing up in the fifth and final round and Buddy hates it. He wants him to back Paul up but it just isn’t going to happen. Paul will keep coming forward as long as he doesn’t respect David’s punching. A lot of dirty boxing in this round. They exchange good shots in what has amounted to an edited montage of clean punches to close the round.
The dramatic reading of the scorecards reveals a split decision. 48-47 Smith. 49-46 Banks. 48-47 Smith. Smith wins but does not advance to the next round. He actually has a negative point total when you add up the cards, despite the win. Banks felt like he won the fight but I don’t think survival equates to winning in this instance. Wayne Johnsen is certainly relieved to be in the next round.
Doctor Visit
It turns out Paul Smith wouldn’t have been medically cleared to fight in the next round had he even been eligible. Paul had a cut above the bridge of his nose and the doctor said that it needed time to heal. It would be very problematic if it were to open again during a fight and the doctor wouldn’t take that chance. I guess Paul can take solace in knowing he wouldn’t have fought in the semis regardless of the point difference.
Final Four
Sugar Ray goes through the least dramatic revelation of the semi-finals. They actually made Paul sit there and listen to it. Everyone knew he was done and he was medically disqualified anyway.
Sugar Ray congratulates the last four guys. Jaidon gets first pick on where he fights because of his top spot on the power ranking. The guys get 24 hours to think about it. That’s stupid. I’m sure they could have done it in two minutes as they were sitting there. Jaidon already said he will take the first fight. Sakio gets the second pick and has stated he will take the second fight because he needs the extra time to recover. Sam Soliman will then have the choice to fight either Jaidon Codrington or Sakio Bika. Sam’s the only one who really has a choice to make because Wayne automatically gets the other fight and has no say in his matchup. See, it’s just 24 hours for Sam to decide on who he will fight and I’d bet he could tell you that answer immediately. Sugar Ray says that the semi-final fights will be eight rounds.
Dinner with Ray
The guys are given new digs to wear for this event. They all hang out and seem to have a good time with each other. Dinner conversation includes Sugar Ray saying that Roberto Duran was the hardest puncher he had faced. All the guys tell their stories and Jaidon sees that this goes deeper than boxing.
Fight Selection
Jaidon is a man of his word and takes the empty slot for the first fight. Sakio is next and is also a man of his word, taking the empty slot in the second fight. Now it’s up to Sam. Sam has already fought, and beaten, Sakio Bika. So Sam chooses Bika again. Bika’s first loss was to Sam and he definitely wants the rematch. Sam says that he is 6 of 7 in rematches so he’s confident against Bika. By default, Wayne gets to fight Jaidon Codrington in the first fight. Jaidon has the greatest story given that he missed his father’s funeral to stay on the show, but I think the Bika/Soliman winner is the favorite to win it all.
Next Week
It seems like there will not be an episode of The Contender next week. Instead, Alfonso Gomez will fight Ben Tackie in a live fight on October 16th. If a new episode of The Contender does air next week, stay tuned to Inside Fights for a complete review.
