I've been a faithful viewer since the beginning but because of the way the fights are edited it makes it hard to see how truly good these guys are.

So, they are fighting to become the top middleweight contender? Does this mean that the winner of Tuesday's fight is skilled enough to step in the ring with Corey Spinks?

• RE: Caliber of the fighters,adam17, 05:43 PM, 05-23-05
• RE: Caliber of the fighters,FarwestChips, 07:02 PM, 05-23-05
  • RE: Caliber of the fighters,decoy1, 08:15 PM, 05-23-05
    • RE: Caliber of the fighters,VegasFightWriter, 08:19 PM, 05-23-05
  • RE: Caliber of the fighters,VegasFightWriter, 08:26 PM, 05-23-05
    • RE: Caliber of the fighters,decoy1, 08:43 PM, 05-23-05
      • RE: Caliber of the fighters,VegasFightWriter, 08:57 PM, 05-23-05
        • RE: Caliber of the fighters,decoy1, 09:11 PM, 05-23-05

I agree with you! i think they should show the fights in full then we could see exactly how good each boxer is!! maybe if they bring out The Contender on DVD they will show the fights in full which would be wicked!!

Cory Spinks?
Spinks is a Welterweight (last fight was at 146 pounds)
So no they wont be fighting Spinks any time soon. And if they were Welterweight's why would they fight Spinks? Why not fight the Welterweight champion Zab Judah?
I get what you are saying,
My opinion is no, you wont see Manfredo or Mora fighting any of the top 10 guys any time soon.
Ill bet the only one of the bunch you see on HBO any time soon is Smith. He deserves at least 10 with Santos, with the winner getting Mosley or Soliman.

I could see Gomez as well making a run for HBO but I think he needs to drop back to Welterweight and get in a 10 rounder or 2 on Fox first.

Tuesday’s fight will come and go (I’m picking Manfredo to win) and come Friday the rankings will be updated, and none of the guys from the show ill be in the Top 15 on the WBC, WBO, WBA, or the IBF. (even though I think Smith should be based on him puttin the beat down on Estrada)
So to answer your question, no, none of these guys will be fighting for the Middleweight title against Spinks who is a Welterweight and has no title.

I believe Spinks is a natural middleweight. He dropped 12-15 pounds to fight Juhda which he beat in their first fight.

I basically was just throwing out a name that you would see on HBO or pay per view as an example.

As far as the fight tomorrow, I'd like to see Manfredo win but believe Mora will prevail. I wish like hell that they would just show the fight unedited. They'll probably show unedited on the dvd??

No, Cory is a natural welterweight.

The final is, I believe, being shown live and unedited. And the undercard bouts are being streamed live on yahoo. So, for once, a chance to see an actual Contender fight in its entirety.

Incidentally, Ishe has fought Zab Judah as an amateur (in the 1996 Olympic trials), and was offered a shot at Zab's WBO title last year. However, he had just been forced to pull out of a fight with the infitely less dangerous Nureyman Suleymanoglu because of a back injury, and so didn't want to take on someone more dangerous at shorter notice, especially while recovering from an injury. So yeah, I would say that, within relatuvely short order, Ishe could well be back in the kind of mix you mention. Doesn't look like he'll ever fight at 147 again, though.

I'd hate to argue boxing with a guy named VegasFightWriter but I would swear I saw Spinks and his trainer on t.v. explicitly talking about going back to his natual middleweight weight after his loss to Judah.

He wasn't using the weight drop as an excuse for the loss but did say he didn't have the strengh he had at the higher weight.

Interesting about Ishe Smith. He looked more polished than the others in his first fight but again the editing skews it.

They did say that he will be moving up to junior middleweight from now. Which, personally, I think may be a mistake, as Cory really isn't very big, and he had zero power at welterweight, let alone at 154. Then again, he'll still have his speed and elusiveness, which are his strengths.

You were right, he has always fought at welterweight. Maybe he maintained that weight because of the fighting opportunities but felt better a little heavier?

Oh well, my original question was answered. Thanks