In front of a raucous Staples Center crowd on Tuesday evening, Grady Brewer upset Steve Forbes by a paper thin split decision in a tactical battle. Brewer becomes The Contender (season two) champion. The match-up headlined a five bout card that featured fighters from Season Two of the Contender.

    The opening round was tactical, and very close. Forbes was able to get back to his element a bit and counterpunch. He did this well midway in, and caught  Brewer coming in several times. Brewer came back later in the round to land some decent right hands as he came in on Forbes. There was a bit more opening up in round two, as both fighters had their moments in what was another tight round. Midway into the round, Brewer landed a couple of hard overhand rights. Then late in the round, Forbes landed a crowd-awing left hook to the jaw. A very hard round to call.

     Round three started slowly until the final minute. Forbes then jumped on Brewer with a three-punch combination that Brewer followed up with two of his own. However, Brewer closed the round with a bang, landing a huge overhand right which appeared to stagger Forbes. Brewer followed that up with a left hook and another right to the face. A good, close round for Brewer.

    Round four was a fairly tame round until the end. Forbes appeared to be controlling the round, but once again Brewer flurried late to close the round. The pace picked up greatly in round five with both fighters getting involved in wild exchanges, during which Forbes seemed  less wild, more accurate, but both had their moments. The pace dropped back down in round six, little happened. Both fighters were having trouble landing anything, and there was a lot of holding. Another tough round to score.

    Round seven got hot midway into the round, with both men wailing at each other. This time Brewer was a bit more accurate, landing some solid hooks. But, also this time it was Forbes who closed with a solid flurry. Round eight slowed once again, and the holding and grabbing returned. Brewer was able to land a few decent jabs, while Forbes pecked away one shot at a time. The pace again was slow in round nine, both fighters looked fatigued. The action picked up in the last minute, as Forbes landed a solid 1-2 left-right hook upstairs. Brewer came back strong, but Forbes threw a solid overhand right to close the round.

     The pace jumped in round 10, with both fighters going at it hard. Brewer got a little wild during exchanges, and Forbes picked him apart with rights and lefts. At one point Forbes landed three in a row. The final round brought the most toe to toe action of the fight, and in this case Forbes was more accurate. The fight closed with both fighters flurrying, but again Forbes getting the better end, landing a good overhand right. The fight went to the cards and Brewer won a tight, split decision by scores of 97-93, 94-96 and 96-94. BRC scored the fight 96-95 for Brewer, who wins $500,000 dollars and a brand new Toyota Tundra. The champion defeated Vinroy Barrett, Mike Stewart, Norberto Bravo, and Steve Forbes on his way to the Contender title, and let's not forget that Brewer came into the show with a not so impressive 18-11 record.       

   In the battle for the Bronze on The Contender season two, Cornelius Bundrage dominated Norberto Bravo en route to a 7th round TKO victory. The crowd was totally behind Bravo from the onset, but it didn't seem to affect Bundrage at all. The first round was all K-9, who stayed outside, keeping the charging Bravo away. Bundrage was able to find a home for his overhand right, which he landed  consistently. Bravo seemed to be having trouble finding a way to get inside on K-9. Round two was even more Bundrage, who began to assert his superior power. Late in the round, K-9 landed a great overhand right, which stunned Bravo. Bundrage then followed up with Bravo on the ropes, Bravo tried to fight back, but Bundrage continued his assault until referee Pat Russell gave Bravo a standing eight count. Bravo survived the round, but was already looking beat up.

   Bravo tried to take the fight inside, but when this happened Bundrage would tie him up. When they got separated, Bundrage did his damage with big shots, especially his overhand right.  Bundrage continued to dominate and punish through rounds three and four. Once again, Bundrage's most brutal shots were coming from his overhand right. Bravo tried to take the fight in close, but when he did, K-9 managed to fight out of it. Round five was more of the same for K-9, who continued to keep Bravo away, picking him apart with left-right combos. Bravo had little answer as Bundrage just looked bigger, stronger and faster.

    Bundrage continued his assault early in round six. K-9 was having his way, even early on peppering Bravo with jabs. Bundrage was deducted a meaningless point in the round for throwing Bravo down, even though it looked more like a fatigued Bravo slipped. Bravo then came with a brief flurry that was quickly overturned by K-9. Late in the round K-9 again staggered Bravo with an overhand right. Bundrage staged another assault, and it even looked as if referee Pat Russell might stop it, but Bravo valiantly fought back, taking some hard shots up and downstairs. Bravo showed a lot of heart just surviving the round.

    Bravo came out charging to start round seven as if it was his last stand, but it didn't last long. Late in the round, Bundrage again stunned Bravo with another overhand right which sent Bravo staggering back into the corner. K-9 then followed with three more shots upstairs including a beautiful uppercut. Finally, Pat Russell jumped and rescued the battered Bravo. Bundrage wins by TKO at 2:27 of round seven. For some reason the crowd booed the stoppage, but it appeared overdue.    

  The first off-TV bout of the evening pitted two of the younger contestants from the show, Walter Wright versus Vinroy Barrett. Wright impressed during the show as he came in with the least experience, and pulled off an easy impressive win over Andre Eason, and lost a very close decision to semi-finalist Cornelius Bundrage. Barrett also very young, had a solid showing in losing against finalist Grady Brewer. Wright would dominate Barrett, winning by 4th round TKO when Barrett failed to answer the bell for the fifth round. Barrett's corner stopped the fight due to
an apparent shoulder injury, but the fight was all Wright.

    In other off-TV action, contestant Freddy Curiel squeezed out a tight unanimous decision over late sub Aaron Torres in a six round bout. Both Curiel and Torres lost spirited decisions in the first round, Curiel to Steve Forbes, and Torres a split decision loss to Gary Balletto. The fight was partially marred by rough play and headbutts, but was very tight. 

    Referee Jose Cobian was a busy man in round four as  foul play ensued, and a point was taken away from Torres. Hitting behind the head and holding was commonplace in the round, but there was some good action too, in what turned out to be a very close round. The final round was Torres's best round; he took the fight to the outside, and picked Curiel apart with left-right combos upstairs. Late in the round, Torres also connected upstairs with a big overhand right. As a very rough fight went to the scorecards, Curiel won a close decision, thanks in part to the point deduction, by the scores of 58-57 on all three cards.

    In another off-TV bout, contender Nick Acevedo easily won a six round decision over Nurhan Suleyman (16-5 8KOs). Acevedo cruised the whole way, as he was able to control and keep command of the fight. Acevedo continues to impress, remember on the show Acevedo dominated Jeff Fraza before losing a very tight decision to Steve Forbes.