GRADY BREWER AND NORBERTO BRAVO ADVANCE TO THE FINAL 4

By Tom Dickey

   

 

 

    Tuesday night's episode of The Contender featured a doubleheader that would wrap up the quarterfinal round and set up the final four for next week. With Steve Forbes and Cornelius Bundrage already sitting in the semi final round, the final two spots were up for grabs. In the first part of the doubleheader, veteran Grady Brewer took on Mike Stewart. Brewer advanced to this position by defeating Vinroy Barrett in the first round. Stewart got to this point by the most dramatic of fashion, by knocking out Ebo Elder while behind on the scorecards.

     Unfortunately for Stewart he got himself in the same position he was in against Elder, only this time he couldn't find that big punch to knock Stewart out. Brewer came out dominating, outworking Stewart, and utilizing his speed. Brewer was able to get inside and get off before Stewart could do anything. Despite Contender trainer Jeremy Williams pleas to Stewart to get busy, Stewart just could not dig down, and Brewer never changed anything up. Brewer consistently beat Stewart to the punch, landed the bigger shots, and was much faster then Stewart on his way to winning every round decisively. Brewer looked impressive again and is now one fight from fighting for 500,000$ dollars. Brewer will fight Norberto Bravo in the semi-finals.

    The Gary Balletto - Norberto Bravo semi-final match was one of the more anticipated fights of the quarterfinal round. A brawl was expected and that's just what occurred.  Balletto had a good opening round. He was able to keep Bravo off of him and land some big shots. But, Balletto's wide and wild shots would get him in trouble later in the fight. Bravo got back to his game plan in round two, as he smothered Balletto getting inside and doing great work. Bravo was able to push the fight to a toe to toe setting, which is just what he wanted, and he was able to find a consistent home for his inside uppercut. Round three was very close and could have gone either way, though two of the judges ended up giving the round to Bravo. Balletto landed the bigger shots, mainly because that's all he was throwing, but Bravo was doing the better work.

    Rounds four and five were all Bravo. Bravo got inside and started punishing Balletto with uppercuts and everything else in his arsenal. Balletto left himself open and off balance on numerous occasions while trying to land a haymaker, and Bravo took advantage of it. Balletto seemed to be trying to change the fight with one shot, as he consistently only threw one shot at a time. The one shot that he would throw was usually a haymaker that left himself off balance, and Bravo made sure that he paid for his mistake. A desperate Balletto looked like a tough man fighter in the last two rounds as his huge shots missed wildly left and right. As the fight went to the cards, Bravo won by scores of 49-46-49-46,and 48-47. The veteran Bravo who has already won a brand new truck, is now one fight away from the championship.

    Next week's episode will also be a doubleheader, showing both semi-final match-ups with the finale in Los Angeles less then two weeks away. The semi-finals will go as such with the winners fighting for the Contender title and a half million dollars at the Staples Center on September 26th.

      Steve Forbes vs Cornelius Bundrage

      Grady Brewer vs Norberto Bravo


 

9-13-06       

 



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