Alfonso Gomez, one of The Contenders, Season 1 headliners still active, still winning

How many of the original cast of The Contenders Fight Series: Season One can you name? Four of these gents are still active participants.

Under the topic of, “When is it time to hang up the gloves?”

On July 9, 2014, there was a very interesting bout between 33 year-old Alfonso Gomez (23-6-2, 12 KOs) from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico and 29 year-old Ed Paredes (35-3-1, 23 KOs) of Hollywood, Florida at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Paredes’ commendable resume indicated that over a four year period he’s held four regional or minor titles to include the WBC Latino Welterweight title. In recent fights, he has gone the distance in a loss to Carlos “King” Molina (22-5-2) of Chicago, Illinois and had a draw and TKO victory over Joey “Twinkle Fingers” Hernandez (23-2-1, 13 KOs). 

Gomez, as you might recall, was one of the stars of The Contender (TV Series), Season One which aired in 2005. It was hosted by former boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard and actor/screenwriter Sylvester Stallone who is best known for introducing the world to “Rocky” and “Rambo”.

Along with Gomez, who began to box at the age of 10 and had an amateur record of 80 wins and only 10 losses, The Contender featured such notables as Peter “The Pride Of Providence” Manfredo, Jr. (40-7-0, 21 KOs), Ishe Smith (26-6-0, 12 KOs), Jesse Brinkley (35-7-0, 22 KOs) and the eventual prize winner, Sergio Mora (26-3-2, 9 KOs), who took home the $1,000,000 grand prize. 

Of the 16 original pro boxers who were signed in 2004, all but four have retired. On May 31, 2014, 43 year-old Anthony Bonsante, now a light heavyweight, defeated Sam Hill; now 35, and under contract with Floyd Mayweather Jr., Ishe Smith knocked Ryan Davis out in the second round of their bout on May 2, 2014 and “The Latin Snake” Mora scored a TKO victory May 31, 2014 ironically over Sam “The Rock City Cobra” Rogers. 

And finally, we have Mr. Gomez who over a 14 year career has a record of five wins and five losses against some of the best in the business: losses to Peter Manfredo Jr., Shawn Porter, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Miguel Cotto and Ishe Smith while he has wins over the same Peter Manfredo Jr., Arturo Gatti, Jesse Brinkley, Jose Luis Castillo and Jesus Soto Karass. 

So, after working in his chosen profession for over 23 years, ever since his Pop laced up his gloves at age 10, Gomez ends up defeating Paredes by an unanimous decision on July 9, 2014.

On July 8th these two gentleman, Alfonso Gomez (l) and Ed Paredes (r) weighed in for their 10 round battle at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Judge Adalaide Byrd scored the bout 96-93 for Gomez, judge Richard Houck scored the bout 98-92 for Gomez and finally judge Dave Moretti scored the bout 99-92 for Gomez. 

After Paredes (not Gomez) scored two knockdowns, one in round four and the other in round six, which usually means Paredes should have been awarded (two) 10-8 rounds due to the knockdowns, we see where the judges’ scores do not reflect this. 

Before you start carping, “of course, the fight was fixed” you need to watch the attached video which shows Paredes, throughout the fight, unable to put any combinations together.

As far as the two flash knockdowns, both were caused by Gomez swinging wildly and then losing his balance. The momentum from these two big overhand rights missing their target caused him to fall forward on his own accord. All Paredes needed to do was make these two glancing or shoving motions to Gomez’s back and shoulder.  

After watching this fight, you may feel Gomez has a lot left in the tank. To quote Sugar Ray Robinson, “You always say, ‘I’ll quit when I start to slide. And then one morning you wake up and realize you done slid.”