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In Reality, ‘Contender’ Has Become a Winner

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Boxing is in a slump. There is a heavyweight title fight on HBO pay-per-view Saturday night featuring Hasim Rahman against someone named Oleg Maskaev. But one cable industry expert doubted the fight would get 200,000 buys. By comparison, the Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield title match in June 1997 drew 2 million buys.

There is one boxing format, however, that is suddenly showing signs of success -- “The Contender.” The reality series has been revamped from its first season on NBC and is now on ESPN Tuesday nights at 7.

Through four weeks, it is averaging a 1.2 rating and each show is reaching an average of 1.1 million homes. That represents a 33% increase for the same time slot last year.

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One reason for the solid ratings might be that the show has gone from a heavy emphasis on reality entertainment to more emphasis on quality sports competition.

“ESPN is the perfect home for the show,” said Jeffrey Katzenberg, co-founder of DreamWorks and one of the creators of “The Contender.”

The lead producer is Mark Burnett, creator of the “Survivor” series. Last year Sylvester Stallone and Sugar Ray Leonard were co-hosts, but Stallone is now busy filming another “Rocky” movie, leaving Leonard as the lone host.

The show is a slick, high-budget production, but it took criticism last year when word got out that the producers wanted to do some excessive creative editing with the fights, even possibly changing the chronological order of the rounds to make them more dramatic.

That never happened, according to executive producer Lisa Hennessy.

It is clear from watching the show that the fights are edited, but not to that extreme.

The series started four weeks ago with 16 fighters and is now down to 12. Each show provides an inside look at the fighters and their families and friends and concludes with a five-round fight. The losers go home until only two are left. The live finale will take place Sept. 26 at Staples Center, with the winner getting $500,000.

All the other fights were taped in January and February in a converted warehouse near the Sixth Street Bridge in downtown Los Angeles. The fighters lived around the corner in a renovated loft, which included an ultra-modern kitchen where special chefs prepared elaborate training table meals.

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The boxers, culled from a nationwide search, are all professionals with winning records, and all in the 148-pound weight class.

Of the series, boxing promoter Bob Arum said, “It’s great for boxing, although the talent level leaves a little to be desired.”

But, he added, the fights are entertaining.

Short Waves

ABC Sports will be no more come Sept. 2. Instead, it will be known as “ESPN on ABC” as the cable sports network becomes even more dominant. ... Despite all the hype and promotion, the X Games got only mediocre ratings in Los Angeles. The coverage on ABC Saturday got a respectable 2.3 rating but only a 1.8 on Sunday. The coverage on ESPN got a 1.0 Saturday and a 0.9 Sunday. Nationally, ESPN got a 0.9 both days, the same as last year. An ESPN spokesman said the national ABC ratings were not available Thursday. Also, ABC’s X Games telecasts over the weekend averaged a 1.1 national rating, down from a 1.2 last year. ... The Clippers and Channel 5 have entered into a new three-year agreement that calls for 30 telecasts per season, up from 25. The Clippers will have 11 national TV appearances next season, compared to one last season. ... Fox has hired San Diego Padres announcer and USC graduate Matt Vasgersian as an NFL play-by-play announcer.

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