ESPN is talking with Burnett about season two. That is good news.
By Robert Morales, Staff Writer
LAS VEGAS -- Sergio Mora of Los Angeles will never have to shout, "I could have been a contender." He is The Contender.
Mora, in a spectacular performance Tuesday at Caesars Palace in the finale of the NBC reality show "The Contender," won the championship with a unanimous, seven-round decision over Peter Manfredo.
Mora's biggest payday had been $7,000. He won $1 million Tuesday.
Mora, 25, won by scores of 68-65, 69-64 and 70-63. The Daily News had Mora winning 68-65. He improves his record to 16-0 and his bank account by a heck of a lot.
After his victory, in front of 5,000 screaming people, Mora hugged his mother, Ines, who Mora said would quit working if he won the big money.
In the postfight news conference, Mora took off his sunglasses to reveal a cut he suffered over his left eye that was still bleeding and had not yet been stitched. He wiped off the blood with a finger, then put the finger in his mouth and licked it clean.
He then talked about the ring conversation with his mother.
"I broke down," said Mora, a 1997 graduate of Schurr High School in Montebello. "I started thinking about all the struggles we had. Four boys in a one-bedroom apartment. Our dad left when I was young. Suddenly, it hit me. One million dollars. I'm a 25-year-old man, but I broke down in my mom's arms."
Although Mora was in the center of the ring plenty during the fight, he also fought extremely well off the ropes, landing sharp counterpunches as Manfredo tried to push the action.
"I like fighting off the ropes," Mora said.
Manfredo, of Providence, R.I., is 24-2. He will receive $250,000 as the runner-up. He said that with a myriad of movie stars and boxing celebrities in attendance, he got away from his game plan, which was to stick the jab in Mora's face.
"I wasn't listening to my corner the way I should have," said Manfredo, 24, who tried to land bombs on Mora, but often missed. "I was supposed to work off the jab."
Mora was cut over the left eye in the first round, but it didn't bleed a lot until he got smacked with a hard shot to the head in the fifth round after he had taken a second to look over at Manfredo's corner and talk a little smack.
It didn't seem to matter. After the round ended, Mora stood near the ropes and posed while staring at Manfredo's cornermen. Referee Joe Cortez ushered Mora back to his corner.
There was a large contingent of supporters for both fighters, but Manfredo seemed to have a few more. Nonetheless, when the lopsided scorecards were read, there were few complaints.
NBC recently announced that "The Contender" would not be picked up for a second season, but co-producer Mark Burnett said afterward that the show's producers are in negotiations with ESPN for a second season.
"This is too good not to continue," Burnett said.
--after that I was hooked! I thought they were all awesome and had great stories--oh yeah, and what Kate said!
