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4 left standing in The Contender Australia

Boxer Kariz Kariuki last night secured his place as one of four finalists in FOX8's reality series.

contdBoxer Kariz Kariuki last night secured his place as one of four finalists in FOX8’s The Contender Australia reality series, when he defeated Nader Hamdan.

Hamdan was hoping the bout would realise his last chance before retirement, but it was not to be.

After nine weeks there are now just 4 remaining from 14 professional super middleweight boxers.

The finalists, who will be determined in next week’s episode, a double header fight, will then go head-to-head in a live final on January 11, 2010 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre to take out the title of The Contender Australia and the chance to fight Anthony Mundine in March 2010.

Granada Australia’s adaptation of the Mark Burnett format has not been without some criticism, mostly for the decisions of judges.

Ousted fighter Junior Talipeau was furious over a decision that saw him lose whilst trainer Johnny Lewis approached NSW Boxing executive director Craig Waller after concerns about some of the results. A number of readers at TV Tonight have also expressed their fury at some of the decisions across the series:

– “Anyone with eyes could see that this was not just a win but a walkover. The first thing that came to mind after the result was that there must have been a hidden agenda behind the result and I say this because all the judges were way off the mark!”

– “To Junior… you know that you won that fight…. your hand speed is excellent! Your foot work is great! (Work on your guard) and you my friend deserve a shot at the mouth Mundine.”

– “I watched the fight between Victor and Junior last night on N.Z Sky and after watching that fight i thought it was a disgrace that victor had so called won the fight. How can the judge say Victor had won when clearly junior had won. The whole staduim and blue team and even the trainers had thought junior had won.”

– “If The N.S.W Boxing association wishes for people to take their sport in a serious manner, they need to seriously consider these flawed decisions made by these judges in the previous two fights of The Contender Series , Australia.”

– “Honestly after last night I think the judges should be looked at for bribery. It was a disgusting display and quite clearly even to a novice that Junior won.”

-“I dont know how to score boxing but Junior was the clear winner in my eyes and my hubby believes it should have been scored 3/5 or 4/5 to Junior.”

The four finalists remaining in The Contender Australia are:

Garth Wood– Former NRL player who was once voted the fittest athlete feels like his career in boxing has just begun with a short but impressive start with six fights and five wins under his belt. Describing himself as a boxer/puncher he is currently ranked 10th in the Australian National Boxing Federation rankings in the super middleweight division.

Career record: 6 fights, 5 wins (3 knock outs), 1 loss (1 knock out), 0 draws, rounds boxed 17, KO % 50

Josh Clenshaw- This two time (Jnr middleweight and middleweight) Australian champion made a comeback to the ring 20 months ago and after a couple of fights lost 20 kilograms returning to super middleweight division. He is currently ranked 8th in the Australian National Boxing Federation rankings in the super middleweight division.

Career record: 44 fights, 28 wins (13 Knock outs), 16 losses (3 knock outs), 0 draw, rounds boxed 296, KO% 29.55

Kariz Kariuki: A softly spoken fighter, Kariz prefers to do his talking in the ring with an impressive record of 18 wins, 17 of them by way of knock out. With a wealth of experience Kariz is currently ranked 8th in the World Boxing Organisation rankings and 1st in the Australian National Boxing Federation rankings in the super middleweight division.

Career record: 27 fights, 19 wins (knock outs 18), 7 losses (knock outs 4), 2 draws, rounds boxed 126, KO% 64.29

Victor Oganov: Russian born “Destroyer” Victor Oganov instills fear in his opponents with his professional career record of 32 wins with most by way of knock out with only two losses to American boxers in the States. In the ring he says he is a big puncher who is strong and sharp and his specialty is his power.

Career record: 32 fights (knock outs 28), 2 losses (knock outs 2), draws 0, rounds boxed 112, KO% 87.5.

The show airs Mondays 8.30pm on FOX8.

9 Responses

  1. Chelsea, your friend is full of it.

    I really worked on The Contender months ago and I can assure you the fights were not rigged.

    There were, however, some poor decisions.

  2. Chelsea your ‘friend’ is wrong. Plus the final is live it is fought months after the rest of the matches to give the fighters a chance to properly prepare..surely your friend would have known that?? lol

  3. I know someone who worked on this ‘reality’ series and they said the whole thing was rigged. Plus it was filmed months ago, therefore the finale is not live.

  4. why dont you mention the way big tough nader handled his defeat? and veektor in my opinion should not be there either. the whole series was ruined by these two. i would love to know what the lionheart said to kariz after that fight, i think nader is very lucky that kariz is a very nice person. my best highlight of the show was nader being well beaten by kariz and my next best highlight will be veektor being beaten by anyone…..

  5. You’re knowledge is invaluable David. I was going to order the Mundine v Medley fight just for The Contender Final but now I know I don’t have to. Cheers for saving me $50.

  6. Main Event:
    Mundine v Medley (and The Contender Finale) Live Pay Per View Monday, January 11, from 7.00pm.
    The Contender finale will be shown Live on FOX8 and Main Event.
    Only Main Event will broadcast the pay-per-view coverage of Anthony Mundine v Robert Medley Live from the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

    FOX8:
    Contender Finale 8:30pm Mon Jan 11 FOX8. Live final. Tonight the two finalists will go head to head in the ring for their chance to win the title of The Contender Australia, and to forever change their lives and the lives of the people they love, and have the opportunity to fight Anthony Mundine. Live from the Entertainment Centre in Sydney.

  7. I think he was asking about The Contender final which is on January 11 on the Mundine v Medley undercard.
    I wonder if Fox 8 will show that free and not show the Mundine fight?
    Surely they wouldn’t not show the final after showing the series?

  8. Is there any chance David you could please find out if the final of The Contender is being replayed on FOX8, or if the only way to see it is to order the Anthony Mundine on Main Event.. Cheers.

    1. Mundine fight isn’t until March by which stage the series itself will have ended. Current Contender eps get replays on FOX8. So if you’re asking if they will play the Mundine fight free later on, I don’t know and I doubt they will say until after the Pay Per View is over.

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