Contender Commentary – Bonsante Shocks the Shanty, Episode 6 by Panndyra, Goddess of Chaos
Last week, Peter Manfredo Jr. returned to the ring and won. He faced his demons and is a much stronger fighter as a result. He gave the East their first, real taste of victory and it was sweet. The West wasn’t liking their time in the loser’s corner; however, they felt they’d rise again quickly enough (and they did. For more on that, check out this week’s recap!)
What was really a huge issue this week was the fact that Anthony Bonsante went against his team (the West) and chose a fighter he wasn’t supposed to. Apparently, the teams have entered into a sort of gentlemen’s agreement and picked the last three fights, based on best skill sets, etc. Anthony was slated to fight Jimmy Lange. He knew it, the East knew it – everyone knew it. What they didn’t know was that Anthony didn’t want to fight Lange.
He felt that the lanky, 6 ft 1 in Lange, would give him too much trouble. Bonsante (who’s name means “Good Health” in French - originally I said it was "good saint" and well I should've checked with babelfish first, okay!) is a great dad. He’s a single dad to his two pre-teen children. At 33, he’s older than most of the other guys and sees this show as his ‘last shot’ to make a good financial future for his children.
He didn’t tell his team what he was doing ahead of time. He had them believing that he was going to fight Jimmy as agreed and he even asked the team to help him by winning the challenge so he could have the psychological benefit of calling out his guy.
His team complied and when Anthony called out Brett Cooper, a Christ-loving Tennesse-based boxer, they were angry at him. Both teams were pissed off at Anthony. He made no friends with this decision. Nor did he want to.
The night before the fight, all the guys went out except for Anthony – he said he prefers to stay in and think about the fight. However, I don’t think the rest of the house wanted him there any way. Anthony is persona non grata now. Even during the pre-fight interview, Ishe called him out as a traitor to the team.
During the fight, the West largely rooted for the fighter from the East, Brett. Anthony had his kids there – they showed up to surprise him. He fought like an animal. He really tore into Brett. 38 seconds into the 3rd round, the ref had to call off the fight. It was a knockout, not a knock-down.
Now, in my opinion, I can see both sides of the issue. For Anthony, he has a right to choose his own destiny and pick the fight he wants to fight. Ishe had called out Ahmed and that’s why he was ‘forced’ into the fight – and he didn’t like that either. I understand that it looks like he chose the easier fight and maybe he did.
Now, he has a target on his back. Ishe wants to fight him because he and Brett were friends. Fine. Reality TV shows aren’t a place to make ‘lifelong friends’ – at least not as a primary goal. This is a competition. Anthony is a grown man. He should be able to make his own decisions. The team should realize that and learn to respect that.
Having said that – Anthony should have just said to the team – “hey, I don’t want to fight Lange”. Instead, he had Lange train harder and he talked up like he was going to fight him until after the challenge was won. That was not exactly the best way to handle the situation.
These are my opinions, folks. You have every right to disagree with me. Regardless, Anthony now has a big ole target on his back – and well, he’s the one they’re all gunning for. The drama’s heating up in the house.
If you haven’t been tuning into the Contender yet – why not? If you don’t catch it on Sundays, it’s on CNBC Monday Evenings at 8pm EST!
If you want to share your thoughts on this commentary or your opinions on Bonsante’s decision, email me at panndyra@realityshack.com. I’ll read ‘em even if I don’t agree with ‘em.
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