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I'm sure as you are that there are other factors that were involved in his suicide, but a boxer and his money are soon parted. Ask Tyson.

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Shall I ask Jack Johnson?

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You can't call reality guru Mark Burnett an underdog. He completely changed the game with "Survivor," made a hit out of a show about business -- "The Apprentice" -- when nobody thought it was possible, and he saw the Second Coming of Martha Stewart when most everybody else was making jail jokes.

And yet, what he's done with his latest reality series, "The Contender," is beat the odds -- by a considerable margin. Nobody thought a reality series about boxers would be any good, then everybody in Hollywood set out to steal his idea, touching off a loud debate about rampant theft in the TV business. Then Fox, as it normally does, made a watered-down version, "The Next Great Champ," and beat Burnett and NBC to the proverbial punch. That series tanked, but it forced NBC to hold "The Contender" longer than it really wanted.

Then, as the 16 fighters waited for their shot at fame, one of them, 23- year-old Najai Turpin, killed himself. A theory floated early was that he needed to train, needed to fight, that being held out of the ring until "The Contender" aired was driving him around the bend. Obviously, he had other troubles but people were quick to say that reality television, normally the ready scapegoat in these kinds of affairs, had struck again. It was more bad news for a troubled series that, as fate would have it, is now airing on a troubled network desperate for a hit.

Who knows what the audience -- always the final arbiter of hits -- will decide, but this much is abundantly clear after the 90-minute pilot episode: Burnett has somehow triumphed again, delivering a new reality series that is absolutely riveting, whether you like boxing or not.

"The Contender" succeeds for the same reason a great drama does -- the storytelling is superb. You may not like the medium that Burnett makes his living in, but he's as adept at shaping a story as anyone. His best work shares similar qualities -- high production value, great editing, spot-on casting and a concept that doesn't grow old.

The faces of "The Contender" that everyone will know are Sylvester Stallone (who's also an executive producer along with Hollywood power player Jeffrey Katzenberg) and Sugar Ray Leonard, a boxing legend. But those two are ultimately superfluous to the story. It's the 16 boxers -- all middleweights, maximum fighting weight, 158 -- who give life to the story. The very best reality shows -- "Survivor," "The Amazing Race," etc., succeed because the audience bonds with those in the game. They become the cast. They replace actors. And it only works when the reality show "stars" are compelling.

Not a problem in "The Contender." Boxers are inherent characters. And, with a long line of successful boxing movies -- "Million Dollar Baby" being the latest -- Americans have proved they like pugilism played as drama. Although the boxing in "The Contender" is far better than expected (many of the boxers are highly ranked), it's their personal stories, not their fists, that make this series work.

The premise here is familiar. The fights are sanctioned. They count as wins and losses in the careers of these 16 boxers. The series unfolds with one fight at the end of each episode, until only two boxers remain. They'll fight live for a million dollars on May 24 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. How's that for a sweeps finale?

If "The Contender" becomes a hit -- and it deserves to be -- Burnett may even accomplish his loftiest goal, also mocked by his detractors: saving boxing from itself.

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