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I don't mind that they have a few guys with professional records, but really, is the Contender title (ok, I know there's a million bucks to go along with it too) really so prestigious that former world champions want to fight for it? The reason the first season was so great was that it was focused on the boxers themselves. The second (and probably this one too) focused much more on the competition--seriously, did anyone here not think "Who?" when Grady Brewer won? He was barely there until the last few episodes. It was like Survivor: Guatemala all over again.

I do like that the cast has quite a few international boxers though--that's pretty cool, and I don't think the first two seasons had nearly as many (don't know if the first season had any at all). I felt kind of bad for that one guy whose accent was so strong that his confessional had to be subtitled...I think that's a first.

The premiere was ok but it didn't feel like an episode, more of a behind-the-scenes look at the final stages of casting. And I really miss the old trainers, these two guys were incredibly mild. And I'm with Jeff and Shinjo; how does a tournament work with 10 boxers, and what was the overweight guy doing there in the first place? I'm not blaming him, I'm blaming the producers; what's the point of either having a guy who isn't in the weight class or would have to lose a lot of weight quickly to be able to compete?

And don't get me wrong, I like Sugar Ray, he seems like a nice guy...but why not base the cuts on who did the worst on each exercise? Oh wait...because "he's a good kid, I like his heart." How many times did we hear that in the premiere alone?

Everything about this season feels like it was rushed together at the last minute. Nobody heard about it until a few weeks before it premiered, a third of the guys aren't even fighting, they replaced Tommy for some inexplicable reason...not having very high hopes.

I've got a bad feeling that with the whole "Every Round Counts" mantra they have now that they might actually cut one of the winners in order to break down the semi-finals.

Shinjo got it!

The second episode was pretty weak. It's pretty disheartening when you had two boxers who had already fought each other in the past...it really does take something out of it when people come in with grudges already. It was nice to see them so friendly to each other after the fight though. The promo for next week did look pretty good though, with Max possibly getting blindsided by who's fighting.

I'm curious as to what happened to Henry Buchanan. Did he get a confessional in the premiere? If not, he may be the first contestant ever without a confessional. The recap made it obvious who was coming back but I guess there wasn't a choice. But how long was it between the cuts and the first fight? Everyone made it sound like it was a while and that the guy had put on some weight since.

I'm beginning to think that this is a show that really couldn't work past its first season. Every episode is basically just two guys training for a fight, using the same phrases week after week ("I'm gonna get out there and fight my hardest," "My opponent is good, I'm not gonna deny that, but I'm great," "I've never had an opportunity like this, and I'm gonna make the most of it"); family members coming in right before and after the fight and hugging/kissing/praying; etc. Not that the first season was perfect, since the challenges were stupid and resulted in Bonsante hurting his leg and allowing Brinkley to make it to the final four despite being a mediocre fighter. But EPMB was smart enough to know that focusing on the families and personal lives of the boxers was the only way to make each episode different from the one before.