The Next Great Champ premiere recap

Originally published on www.realitytvcalendar.com on September 8, 2004.

The idea of a reality TV show about boxing is so simple and so brilliant that it’s hard to imagine why it has taken this long to happen.  So, of course, we don’t just get one show about this, but two, and the first entry is The Next Great Champ on Fox.  This is the show with Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and legendary trainers Lou Duva and Tommy Brooks.  NBC will counter-punch with their own offering later this fall, involving Sylvester Stallone and Mark Burnett.

Fox’s show offers up “twelve of the best unknown boxers” around, which sounds like an oxymoron to me.  The show began with a lightning-quick introduction of a few of the guys, including an ex-con, a prison guard, and, of course, “a pretty boy with a chip on his shoulder,” who also happens to be white.  As if this isn’t enough drama, each boxer brings a loved one along to serve as a confidante and cheerleader.  The boxers will be competing for $750,000, a contract with De La Hoya’s company, and a sanctioned WBO title fight—and getting that stipulation is quite a coup, as it actually does guarantee that one of these guys will get a shot at a legitimate title.

Training began immediately and the De La Hoya-Brooks-Duva triumvirate watched closely for insight into how they would rank the fighters.  The ranking board is clearly a crucial element of the show, as the lowest-ranked boxer each week must pick one of the top three to fight, with the low man battling only for survival while the better contender gets a shot at twenty five grand.  But either way, the loser goes home.

First up was a workout challenge with quite a bit at stake; specifically, $10,000 in cash and the guaranteed #1 ranking.  Each boxer was dangled upside-down to perform inverted sit ups, punching three targets as many times as they could in 90 seconds.  Two contestants tied with a high score of 27, including Dave “Danger” Pareja, the aforementioned white guy, who won a heads-up face off.  One other boxer was docked points for cheating on his sit ups, as he used his arms to help pull himself up.  Great idea, to paint yourself as a fraud to the judges right off the bat.  Anyway, cocky white guy’s victory was not well received by the other fighters.  “When David won the challenge I honestly expected a lot more people to be more congratulatory than they were,” said PJ, his wife.  Right.  I don’t see a lot of that kind of attitude on ANY reality show, let alone one that revolves around the contestants literally beating each other up.

Oscar, Tommy, and Lou then gathered to determine the rest of the rankings, with Tommy quickly asserting himself as the no-BS, straight-talking hard case of the group.  He wanted to send the sit up cheater to the bottom of the ranks, while they all discussed everything from fighting style to the proverbial “who wants it more.”  We haven’t really seen enough of anyone yet to formulate much of an opinion, so we’ll take their word for it when they say that Arsenio “RC” Reyes deserves the #12 spot.  Although I wish someone would explain how he got the nickname “RC” when neither his first nor last name starts with either corresponding letter.

After the rankings were announced, everyone moved into a sweet loft apartment, although the furnishings weren’t quite up to par for our number one ranked fighter.  “I don’t like that there’s not a Jacuzzi or a hot tub and I don’t like that we don’t have a TV,” said Pareja.  It has taken this guy about 30 minutes of airtime to officially become the resident prima donna.  Meanwhile, Reyes had to make his choice from the top three and he appeared conflicted.  “I didn’t know what I was gonna do,” he lamented, although anyone who has ever watched reality TV before knew precisely what he was going to do.  He didn’t choose Otis Griffin, the #2 boxer who looked tough enough to eat broken glass.  In describing Griffin, Pareja stated “just because a guy’s big, black, and ugly that doesn’t mean he can fight.”  Wow.  This guy’s almost too good to be true.  Ladies and gentlemen, this show is barely half an hour old and we’ve got our villain.  Reyes also passed on fighting his old friend from Miami, who was ranked #3.  Naturally, he picked the mouthy white guy.  “I can’t wait for you to bust him up,” said PJ about Reyes.  Classic.  I love this show already.  Through five Rocky movies Adrian never got one line of dialogue that good.

So we’re off for a four round bout, with official weigh-ins and sanctioning by the state commission.  We got a nice training montage, with each guy spouting off clichés and trash talk, all of it laid over “Eye of the Tiger.”  This is really another tremendous addition to this show.  Sly must be fuming that the rival boxing show scored his tune.  Honestly, you cannot do any better than scoring “Eye of the Tiger” as your theme song.  This is an absolute victory for Fox.

The fight begins, and for two rounds it essentially consists of RC beating on David.  The camera work was great here, as they opted for a combination of reality and edited content—the fight itself is real enough, but boiled down to the essentials so it feels, looks, and sounds much more cinematic.  It’s a great way to go.  In round three, Danger Dave shows some life, hammering RC with a nice uppercut.  Tommy Brooks, working as RC’s corner man, lets his fighter know that he hasn’t won anything yet.  Round four looks pretty close to even, with maybe a slight edge to Dave again.  This fight is way too close to call.

But that’s why they have judges, and call it they do: a unanimous decision for David “Danger” Pareja, the pretty white boy with a chip on one shoulder and a smack-talking wife on the other, a woman who even managed to work in the #1 reality show cliché of all time, the immortal line “we didn’t come here to make friends.”  Thanks for clearing that up, because I was a little confused about why your husband came here while I watched the two guys punch each other really hard in the face.  Dave wins $25,000, while RC gets a trip home, and honestly, it looks like he needs it.  The guy was in tears before the fight even started, and his own brother practically had to goad him into the ring.  Simply put, RC definitely did not have the eye of the tiger tonight.