Freddy Curiel

Sugar Ray Leonard will lead a team of American fighters against a team of British fighters in “The Contender Challenge,” which debuts April 10 on ESPN. The Ryder Cup, which pits the best golfers from the United States against Europe’s best, has become one of the most popular events on the sports calendar.

Producers of “The Contender” reality series and top British promoter Frank Warren hope to replicate the Ryder Cup’s success with the introduction of boxing’s Sugar Ray Leonard Cup competition next month.

On March 30 at the 10,000-seat Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle, England, Leonard, the all-time great former champion and one of the faces of “The Contender” franchise, will captain a team American fighters from the first two seasons of the series.

They will box against a team of seven Warren-promoted British fighters, which will be captained by Hall of Fame former featherweight champion Barry McGuigan. The team that wins the majority of the eight-round
bouts will take possession of the Sugar Ray Leonard Cup.

Although the fights will all take place on one night, they will be recorded and serve as the basis for “The Contender Challenge,” a six-episode series debuting. April 10 on ESPN. It will air on ITV in Britain.

Leonard, McGuigan and Warren met this week with the British press to discuss the event. Warren hopes to make it an annual competition.

“The idea is that the cup will become a regular on the sporting calendar and that next year we will be taking a team to the US,” Warren said.
Leonard, a 1976 Olympic gold medalist, is aware of how important nationalism can play in boxing and how such a competition can help build stars.

“I am really excited by this idea,” Leonard said. “In my era, the fans knew who the fighters were. There was Tommy Hearns, Marvin Hagler, Roberto Duran and me, and the fans all knew our stories. ‘The Contender’ has humanized boxing and helped today’s public understand the fighters involved in the program, and what sacrifices they make in pursuit of their dreams.”

Unlike “The Contender,” the fights won’t be limited to one weight class.
“Contender” executive Jeff Wald said Team USA isn’t finalized, but he expects it to include Freddie Curiel, Alfonso Gomez, Cornelius Bundrage, Walter Wright and Jonathan Reid.

The British team is expected to include Paul Smith, Ross Minter (son of Alan Minter, who reigned as world middleweight champion in 1980), Nigel Wright and Wayne Alexander.

“I like tradition and I like rivalries,” Wald said. “I like the sport not to be just about one person. I think teams and countries resonate with sports fans. The Ryder Cup has been a very successful series. I
would love to see the Sugar Ray Leonard Cup be that tradition in boxing. We want people to walk out of the arena and say they had a really good boxing night, that those kids fought there hearts out.”

ESPN will address one of the chief criticisms of “The Contender,” which is that the actual bouts are heavily edited and not shown in their entirety. That won’t be the case for the “The Contender Challenge.”

“We’ll capture the fights like we do with the World Series of Poker,” said ESPN’s Ron Wechsler, vice-president of development and production for the network’s original entertainment arm, which will oversee the series. “We’ll have the fights and some behind-the-scenes stuff to go with them, but primarily it will be the fights. We know some of our fight fans have an issue with the way ‘The Contender’ fights are edited. On this series, they will certainly be shown in their entirety.”

Golden Boy Promotions put on a similar World Cup-style event in 2005, matching Mexican fighters with fighters from Thailand on a six-fight card, including four world title fights. GBP is planning another one this
summer, which will match Mexicans versus Filipinos.