The Contender: Episode 4 Recap!

September 25, 2007

By Matt Richardson

Super middleweight Wayne Johnsen bucked the trend and scored a win for the blue team when he won a five-round unanimous decision over Miguel Hernandez in Tuesday night's episode of "The Contender" on ESPN.

After Jaidon Codrington and Sam Soliman won the first two fights of the tournament for the gold team, Johnsen got his squad back on track winning a decision by scores of 50-45 (twice) and 48-47.

Johnsen was much busier than his smaller opponent in the first though Hernandez fought better on the inside in the second. Hernandez appeared to hurt Johnsen in the third with a hook. Hernandez played to the crowd too much though and failed to capitalize on his momentum. Johnsen got back to working a stiff jab in the fourth and going into the final round the result was inevitable.

Gold team captain Buddy McGirt told Hernandez he needed a knockout to win the fight so when Hernandez failed to even win the final round the decision was predictable.

With the win, Johnsen stays in the hunt for "The Contender" championship and the million-dollar prize. Hernandez, meanwhile, goes home.

In other "Contender" news, Sam Soliman was promoted to number two in the "power rankings" for his wide decision over Max Alexander in the previous fight of the series.

In a more somber moment of the show, Codrington pledged to win the entire tournament after being struck with the unfortunate news of his father's death.