Brandon Adams is the winner of the fifth season of “The Contender,” putting himself one step closer to potentially getting a world title shot.
Adams defeated Shane Mosley Jr. in the finals of the reality show, aimed at giving up-and-coming boxers a chance to elevate themselves to potential title contention. Adams dominated the fight, winning a wide unanimous decision (100-90, 100-90, 99-91).
The fight was one-sided throughout all 10 rounds as Adams repeatedly landed the left hook upstairs and worked the body with little resistance. Mosley landed perhaps a handful of clean punches throughout the bout and never used his massive height advantage to get the upper hand. Adams nearly knocked Mosley down a number of times, but even so, he was still able to effectively win virtually every round on his power alone.
With the win, Adams also received a $250,000 prize as well as a top 10 ranking in the official WBA rankings at middleweight. This means that Adams will be eligible to challenge for any of its two world titles. The current WBA “super” champion is Canelo Alvarez while the “regular” champion is Rob Brant, who won the title in October with a win over Ryota Murata.
It was an astounding journey to winning the finals for Adams, who entered the tournament three years removed from the sport since his last fight. Adams entered the 16-man tournament when the show first aired and opened with a fourth-round knockout win over Tyrone Brunson. Adams then followed it up with decision wins over Ievgen Khytrov and Eric Walker to advance to the finals.
