Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

A little ‘Sugar’ sweetens lineup for ‘The Contender’

A fighter for 15 years, Ishe "Sugar Shay" Smith was on the verge of quitting boxing.

At age 26 with a record of 14-0 and 7 KOs, the 1996 Durango High School graduate was still very much in his prime. But, to hear him tell it, shady managers who took more than their fair share of his earnings had soured him on the sport.

"Bad promoters, people not paying what I was worth, taking money under the table -- I was very disgusted with boxing," Smith said.

Then Smith, along with 15 other boxers, was selected among 9,000 hopefuls to be on the "The Contender," the latest reality series from Mark Burnett.

Not surprisingly, "The Contender" has changed Smith's view of boxing.

And he says it's going to change the minds of others as well.

"We can't kid ourselves, boxing hasn't been in a good state in years," Smith, a Las Vegas native, said. "But this is going to change boxing. Even fans who turned away from boxing, this is going to get them back into the sport."

"The Contender" premieres tonight with a 1 1/2-hour episode at 9:30 on NBC (KVBC Channel 3). The series' second episode airs at 10 p.m. Thursday. The show moves into its regular 8 p.m. slot on Sunday.

In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Jeffrey Katzenberg of DreamWorks SKG, who, along with Burnett and Sylvester Stallone, served as executive producer of "The Contender," said restoring the tarnished image of the sport was the motivation behind the series.

"To be able to reclaim boxing, both for boxers and for fans, was the thing that inspired us to do this," he said.

Both Katzenberg and Burnett were licensed as boxing promoters in California and Nevada and are serving in that role for the show's boxers. Their plan, Katzenberg said, is to create a more boxer-friendly sport with limits on how much fighters pay managers along with the freedom to pick their own bouts.

"We're going to build a legitimate boxing community," Katzenberg said.

Smith is excited about the possibilities -- not just for himself, but for all fighters.

"We won't need a manager coming around and taking our money," he said. "All a fighter needs is a good sports agent and not someone who is going take 30 percent, like a manager does."

"The Contender" features 16 fighters living and training together, as well as competing against each other weekly in physical challenges and in the ring. Each episode culminates in a five-round bout where the winner moves a step closer to the final-round competition.

The final two boxers will fight at Caesars Palace on May 24 for a $1 million prize and a four-year contract.

While Fox failed this fall with a similar boxing series, "The Next Great Champ," early reviews of "The Contender" have been generally favorable.

Perhaps the show's biggest obstacle occurred last month with the suicide of one of the show's contestants, Najai Turpin, a 23-year-old boxer from Philadelphia.

Producers for "The Contender" and a family member have said the suicide was unrelated to the series or its outcome. Burnett, meanwhile, has left the footage of Turpin in the series.

Smith, who became friends with Turpin while filming the series, said he knows the fighter would have wanted the show to continue, despite his death.

"If Najai was here, that would be his request, the show (must) go on," Smith said. "He was a great person, full of life, and he wouldn't want us to give up on it.

"I have to respect Mark Burnett for not changing anything. Najai will go out with dignity and will rest in peace ..."

Still, Smith said, it has been difficult for him to come to terms with Turpin's suicide.

"It hit me a little hard that he killed himself," he said. "I still haven't accepted it -- I don't know if my mind will accept it. He was so full of life.

"My mind is still confused. I sometimes hear him talking to me, telling me, 'I didn't do it, Ishe. Find the killer.' Maybe it's my imagination, I just don't know what to think."

Born and raised in Las Vegas, Smith is married and has a 3-year-old son. In fact, Smith credits his wife, LaToya, with not letting him walk away from boxing.

"I believe behind every (successful) man is a strong woman," he said. "I was disgusted and wanted to quit a few times, but she wouldn't let me."

Smith, a devout Christian -- he is an usher at Mountaintop Faith Ministries -- said the experience has not only changed him as a fighter but also as a husband and father.

"Being around those fighters, you have to have patience, you have to know how to control yourself," he said. "It's helped me have more patience around my son and around my wife."

At the moment, Smith and his family live with his in-laws. He and his wife are close to buying a home of their own.

Making the mortgage payments should be relatively easy, if the predictions of some of the show's producers come true and Smith emerges as a star on the show.

The fighter, though, isn't convinced celebrity is in his future. He even has a wager with one of the producers that for every time the fighter is recognized by a fan, he has to pay $1 to the producer.

"(The producer) says it's going to make him rich," Smith said with a laugh. "I know he's probably licking his chops, but it hasn't happened yet."

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