08:45 AM EDT on Thursday, May 26, 2005

A year ago I walked across the street from the Journal to the Rhode Island Convention Center to see Peter Manfredo Jr. fight Anthony Bonsante, one of roughly 1,000 people in attendance. Rest assured there was no Sly Stallone. No Sugar Ray Leonard. No national television. No James Caan or Cameron Diaz or the other celebrities in the first row. No Vegas glitz.

And maybe most of all, no sense it was important to anyone outside of the insular world of boxing.

Oh what a difference a year makes.

Not to mention television.

Let's not kid ourselves here. Peter Manfredo Jr. did not get to be this state's newest sports hero because of what he did inside the ropes of a boxing ring, even if he was 21-0 after that fight against Bonsante. He got there because he became a television star, one of a handful of young unknown fighters who got to be on The Contender, a reality TV show. They became the anointed, plucked out of the relative obscurity of boxing in this country, showcased on a TV show.

Forget about Tuesday night's final for a second. At least we saw a real fight.

Before that, we saw what The Contender's directors wanted us to see, an edited fight, the best possible drama. No surprise. This was a television show, Survivor with gloves. So we saw the personal stories, the attempt to put a human face on what is the most cruelest of sports. We heard about how the boxers were fighting for their families, their mother, their future, in search of a better life, whatever. As if at the heart of all this blood, sweat and tears, this was really about the American Dream, a theme as timeless as the country itself.

The Contender was good at that, no question about it. It was skillfully done, the emotion constantly in your face, to the point that when one of these kids lost a fight and had to go back to their real lives you felt for them, saw their dreams crumble right in front of you.

Manipulative?

Of course.

Every shot of Manfredo's wife and young child was manipulative.

But all drama is manipulative, constantly in search of our heart strings.

The money only added to it all. Has there become anything more American than chasing the big money, the big score? And in case we had forgotten that, Stallone and the others were always there to remind us, how this was the kind of money that changed lives, a contemporary version of the old TV show The Millionaire.

Nor did it matter who the fighters were. Not really. Television proved long ago it can make a star out of anyone. Call it the Tiny Tim Syndrome.

So what happens now?

Interesting question.

It was telling that Stallone started talking about a rematch around the third round Tuesday night. If he said it once, he said it 10 times. How there should be a rematch. How much he wanted to see a rematch. How both fighters deserved a rematch, blah, blah, blah. Get the point? There will be a rematch. NBC didn't spend all this money turning these young unknown fighters into stars to simply watch them walk off into the sunset, roll the credits please.

I imagine that the template is American Idol, the launching pad for several singers who now tour the country, their lives changed by the incredible power of a television show.

Can the same thing happen in boxing?

The Contender alumni are not true elite fighters. Not yet, anyway. Manfredo is the 27th-ranked middleweight in the world by the WBA. That's not the kind of ranking that usually fills arenas. The fact that only about 1,000 people were in the Convention Center a year to to see him fight Bonsante is testimony to that. But that's changed. At least around here. No longer is he just a guy who fights in the Convention Center, known only to fight fans. Yesterday, he was the main topic on 790/99.7 The Score.

Could a rematch of Manfredo and Sergio Mora fill The Dunk?

I suspect we're going to find out. Maybe not here. But somewhere. We're going to find out if these guys who found their 15 minutes of fame are going to have a shelf life.

Manfredo, included.

Can he eventually become a world-class fighter, or was The Contender the high point of his career? Can he capitalize on this new-found fame, or was Tuesday night the closest he's ever going to be to celebrity's flame?

That, too, remains to be seen. For now, Peter Manfredo Jr. has come a long way from a year ago when I walked across the street to see him fight some guy no one had ever heard of, back when few people seemed to care. Back before he went on a television show and found celebrity, the new American Dream.

Digital Extra: Take a multimedia look at Peter Manfredo Jr. of Providence, hear Journal sports writer Rob Lee on Tuesday night's Contender fight, view photos and more at http://www.projo.com/tv/contender