Specials of the Month

By Miki Turner

Monday, May 2, 2005

LOS ANGELES – Sure, he was a three-time NCAA champion at the University of Nevada, but Joey Gilbert's boxing experience paled in comparison to his competitors on NBC's "The Contender." When push came to shove, he just wasn't considered a threat.

Joey Gilbert is ready for his close up ... almost.

Even after his Week 8 victory over the more decorated Jimmy Lange, Gilbert was still pegged as the inexperienced underdog with a law degree.

"I had no business being there," Gilbert, 28, said. "I didn't have 90 amateur fights like Miguel [Espino] and Alfonso [Gomez]. For me, it was about earning the respect and trust of the guys on the show."

That, he did.

In his losing bout against Peter "The Pride of Providence" Manfredo Jr. on Sunday night, he didn't go down easy. Exhibiting the heart of a lion, Gilbert fought through the pain of three fractured ribs, a gimpy leg and deep gashes above his eyes. In fact, he didn't go down at all. Gilbert was still standing when the referee, responding to chants from the crowd, stopped the fight early in the fifth round, after an accidental head butt left him bloody, bruised and disoriented.

Throughout the fight, Gilbert was so concerned about protecting his injured ribs, which came courtesy of his first "Contender" fight against Lange, and were further aggravated during a challenge match involving a medicine ball, that it became open season on his head. Manfredo (23-1) landed some brutal blows, resulting in facial injuries requiring more than 55 stitches.

"That blow to the head felt like a lightning bolt had gone through me and out the bottom of my foot," Gilbert recalled. "The pain was intense."

But despite his physical condition, quitting was never an option.

"I don't like losing at anything – hopscotch, cards, chess, whatever," Gilbert said. "You never fight at 100 percent. You'd love to be at 110 percent walking into competition, but that never happens. There's always something sore or not right. That's just something you accept and work through. I was in a tremendous amount of pain.

"Watch the first 10 or 12 punches that Peter throws, where do they go? He's just pounding the left side of my body and I don't blame him. He was my roommate and he knew about my sore ribs and told me he was going to go for my ribs. I told him I wouldn't blame him if he did."

There were some bright spots for Gilbert who, after taking a beating in the first two rounds, produced some combinations in the third that took Manfredo out of his rhythm. And his jabs were working well for him in the fourth.

"I just went for it," Gilbert said. "I felt like I was like 28 seconds away from possibly pulling off a very, very shocking decision over Peter Manfredo. The way in which the energy and the direction the fight was going at that time – I had that overhand right I hit him with, followed with other stuff, as opposed to a head butt. Had I stayed on him, I am 100 percent certain that I would have been able to turn one more judge in my favor."

Gilbert hopes to emulate the show's co-creator, Sly Stallone.

Since the loss, Gilbert remains connected to the show by representing Jesse Brinkley, also from Nevada and one of the final five "Contenders." Though he's struggling to regain his health, Gilbert hopes fans will vote him back to fight in one of the undercard bouts preceding the show's live two-hour finale May 24 at Caesar's Palace.

"Oh hell yeah," Gilbert exclaimed. "I'm an opportunist and I'll do whatever it takes to seize the day."

Beyond boxing, Gilbert provides color commentary for ESPN fights and has bigger aspirations for Hollywood. Ideally, he's hoping to parlay his "Contender" experience into doing that "Rambo" thing.

"Acting is something I've always wanted to do. I love action movies," he says. "I've just been waiting for the right time. To work with Sly Stallone and [Sugar] Ray, Mark Burnett and Jeffrey Katzenberg upped my game tremendously. Sly's brilliant. If you start talking literature or authors with him you'll be blown away. Sugar Ray Leonard is the classiest individual on the face of the earth. He taught me how to conduct myself as a champion in and out of the ring.

"Talking to all of them made me take a look at where I want to be and where I want to go in the long-term. I think I can do it. I've had the right mentors, the right leaders and now all I've got to do is listen to what they told me and I can get there."

'The Contender': His dream is becoming a reality

Joe Santoro RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
4/30/2005 09:00 pm

Joey Gilbert never thought he’d realize all his dreams on a reality television show.

“Are you kidding me?” the former Wolf Pack boxer said Tuesday. “This is like a fantasy. It’s surreal, sitting there and watching yourself on television.”

The 28-year-old Bishop Manogue High graduate is one of just six fighters, along with Yerington’s Jesse Brinkley, remaining from the original 16 on the NBC reality show, “The Contender.” The show, which airs at 8 p.m. Sunday nights on Channel 4 and is hosted by actor Sylvester Stallone and former world champion boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, offers a $1 million top prize.

“It was never about the million dollars for me,” Gilbert said. “It was about doing something for the sport I love, for my family and myself and to represent this state.”

The million-dollar purse will be paid to the winner of a May 24 fight at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. All of the “Contender” fights leading up to the May 24 bout have been taped in Southern California though a confidentiality agreement forbids the fighters to reveal the results. Gilbert will fight Peter Manfredo of Providence, R.I., on Sunday’s show for the right to get to the final four.

Gilbert, who won three national collegiate championships at Nevada, is 9-0 as a professional fighter while Manfredo is 22-1. Brinkley, who is also 28, will fight 34-year-old Anthony Bonsante of Shakopee, Minn., on the May 8 show.

“You know, I always thought there was big stuff waiting for me in life,” said Gilbert, who passed his Nevada bar exam last summer. “Did I think I’d be the star of a reality show? No. But I always knew I wouldn’t just be behind a desk in a law firm in Reno.”

The country is simply falling in love with Gilbert.

“He’s getting 500 e-mails a week,” Gilbert’s press agent and law partner Mark Schopper said. “He’s done over 200 radio interviews. We’ve sold over 500 pictures of Joey on his Web site (joeygilbert.com). People are buying autographed gloves. We’ve gotten requests from people all over the world, from Kuala Lumpur to Manchester, England. Three months ago, the only person who might have bought a picture of Joey was his aunt in Chicago.

“I know a lot of the old guard won’t like to hear this but Joey is now the most famous lawyer (a partner in Gilbert & Schopper) in Nevada right now. It’s just amazing to watch what is happening.”

“I’ve seen the show and I like it quite a bit,” said Shane Franklin, the manager of European Fitness Center in Reno. “I was at Bully’s (sports bar) when Joey fought and the crowd really got into it. He’s really brought the local residents together. It’s great for local people because they now know someone who is on a reality show. It’s great to have someone represent the hometown.”

“It’s cool how they show the fights from different angles,” said Nick Clark, the sales manager of Gold’s Gym in Reno. “I’ve met Joey a couple times and he’s a great guy. I’m definitely going to watch the rest of the shows to see how it comes out.”

Gilbert’s life has been a whirlwind of activity since the show first aired on March 7. It has been at a fever pitch since he beat Jimmy Lange of Great Falls, Va., two weeks ago in his first “Contender” fight.

Gilbert and his family watched the fight at Sierra Gold, a restaurant in south Reno.

“I think we had about 150 people here watching the fight,” said Sierra Gold general manager Lance Marcos. “It was real loud. People were cheering with every punch. We have about 20 TVs and all of them were tuned to the show.”

Gilbert was reunited with his father, Dr. Warren Gilbert, in the days leading up to the fight with Lange. Gilbert’s father, a U.S. Navy Lieutenant, had been in Afghanistan for five months and had not seen his son since he left the country.

“I had nobody there for me,” the 5-foot-11, 165-pound Gilbert said. “I had Jesse there and he’s a great friend. But I had no family around me. But when I was reunited with my dad, it was like somebody threw a pair of jumper cables on me.”

Gilbert has fought just twice in his amateur and professional career without his father at ringside.

“The people with The Contender called me and said, ‘Joey’s a little down. He’s worried about you. How would you like to surprise him and come down to the show and do a reunion thing,’” said Dr. Gilbert, who also serves at the Wolf Pack boxing club’s physician. “It was exciting. I hadn’t seen Joey in five months. It was a pretty emotional meeting for both of us.”

“My dad has always been the one who has believed in me,” Gilbert said. “I’ll admit it. I was scared to death. But after I saw my dad, it was like someone just breathed a ton of air and life into me.”

Gilbert’s life has changed since his fight with Lange aired on TV.

“I have two or three people check my e-mail every day,” said Gilbert, who earned his law degree from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego. “I’ve had to change my phone number twice. I now use the same answering service Sly (Stallone) uses down in L.A. because they screen the calls. It would blow your mind to see the e-mails I get.”

Some advice from Stallone before the show started taping has guided Gilbert through this entire experience.

“On one of the first days we were down there, Sly told me, ‘This is not about a $1 million dollar boxing tournament,’” Gilbert said. ‘“Don’t be consumed by that. This is a reality show. You’re a smart kid. Use this environment to your advantage.’

“My manager, Sig Rogich, told me, ‘This show is how people will remember you for the rest of your life. Don’t come off looking like a jerk.’ I was advised to take the high road. A lot of guys on the show have said stuff about me, saying I’m Sly’s guy or that I can’t fight, that I don’t belong there. You don’t think I want to say stuff back? Of course I do. I wanted to strangle some of those guys.

“But I refused to be a bad boy. There were enough bad boys in this thing.”

Gilbert has definitely played a good-guy role to perfection on the show. Last week he allowed Manfredo to win a $40,000 truck. In most shows, the weekly fight is determined by which fighter wins a physical challenge. Last week’s challenge had the fighters pull a sulky around a harness track. Gilbert would have won the challenge easily but he stopped inches short of the finish line and let Manfredo win the truck.

“It wouldn’t have meant anything if a lawyer won a truck,” Gilbert said. “But I just think when you have the opportunity to do something nice for someone, you should do it.”

Schopper, who appears with Gilbert on television ads during “The Contender” promoting their law firm, said Gilbert has already gotten an endorsement deal for Stallone’s Instone line of nutritional products. The print ads will appear in national health and fitness magazines, including Stallone’s Sly magazine.

“He (Stallone) saw I gave 100 percent in everything we did on that show,” Gilbert said. “I heard him on the Regis and Kelly Show and on the Howard Stern Show. They asked him if anyone on (“The Contender”) impressed him and he said, ‘There’s this young lawyer from Nevada. He reminds me of myself.’ When I heard that I couldn’t believe it.”

“Joey has more irons in the fire than he knows what to do with now,” Dr. Gilbert said. “But it’s all been great. He has endorsements, he’s been a model (for Tommy Hilfiger, among others). And if he ever gives up boxing, he’s always a lawyer. That’s not too bad.”

Gilbert has turned into a national and local celebrity.

“Jesse and I spoke at my old school, Our Lady of the Snows,” Gilbert said. “I loved it so much. It was like a scene from Rocky with the kids running up to the car. It was the most exciting thing I’ve done.”

The excitement, it seems, is only beginning.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Gilbert said.