Recently middleweight Ishe Smith took some shots at the TV show “The Contender” on another website. One of the other participants in that reality show - Tarick Salmaci - undertook to respond to Smith’s attacks. This submission is not an exclusive to The Sweet Science, but rather the product of an email sent by Talmaci to a list of people connected to boxing. It is being reproduced with his consent.

I am not writing this to knock or bash Ishe Smith in any way. Instead I just want to give the public another view of “The Contender” from another fighter who was on the show. I think it is the only fair thing to do. I feel my feelings towards “The Contender” represent most, if not all the fighters on “The Contender,” not including Ishe Smith.

Ishe Smith had some harsh comments about “The Contender,” which I feel were very unfair towards the producers and everybody else involved in this production. What Ishe Smith said about the show and Mark Burnett may be taken by some to represent the feelings of the other cast members of “The Contender.” This is not true. Saying things like “The Contender” had the blood of Najai Turpin on their hands was totally ridiculous. If anything, the show gave Najai a chance at a million dollars and stardom - something he was not able to achieve thus far in his career because of all the bad breaks he got in life and in boxing. Ishe stated that “The Contender” knew of Najai’s previous attempt at suicide, yet still cast him to be on the show. I personally don’t know if there was a previous attempt at suicide or if “The Contender” even knew there was. I can say this though: even if “The Contender” knew about this previous attempt at suicide, don’t you think that maybe “The Contender” felt sympathy towards Najai because of all the bad breaks he had in life? “The Contender” wanted to give Najai that shot he never got; a chance to make a better life for himself and his family, especially his daughter. What happened to Najai in his personal life after the show ended remains a mystery that maybe only his closest loved ones know about. Obviously, he had personal problems before and after the show. None of these problems should be blamed on “The Contender.” Even though Najai lost his fight on the show, there were bigger and better things to come out of it - a lot bigger and better than before being on “The Contender.” After filming the show, Najai went back home, like all the other fighters, and began training for the finale. He was being given 750-1500 dollars a week from “The Contender.” I feel, as many others do, that this was a fair amount. Najai probably didn’t make that in one week of work. So to blame “The Contender” for his death is totally unfair.

All the fighters who signed up for this show knew what was at stake. I bet if Ishe won the million dollars, you wouldn’t hear one negative thing from him about the show. Nor would you here the comments about the Najai Turpin situation. Maybe its frustration that has built in Ishe Smith that has him feeling this way. It’s not always easy for a fighter to accept his first loss. Ishe Smith is a great fighter and I know he will bounce back. It’s just that I don’t think he should be saying negative things about the show, when this show has done nothing but good for Ishe and the rest of the fighters involved. One year ago today, nobody knew Ishe Smith or anybody else on the show. One year later, we are all kind of celebrities now. Publicity is very important in boxing, and you couldn’t buy the kind of publicity we got from the show. Ishe and all the others have never made the kind of money they made from “The Contender.” It was the most any of us have ever been paid for a fight.

There was one comment by Ishe Smith that really disturbed me. It was the comment in which Ishe said he wanted to have a picture on his website of him picking cotton with a Mark Burnett T-shirt on. This was totally uncalled for and insulting. I got to know Mark Burnett on a personal level, and he is the last guy you would ever believe to be a racist. What racist would cast two Arabs on an American show? That’s right, two out of the sixteen boxers where of Arab decent. Myself and Ahmed Kaddour. Plus there were four African Americans cast. What racist would do that? I came to find Mark Burnett as a very nice, down to earth man. He spoke to us fighters as friends, not as employees of the show. He really cared about the welfare of us and really wanted to see us get our shot.

Some people may think I’m writing this just to help protect the image of the people involved with “The Contender.” I’m not. I have nothing to do with “The Contender” anymore. I just think it is unfair to portray somebody in a negative light when they have done so much for us. I have no reason to write this article, except to let the truth be known. I’m not even signed with “The Contender” anymore. So I have nothing to gain from writing this. Its just that when I read Ishe’s comments about the show, it upset me because he is trying to ruin the reputation of a good person and the reputation of a show that helped boxing and the fighters involved.

Ishe has every right to believe what he wants to believe. If he thinks he should get paid more money, than he should fight to get more money. If he feels his fight was not edited in his favor at all, than he has every right to believe that. I just disagree with the harsh personal comments about Mark Burnett and the Najai Turpin situation. That was wrong. That may have been his opinion, but he should have kept it silent until it was fact.

Tarick Salmaci