The Contender is counting on the personal stories of its fighters to deliver an emotional punch to viewers. 

With network promotions billing it as "the next great human drama", the NBC series delves into the lives of its 16 fighters, introducing wives, girlfriends, children and parents.  (The Contender premiered Monday and another episode airs tonight before the show moves to its regular slot Sunday.) 

The personal stories, in turn, should make people care more about who wins the weekly elimination bouts that determine who'll fight for the $1 million prize in a live championship fight in the May finale, says Rocky star Sylvester Stallone, a host and executive producer. 

"I call it 'the Adrian factor.'  Like in Rocky, without (love interest) Adrian, Rocky would not have existed.  The same goes with many of these young men," Stallone says.  The stakes for competitors may be bigger than in the average reality contest.  Many of the boxers, who have fought professionally, are from poor backgrounds and see boxing as a chance to better themselves and their families. 

"That's why there are no Beverly Hills boxers," says boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard, a show host and mentor to the fighters.  On The Contender, boxers live in the same quarters/training gym in Los Angeles.  Divided into two teams, they tackle a competitive challenge, a la Survivor, with the wining side picking its fighter and his foe for the weekly bout. 

Boxers behave differently from reality competitors who try to find the easiest path to victory, says executive producer Mark Burnett, the man behind Survivor and The Apprentice.  "These are unbelievably proud men who'd rather lose than take an easy fight." 

The Contender has had to deal with unintended drama.  Last month, it was rocked by the suicide of one of its boxers, Najai "Nitro" Turpin, 23, of Philadelphia, Stallone and Leonard attended his funeral. 

"I found him very soft-spoken, reserved.  He reminded me of myself," Leonard says.  But "in that ring, he was a guy who was full of confidence and determination.  And he was so proud to be on The Contender." 

The series still will feature Turpin, who participated in episodes taped last fall and does not figure in the championship bout, and an opportunity for viewers to give to a trust for his young daughter. 

Earlier, The Contender mixed it up with Fox's boxing reality show, The Next Great Champ, with producers suing unsuccessfully to stop Champ.  The latter quickly tanked with viewers.  The Contender's premiere, once planned for January then moved up to November in anticipation of the Fox series, eventually was pushed back to March, partly to distance it from Champ. 

Some analysts wonder how much interest there is in a boxing reality show. 

"There's a fair number of people who have strong objections to boxing," says Larry Gerbrandt of the consulting firm Alix Partners.  "It's one of the reasons you don't see boxing on TV much anymore." 

At the same time, no one discounts an elimination-style reality series produced by the enormously successful Burnett. 

"Mark Burnett shows are very watchable," says Shari Anne Brill of media buyer Carat USA.  "The Contender seems a lot more well thought out" than Champ. 

Jeff Gaspin, who oversees NBC's reality programs, says NBC probably wouldn't have bought The Contender if it were about only boxing or had been proposed by someone other than Burnett and Jeffrey Katzenberg of DreamWorks. 

The overall message is uplifting, he says.  "This is a story about underdogs, about rags to riches.  That's the appeal."