Sly moves from the box office to boxing TV

Rocky meets "The Real World" as Sylvester Stallone jumps on the reality TV show bandwagon. The action star has put plans in motion to host "The Contender," a reality show documenting amateur boxing.

"The Contender" will profile and record the lives of amateur heavyweights in and outside the sport, as they fight to win a chance in the professional ring.

Stallone is set to executive produce the project.

Similar to its real television forerunners, like "Survivor" and "The Apprentice," the show will incorporate competition and a process of elimination.

Popular reality show creator, Mark Burnett, is one of the brains behind the boxing-meets-real television proposal. He sees Stallone as highly instrumental in the show's potential success.

"Sly will be the heart and soul of the show," Burnett said in an interview with Variety. "He'll mentor these fighters with the whole Rocky spirit. He would never get involved in this if it weren't 100 percent aboveboard."

The show is the brainchild of Burnett, Stallone and DreamWorks producer, Jeffrey Katzenberg. The three Hollywood honchos see potential and originality in their pitch.

"We're all businessmen, and there's a serious business around boxing," Burnett said to Variety. "It's the highest paying sport, yet no one believes in it anymore."

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the trio has been in the process of selling the show to ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox.

The ambitious group is also planning to unveil their own boxing federation, separate from the existing WBA, WBC and IBO. The federation would launch around the time of the show's premiere, which is projected at January 2005.