Football Echo: PRENNO ON THE TELLY.

Byline: DAVID PRENTICE

THERE'S nothing down for Marvin. That was this week's conclusion from Boxing Academy, Channel 5's reality TV show which has the novelty of featuring, well, people who actually come across as what passes for `real. ' Every reality TV show ever featured includes increasingly abnormal people.

That's not abnormal in the freakish sense, just, well, just not normal.

Trans-sexuals, lesbian nuns, asylum seekers, body-builders who buff their buttocks every night featured in Big Brother, there were B-list celebrities in the truly awful The Games, C-list celebs and former footballers from the risible The Match and, of course, the unparalleled Osbournes, the only reality TV show genuinely worth watching because Ozzy tries so hard to be real.

Until Boxing Academy, that is. All of the 10 wannabe champions five from the south (exclusively London), five from the north (all bar one from Liverpool) are genuinely normal lads with hopes, dreams andaspirations. Except for maybe Marvin. After struggling with the four mile morning run, he then found a series of not overly-demanding sit-ups even more punishing.

It's fair to say that not-so Marvelous Marvin is unlikely to be making the Trans-Atlantic trek at the end of the series.

That's the prize for the ultimate winner, whittled down from an original 200 young men from around the country who were invited to a gym, where their boxing talent was assessed and graded by a panel of experts.

After rigorous training, the group was further pruned down to ten successful applicants five in Liverpool, five in London.

They will now undergo more extensive coaching over the next four weeks, before a bout against their northern/southern counterparts.

The eventual winner receives a trip to the US, where he will be tutored by ex-world champ `Terrible' Tim Witherspoon.

Channel 5 haven't scrimped on the advisors Richie Woodhall, Danny Williams, Charlie Magri, Duke McKenzie, Ricky Hatton and John Conteh all gave their views last Monday, Steve Collins is a regular trainer while the most expensive of them all, ECHO boxing writer Nick Peet, is a northern judge.

The series only runs for five episodes, which doesn't offer much time for insights into the personalities of the fighters selected.

But for now, they all come across as ordinary joes seeking an extraordinary prize.

Which makes Boxing Academy a winner on points in my household.