The premise of Fantastic Pugilist Tunes is simple. Two teams set their MP3 players to shuffle and take turns playing a random selection of tracks from their musical libraries. The show is broken into three rounds, and after each round, listeners call in to vote for their favorite set. The side that wins two out of three rounds takes home the title of Ultimate Pugilist.

A few moments before the start of the show, President Krislov predicted that Team Krislov’s fate would depend on Zach’s technological skills. “Zach is my secret weapon. I think we will rise or fall based on his abilities, because he programmed the iPod. I told him what I wanted and he did the work,” said Krislov. Asked if that meant that his son was the brains behind the operation, Krislov agreed, though Zach said, “I’m the manual labor.”

From round one, it appeared that fate had smiled upon Team Krislov as Mayor’s first set was hampered by the combination of a 20-second Discordance Axis track and a non-musical track from The Ricky Gervais Show. Team Krislov’s first set started off strong with “Ohio” by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; and before their set was even finished the phone lines started lighting up with votes. Asked about his poor start, Mayor could only respond, “Oh, God. This is humiliating.”

With a staggering combination of tracks ranging from “Puff, the Magic Dragon” to “Born to Run,” Team Krislov presented an overwhelming front that left Mayor staggering and dazed. The only close round was round two, as the radio audience was divided in their love/hate relationship with “Seasons of Love” from the Rent soundtrack, which came up for Team Krislov. One listener called in to vote for Mayor, declaring, “No amount of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young can make up for the Rent soundtrack.”

There were a few voting irregularities in the form of questionable tactics used to pressure voters: Zach’s mother, Amy Krislov, threatened her son’s friend, Adien, with “No ride to school tomorrow,” for voting against Team Krislov. Friend and family loyalty was hard to come by, as even Mayor’s own father voted against him in the first round. 

In the end, Team Krislov took all three rounds of the night’s match-up, leaving Mayor to lick his wounds in anticipation of a new opponent next week in his continual battle to find the Ultimate Pugilist.