For a moment, let's indulge American Idol in its desire to make last night's season seven finale the equivalent of a heavyweight showdown between two equally talented contenders. In the blue corner, 25-year old former bartender, David Cook, the Muhammad Ali of this year's Idols. Consistently, Cook has been full of flair and finesse, working to bring something new to the table. In the red corner, 17-year-old "soaking wet" phenom David Archuleta. The Mike Tyson of the finalists, Archuleta may have some personality issues, but he gives the people what they want—a knockout of some variety every time he takes the stage.

In truth, the show was not so dramatic. No surprise ear-bites here, folks. Even with "Let's Get Ready to Rumble's" Michael Buffer (clip above) on hand to open the show and commentary from sports commentator Jim Lampley and his arsenal of boxing metaphors, viewers knew the real battle was David Cook's. Could he perhaps topple heavily favored Archuleta with the performance viewers have been hoping for all season? The answer: no. Let's go to the Lederman Card for details:

Round One: Legendary record executive Clive Davis, who's lent a hand to the post-show careers of past Idol winners, was in charge of picking the contestants' first song: For Cook, U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"; for Archuleta, "Don't Let The Sun Go Down on Me" by Elton John. Judge Randy Jackson called Cook's performance "hot," and Archuleta's "flawless." Paula Abdul's went straight for the wordplay. First to Cook: "You may have not found what you are looking for, but we found David Cook!" And then to Archuleta: "I've got to tell you the sun is never going to go down on you." Oh, Paula! After giving both credit for overcoming their nerves to deliver solid performances, Simon Cowell scored round one to Archuleta.

Round Two: In the second round, the David's were given the opportunity to pick their own song—with the stipulation that it come from the bastion of triteness that is the American Idol Songwriting Competition. Cook tried his hardest to inject "Dream Big" with his signature rock style, while Archuleta played safe with the "look-at-me-I-finally-made-it!" ballad "In This Moment." Jackson called Cook's performance "Okay, even though you sang your face off," and told Archuleta (for the 10 millionth time) that he "could sing the phone book." Abdul continued her hot streak, observing that Cook "stood there with a guitar in his hands and a song in his heart," and that Archuleta was "pure magic." Cowell told Archuleta he chose the better song and scored the round to him again.

Round Three: For their final performance on the AI stage, the choice was again left up to the individual Davids—but this time they were free to choose a song they hadn't sung before or revisit one they had performed during the season. Cook opted to go new, singing Collective Soul's "The World I Know." Following his weepy conclusion, Cook was offered a "very nice, dude, very nice," from Jackson, news from Abdul that he was not, in fact, standing on a stage, but "in his truth," and an acknowledgment from Cowell that though he was "one of the nicest and most sincere contestants we've had," and though it was a beautiful song, it was ultimately the "wrong choice."

Archuleta went old-school, re-performing his surefire crowd pleaser, John Lennon's "Imagine." Though he checked his tears, Archuleta looked visibly relieved at the end of the song, and the judges were quick to all but bestow him the championship belt. Jackson said that "American Idol is about finding the best singer we can find, and he's right here" and Abdul was left "speechless"—if only! Cowell delivered the final blow, calling the show one of the great finals and saying the littler David delivered the equivalent of a knockout.

Given that Archuleta clearly had the judges in his pocket, and was also the fan favorite among the 7,000 audience members in attendance, we're calling this one for him. Unless Cook's fanbase helped push him off the ropes in last night's nationwide vote, expect Archuleta to take the crown when the show picks its champion tonight.