Was watching JAG re-run and forgot how hot Tracey Needham was in season one but got replaced by Cat Bell so decided to write a story explaining how that happened,
JAG Dispute
Season one of JAG was almost over and CBS wanted a strong female lead to mix it up with Harmon Rabb. CBS was concerned that blonde bombshell Tracey Needham was too young and too soft to stand up to Rabb. The producers could not agree if Needham was strong enough and brought in Catherine Bell an equally tall busty brunette. Since they could not agree the two actresses offered to settle the dispute between them in the boxing ring.
The fight was to decide who would be the female lead in season two and featured a classic matchup of boxer vs. brawler.
Needham was 5’11” tall, slender with an athletic build with fast fists, and was 5 years younger than her opponent. Bell was almost as tall at 5’10” but had a more solid build, bustier, and rock-hard abs.
Both women were experienced boxers have had to win roles in the past, Needham was used to having a height/reach advantage coupled with her fast hands and superb technique typically made short work of her opponents. This was not the case as Bell was equally tall and was used to beating her opponents with her superior power and durability.
Bell entered the ring in a classic white bandeau bikini and Tracey in a more conservative black sports bra and booty shorts.
Round One
Needham advanced quickly out of her corner looking to take control of the center of the ring she forced Bell back with stiff jabs which kept Bell on the defensive and maneuvered the busty brunette into her corner where Tracey flashed a blur of punches into Bell’s abs scoring often but not truly hurting Bell who was on the defensive just trying to protect her chin.
Needham was frustrated with Bell’s guard so she launched powerful uppercuts into Bell’s chest in an attempt to get her to loosen her guard.
Bell groaned as Tracey jugmugged her and turtled up to ride out the round, her chest brutalized for the final minute of the round. At the bell to end the round Tracey gloated “There is more where that came from bitch”, but Bell just stared back saying she would pay Tracey back with interest.
In the corner Tracey was confident but concerned that she was not able to break Bell’s guard, her corner told her to keep working the abs and chest of Bell’s, “Kill the body and the head will die” her trainer reminded her.
Bell’s corner placed some Ice bags on her chest and told Catherine that she had to get off faster and be more aggressive. Bell told her corner that Needham’s bodywork was powderpuff and she was going to let her punch herself out and take her out in the later rounds.
Round Two
The bell rang and this time Catherine was out of her corner more quickly and got off first, faking a jab and firing a big hook to Needham’s belly. Needham rode the punch out and tagged Bell with a comeback hook to Bell’s chin the punch shocked Bell as Needham’s speed was amazing. Bell staggered back knocked off balance more than hurt but her guard was loosened as she moved to regain balance. Needham quickly chased her and tagged Bell with two jabs and another hook to the chin dropping Bell to her knees.
Bell took the full 8-count slowing Tracey down and then the ref stepped back to restart the action. Needham thought Bell was hurt worse than she was and aggressively approached looking to end the fight but Bell was ready and used her equally powerful jab and tagged Tracey forcing her to step back. The rest of the round was slow as both fighters struggled to find a hole in their opponent’s defense.
Between rounds Bell told her corner it was a shock knockdown and she was not hurt, Tracey’s corner reminded her to fight smart and take her openings as she could not afford to trade with Bell.
Round Three
As the bell rang Cat came out of her corner in a southpaw stance and crossed up Tracey as had little experience with fighting lefties. Bell started to tag Tracey with a steady diet of powerful left jabs and had Tracey trying to escape but mistakenly shifting to her left straight into Bell’s right hook. The powerful punch blasted Needham and she staggered away like was stepping in fencepost holes trying to keep upright.
Bell stepped in with a left to the body dropping Tracey’s hands then a straight right blasting her to her back. Now both women had one knockdown.
Tracey was on back when the ref picked up the count at two, she rolled to her knees and rose to her feet at 9 definitely worse for wear.
Bell eagerly stepped in but was met with a flurry of “don’t hurt me” jabs as Needham was retreating to get her wits back. The bell rang ending the round with no further damage.
Between rounds, Cat told her corner she was going to work the body and wear her opponent down. Meanwhile, Needham’s corner coached her on how to deal with the southpaw attack and to box from distance and win through attrition.
Round Four
Tracey moved out of the corner a little tentatively as this time Bell was back in orthodox stance. Tracey slipped back into her comfortable stick-and-move style using her speed and angles to pepper Bell scoring at will but not doing any real damage. In the second half of the round Cat started to walk through the soft jabs and tagged Tracey with three powerful punches to Tracey’s abs hurting her and forcing her to retreat. Suddenly the blonde was trapped in the corner and her dark-haired adversary was eager to repay her for the abuse from round one.
Bell got in tight and was content to punish the body and lifted some tidy little uppercuts thru Needham's tits into her chin. Tracey was in trouble began to punch Cat’s tits hoping to back her off.
Cat was happy to match chests and the two women hammered each other's chest for several seconds. Cat proved to be the tougher of the two winning the battle of the chest she traded tit punches until she forced Tracey to drop her gloves to protect her battered boobs.
Cat fired another short uppercut to Tracey’s chin forcing her to try and clinch with Cat. As Tracey reached to clinch, Cat stepped back and fired two more powerful punches straight into Tracey’s now defeated chest flattening her tits to her rib cage and dropping her to the canvas. The bell rang as Tracey hit the canvas and she was able to get to her feet before the 10 count but she was hugging her chest as she moved to her corner.
Between rounds, Tracey’s corner told her to use her legs to stay away and recover before trying to engage with Cat. Tracey’s body and chest were reddened from the bodywork of her opponent but Cat’s right eye was swollen from the steady stream of jabs that Tracey had hit her with. Cat knew she had Tracey hurt and decided to switch back to southpaw to protect her eye and planned to work the body some more until Tracey dropped her gloves and then work for the KO.
Round Five
Tracey’s plan was disrupted as again she was confused by Bell’s stance change and again rotated the wrong way and straight into a powerful right hook to the body from Cat. Tracey dropped immediately from the punch and when she rose she had her elbow tucked in trying to protect her left side from any further abuse. This stance took away her speed advantage and she was in big trouble.
Bell realized she had her opponent hurt quickly shifted stances back and drove a brutal left hook into Tracey’s right side stunning her. Tracey was wrong-footed and Cat drove two stiff jabs and pushed Tracey back into the corner. With Tracey hurt Cat now started to play with her food and looked to make a statement to the network brass on who was the tougher woman.
Cat stepped in and blasted punch after punch into Needham’s abs gutting her in the corner and smiled as Tracey gasped and closed her eyes in pain now totally defenseless. Cat continued to work the body and would occasionally slip in an uppercut to keep Tracey stunned.
In the last minute of the round Cat shifted targets to Tracey’s tits just blasting them with hooks, straight rights, and uppercuts, Tracey just sobbed and took the punishment not able to fight back. The bell rang and Tracey was almost out in the corner,
Bell leaned in and whispered in her ear, “I told you I would pay you back for round one, we both know who has the better tits and is tougher don’t come back out if you know what is good for you.”
Bell strode back to her gloves raised with a big smile, Tracey’s corner workers had to help her back to her corner and worked to ice her chest down and used smelling salts to get get her back.
Round Six
The result was no longer in doubt Tracey rose to her feet from her stool and looked like she had been in a car accident, bloody nose, dark bruising on her ribs, and what chest was visible from her sports bra was bright red. Cat looked fresh and as she stepped out the ref told her to finish it or she would stop the fight not wanting Tracey permanently damaged.
Cat nodded to the ref as she crossed the ring. Tracey was making her last stand in her own corner. Tracey fired out a weak jab which Cat slapped away and drove a devastating right into Tracey’s stomach.
Tracey could no longer clench her destroyed abs and the punch seemed to reach her spine this forced her up onto her toes and caused Tracey’s gloves to drop to her sides. Cat then took a few seconds to speed bag Tracey’s chest finishing off any resistance from her blonde opponent.
As Tracey slumped over to protect her chest, Cat stepped in and straightened her up with a left uppercut which flopped Tracey back into the ropes, and then a vicious right cross hit her cleanly on the button.
Tracey dropped straight down as her KO’d brain shut off her legs. The ref immediately waved off the count and declared Cat the winner.
As a result, Tracey was written off the show and Cat Bell became the female star of JAG. The beating Tracey suffered seemed to affect her aggressiveness and she was never able to rise to prominence again. She was beaten out for several roles in some cases by smaller women whom she used to dominate. Most prominent was a massive beating at the hands of Sasha Alexander for the role of Kate in NCIS.
Cat went on to a lengthy career feared inside the ring and on the sound stage.
