[howardcosell]

Co-Starring

Marie B.



Jessika


and Kayla


Yes, I know those are not pictures of the real Marie, Jessika, and Kayla. I do not have the right to post pictures of them even if I could find them, but I have seen what all three look like, and this is as close to online images as I could muster.

Jessika Vs Laila Ali (Nov 5th, 2005)
By Howard Cossell

Laila Ali on TV: "Y’all know that when I come ta town, I bring the beatdown. And when I tell y’all that I’m not playin’ with this girl, I’m telling y’all I’m not playing at all. So get your seats early, ’cause it might be a short night."

"Can you believe her?" Kayla says as she and Jessika watch the press conference on the tv set at Jessika’s Venice penthouse, "She is so cocky. I don’t understand how people can like someone who’s so cocky."

"Yeah," Jessika says grinning, "And you wouldn’t know anything about being cocky, huh? Or maybe I should just ask Maria."

"But I’m cocky in a sweet kinda way," Kayla responds, "She’s cocky in a ’my daddy was the greatest boxer ever and now I think I can beat anybody’ kinda way, tee hee! And Maria was asking for it, nobody talks about me and gets away with it."

"I do have to agree," Jessika says as she looks intently at the image of the beautiful African American woman on television mouthing off and making pointing gestures to her blonde Swedish opponent, "She is cocky. I wouldn’t mind giving her the beatdown myself."

"You don’t really think you could take her, do you?" Kayla asks with a very skeptical look on her pretty face, "I mean, she’s cocky, but she’s no joke in that ring."

"I don’t see what is so great about her form," Jessika says, "She is really good considering the fighters in her weight division, but I think if I trained hard and--"

"Now," Kayla says almost laughing out loud, "Let’s not go getting ahead of ourselves. You’re almost twice her age, and she’s an undefeated lightheavyweight boxing champion. Not to mention who her dad is. You know anything about genetics, Jess?"

"Do you always have to doubt me, Kayla?" Jessika says, her eyes still on the tv screen, "How many girls and guys do I have to drop before you--"

"Who’s doubting you?" Kayla says defensively, "I’m not doubting you; I’m a believer, okay? I’m just saying that you should be more realistic. She’s a pro athelete, tee hee. You’re a semi-pro athelete... that is what you call yourself, right? You couldn’t last three rounds with--"

"That does it!" Jessika says as she jumps off the couch and pins the giggling brunette down in her chair. Kayla continues to laugh as Jessika rolls her eyes and sits back down. "One day, Kayla," Jessika says sternly, "I’m gonna do what so many other girls have tried to do but failed. I’m gonna close that mouth of your’s right after I make you QUIT!"

Kayla looks very serious as she widens her eyes and looks at Jessika, then her smirky smile returns, "C’mon Jess," she replies, "You know you love me, tee hee!"

After about five seconds, Jessika succombed to Kayla and began laughing too. There was something about Kayla that couldn’t let Jessika stay mad at her for long. At 5’9" and a little over 140 lbs, Kayla was solid and soft in all the right places; she was a young catfighting queen who always found a way to win. But there was something nice about her, despite her confidence. Jessika always wanted to test herself against Kayla in a serious match, but her closeness to her might not allow her to give her best effort. Kayla, on the other hand, would only be concerned about winning, not their friendship. And Jessika wouldn’t be able to deal with losing to Kayla; if Kayla beat her, she’d never hear the end of it.

At 5’11’’ and a somewhat solid 165 lbs (with the exception of her very large breasts, some softness in the tummy and the little love handles on her sides) Jessika was bigger than Kayla and Jessika believed that she was better than Kayla. She knew how Kayla fights, and she knew Kayla’s flaws. But Kayla had more "attitude;" Kayla never seems to go into a fight believing she could lose, and Jessika knew that this makes a lot of difference. Jessika stood up and walked to the heavy bag she had in her home gym. She began punching it while watching the press conference on the tv set in there. She heard the sound of the channel changing as Kayla was channel-surfing with the tv in the living room. As Jessika hammered away at the bag, she listened to the woman on the tv’s confidence words about giving her opponent the ’beatdown’ and how she was going to make her European debut with a bang.

"Wish you were making it against me," Jessika says to the tv

A few days later in a gym across town...

Laila was doing something far less than her usual workout, lots of shadowboxing, lots of speed bag work, but also lots of breaks and hardly any sparring. She wasn’t really taking this fight seriously; her opponent had three wins and nine losses. All her people told her was that it should be a walk in the park. Standing at 5’10" and wieghing around 174 lbs, Laila was recognized world wide by casual women’s boxing fans as the best female fighter on the planet. Her famous last name had a lot to do with it, but her 21-0 record with 18 wins by knock out had a lot to do with it too. She had the best trainers and cut men money can buy. So, she felt like she could trust them. While she was getting her hands re-taped, one of her entourage approached her.

"Ms. Ali," he says somewhat scared by the menacing look across her face as she readies herself for some work on the speed bag, "Aga Serbotnik broke her arm in training, we might have to call the fight off."

Laila’s head drops. She had enough trouble just getting an opponent for this fight. Now she doesn’t have one at all. "I don’t think we can do that," she replies with her head still down, "I promised the people of Venice a beatdown, and I’m gonna give it to them."

"But Ms. Ali," the nervous man says, "You don’t understand. We don’t know of anybody who’s gonna want to fight you on such short notice for such a small amount of money. We may have to reschedule, like Serbotnik’s people said."

Laila stands up and looks harshly at her employee. "Reschedule?" she says, "Who the hell do they think they are? That girl isn’t anybody. She has nine losses; she’s not worth rescheduling. She was just a fill in because Ward wanted too much money. So tell them no thaks and just get me another one."

"I wouldn’t know where to look," the man replies

Laila leans over the shorter man and whispers, "How about you call some of the promoters from the list and see if they’ve got or know of anyone between 168 and 172 lbs who could be available to fight in four days?"

"Do you have a preference about--"

"Just get me somebody who’ll stand up," Laila says, "I’ll take care of knocking her out."

Meanwhile...

"You knocked her out!!" A short redhead says as she tries to revive her black-haired tanned skinned Brazilian friend, "Please stop! She’s out!"

"She shouldn’t’ve threw that drink on me," Jessika says still a bit angry, "I told her I was sorry I bumped her, but it’s very crowded in there."

"I have to say," Kayla says with a smile, "The drink does look pretty good on you though, tee hee!!"

"We’re gonna be late," Jessika says as she reaches in her pocket and pulls out the flier. The flier reads COME MEET BOXING CHAMPION LAILA ALI AT ROCH’S BOOKSTORE FROM 1PM-4PM.

"And why are we going to this autograph session again?" Kayla asks rolling her eyes, "There’s a sale at Shoe Hut and--"

"I just want to see her in person," Jessika says, "That’s all. See if she’s all she’s cracked up to be."

"Oh really? Then why not just go to the fight?" Kayla says pulling out two tickets, "Surprise!!"

Jessika hugs Kayla. "Oh, but I still want to go get her autograph."

"You can’t be serious," Kayla says

At a world renound hotel in Venice...

"You can’t be serious!" Laila says to three of her employees, "No one? You couldn’t find ANYONE???"

"They all wanted a 50-50 split of the purse," one of the employees says

"50-50 for an instant tomato can?" Laila says angrily. She sits down and puts her hands on her head, "You guys need to step your game up. I can’t go back home without this fight happening after coming all the way out here. Bobby, call some of our friends in the US, see if you can get that girl Reis out here, she’s pretty cheat. Terrell, check with the gyms around here to see about getting me a club fighter. I don’t care who she is or what she looks like, just as long as she is within the weight limit. And James, get me a chicken parmesan, no skin on the chicken. We’ve got four days, people. We can’t bs this. I know y’all are having fun here in Italy and all, but this is also a business trip. So, let’s take care of business. I’ve got an autograph session to go to, bring my food there."

About two hours later...

"She’s eating and signing autographs," Kayla says, "How lude. But it is a good idea if you’re hungry."

"If she knew she wasn’t going anywhere for a while, she should’ve brought herself a Snickers," Jessika says as she watches the business suit wearing Laila sign autographs while licking a bit of tomato sauce from the corner of her mouth. When it’s Jessika’s turn, Laila smiles

"You’re a pretty big one," Laila says, "But you keep in shape I can see."

"Can I have a picture?" Jessika says

"Sure," Laila says as she comes from behind the table and stands next to Jessika as Kayla gets the camera ready. Jessika looks Laila over. From this close up, Jessika can see Laila’s admirable breasts, firm yet vulnerable abs with sofness in the lower belly, her fine but well defined legs, big apple butt and pedicured feet. At that moment, Jessika can’t help but like what she’s seeing.

"Excuse me," Laila says with one eyebrow raised, "What ARE you looking at? The camera is that way."

"You know," Jessika says growing angry and moving closer, "I was just admiring all there is to admire about you. Because your fighting skills, they don’t impress me."

Laila leans in even closer to Jessika, "Then you should be lucky you’re not a fighter, grandma. Because then I’d knock you the ’f’ out. I would use the actual word, but I was taught to respect my elders."

"I am a fighter," Jessika says as she grabs Laila up under her armpits and pushes her back. Laila loses her balance due to her high heels but regains it by grabbing Jessika around the neck and shoulders and pulling herself up. Security is slow to break up the scuffle as Laila lands a left hook to Jessika’s jaw, and when Jessika brings her arms up to cover, Laila lands a left uppercut to her chin that split her arms apart long enough for a right cross to Jessika’s nose "UUUNNNHHH!!" and another left to Jessika’s stomach, which makes her knees buckle.

The punches were delivered with blazing speed; it was as if Laila didn’t have to think about them before she threw them. Kayla drops the camera and rushes to Jessika’s aid but the security blocks her path. Jessika grabs Laila’s arms and gives Ms. Ali a bearhug, neutralizing her punching. Laila backs up a bit while still in the clinch, "Bitch I’m going fuck you up!" Laila says as she tries to free herself.

"You’re not as good as you think you are," Jessika says and with that, she fires a little uppercut into Laila’s stomach, an inch above her navel. Jessika feels Laila’s stomach muscles go soft and knows that Laila hasn’t put in a lot of ab work because she wears a cup in the ring. Laila lets out a quiet "ooooooh" sound into Jessika’s ear that only Jessika could hear and Laila’s legs buckle a bit also. So many people are trying to get in there and seperate the two that it’s turned into a madhouse. Laila and Jessika are under a pile of people now. Only Laila and Jessika know that Laila was punched and was hurt by the punch.

"My name is Jessika," Jessika says reaching around and grabbing Laila’s butt, "Remember me because I got you."

Jessika has been sitting in central lock-up now for about two hours before Kayla walks in with a tall African American male who’s wearing a suit. A police officer opens Jessika’s cell and let’s her go.

"Took you long enough," Jessika says to Kayla

"I didn’t bail you out," Kayla says, "You know that saying about being careful what you wish for?"

"My client did," the tall guy says, "See, she has a fight coming up in four days, but she doesn’t have an opponent. As it turns out, you fit what she’s looking for, and there’s also the added incentive that because of the brawl earlier, this fight will promote itself. So, if you were trying to get her attention with that stupid stunt, she wants you to know that you’ve got her FULL attention. I have the contract right here. You want to fight her, here’s your chance to do it legally."

"If you sign that contract, you’re crazy," Kayla says, "There’s no way you’re gonna be ready in four days, you’ve got nothing to prove to her. She’s gonna--"

"Shut up," Jessika says as she signs the contract, "Tell her I said let’s do it!"

[howardcosell]

****

Laila hadn’t been doing that much training for her actual opponent, and didn’t really do too much for Jessika. Laila put in her usual work, but her hatred for ab-work and her indifference to an opponent who had never had a professional fight and was more that twenty years older than she was kept Laila pretty bemused. Laila figured that she’d be out of there within two rounds, and that she wouldn’t have to use any of her boxing skills.

“That bitch is in for such an ass-whupping. I’m so glad and so ready to beat her ass,” Laila thinks to herself as she pounds away at her sparring partner before landing a right hand to the temple that staggers the poor girl into the corner.

Jessika had been training since the night of the brawl. Jessika admitted to Kayla that she had started the scuffle with Laila and it was her intent to get the fight. Jessika knew that Laila didn’t have an opponent through some of her friends who followed boxing. Kayla could only come with Jessie to the gym and watch her train. Kayla even put on the gloves on a few occasions and sparred with Jessika, but it was nothing serious. Kayla was a quick girl, and had better boxing skills than Jessika expected, but she was no Laila Ali. The day of the weigh-in, it was raining. Kayla, Jessika and some of their friends, Marie B. and Masked Writer made their way into the little room full of media. Jessika had been fueled by her altercation with Laila to be in as best a shape as she could be in for this fight. But it wasn’t just the altercation or the criticism and skepticism from Kayla. The media was on Laila Ali about fighting a much older woman who’s never had a fight. People were also saying that the scuffle at the bookstore was staged. Jessika was on ESPN and all over the internet, but for all the wrong reasons. If this pissed Laila off, it REALLY pissed Jessika off. So much so that Jessika was turning down every offer for an interview she received. Laila was standing by her entourage. She was wearing a red sweatsuit with a pink cap and white sneakers.

Jessika was wearing a white robe and approached the scale. As the flashbulbs began to pop, Jessika removed the robe. Laila had to admit to herself that she was impressed by Jessika’s body. For a woman with such big breasts, Jessika was solid in the shoulders, legs and arms. She was still a bit soft in the middle, but she had improved there also. “Jessika, 161 lbs” the announcer said. See, training causes a fighter to lose weight. Laila Ali weighs around 180 lbs, but she fights in 174 and 168. Through training she loses the weight. Jessika walks around at 165 lbs, but in four days of hard training, she’d lost four pounds. If she had more time, she would’ve gained it back in muscle. Laila stood on the scale as Jessika watched. “Laila Ali, 167 and ? pounds,” the announcer says. Laila and Jessika meet face to face in front of the scale as photographers take photos. The two women stare at each other and pose facing each other with their fists raised in fighting guard. Laila was shorter by an inch but Jessika was lighter by nearly seven pounds. No words were exchanged between the two of them, just angry stares.

The night of the fight, the arena was buzzing with anticipation of a Laila Ali fight. Though many were saying that this fight would be nothing more than an over glorified sparring session, Jessika had other ideas. She sat in her dressing room with Kayla and waited. Kayla couldn’t stop shaking.

“Girl, what the hell is wrong with you?” Jessika says

“I’m just worried,” Kayla says, “Jessika, this is really going to happen and we can’t back out of it now.”

“Who the hell would want to?” Jessika says, “This is what I wanted and now I’m going to knock her out.”

“You really think,” Kayla begins and then stops herself, “Nevermind. Go in there and do it, then Jessie. I’ll be in your corner just like I’ve always been.”

“Thanks,” Jessika says with a smile, “I’m gonna go in there and prove all these bastard-ass reporters wrong.”

“Animal” by Pearl Jam plays and Jessika makes her way to the ring with Kayla and Marie. Masked Writer is in the audience with his camera video taping the fight for Jessika. Jessika is wearing a white sports bra and red trunks that are pulled up above her navel. She’s wearing white shoes and she has red gloves. Her auburn hair is in a ponytail and she’s looking down as she gets in the ring. Kayla and Marie don’t tell her anything as she goes over some punch combinations. Jessika probably wouldn’t admit this if you asked her, but she was nervous. She wasn’t scared, just nervous. “Bust Dat Ass” by Three Six Mafia plays and out comes Laila Ali with a couple of nameless people. Her usual trainer, Buddy McGirt was busy training both Autoro Gatti and Antonio Tarver for upcoming fights so he wasn’t available. She didn’t feel she needed him. Of course, Laila comes out in a white robe with black trim to cover her white sports bra and white trunks. She gets in the ring with a stone cold look on her face and bounces around. Her hair is in long cornrows. The fighters are introduced and are brought to ring center for instructions. Jessika notices that Laila isn’t wearing a cup under her shorts. As Jessika looks in Laila’s eyes, she sees the meanest stare she’s ever seen. When the referee instructs them to touch gloves, Jessika brings her gloves forward but Laila refuses. The referee manually takes Laila’s left arm and pulls it to touch Jessika’s. The fighters go back to their corners and the bell rings for round one. Ten two minute rounds. No three knockdown rule.

The first thing an onlooker would notice about this fight are the stances. Jessika comes out of her corner, knees bent, elbows up and in and gloves clenched. Laila’s gloves are higher and her legs are further apart. The first thing Jessika would notice would be how fast Laila is on her feet. Laila rushes out of her corner and immediately begins to fire punches at Jessika, who brings her gloves up to protect her face. No problem, Laila lands three hooks to Jessika’s liver that force the older woman into retreat. She circles to Laila’s right, but Laila keeps coming at her firing punches into her arms and elbows. Jessika quickly finds her back against the ropes as Laila pauses to measure her. Jessika comes off the ropes with a left right at Laila’s head, but Laila with two quick head movements, avoids Jessie’s punches and lands a right to Jessie’s belly. “OOOMPPHH!” Jessie grunts as Laila moves in and unloads a combination to Jessie’s ribs. Once Laila gets inside, Jessie holds her. Both women are breathing heavily as Jessie hits Laila a few times behind the head, an illegal move, but the ref is slow to stop it. When the are broken up, Jessie lands a right to Laila’s chin and then holds her and lands a few lefts to Laila’s kidney, another illegal move. Laila looks angrily at the referee, who warns Jessie about doing that kind of stuff. The two are separated and Laila comes in with a right cross and left hook to Jessika’s head, but she manages to block them. However, Laila lands a hard hook to Jessie’s liver and a right to Jessie’s belly and Jessie’s legs buckle.

Laila lands an uppercut that sends Jessie into the ropes, and she comes in quickly to finish her off. Jessie grabs Laila by the arms, and spins her into the corner. Jessie comes in low and fires a few shots to Laila’s stomach. Little “ooh” and “umm” sounds come from Laila as Jessika hits her a few more times in that soft spot. Laila gets her arms low to protect her body, and Jessika shocks everyone by snapping Laila’s head back with a left hook. “UH!” Laila’s head falls back into position as Laila starts to throw a series of uppercuts to Jessika’s head that back her up. Still Jessie manages to get her arms up and block the shots, but Laila steps to Jessie’s right and lands a hard hook to her liver. “UMMM!” Jessika is doubled over by the shot but doesn’t go down. The bell rings with Laila missing on a straight right. Both women go back to their corners.

“Shit she’s fast,” Jessie says as Kayla pours water over her head, “She’s so damn fast.”

“You’re gonna have to do what you said you’d do then,” Kayla says, “Go to her body. Take the starch from her.”

“Yeah,” Jessie says, “Cause that bitch hits like a bitch. A bitch with cement gloves.”

Round 2

Laila comes out just as fast as she did in round 1. Jessie can barely get out of her corner before being hit with a combination of punches to her raised arms. Laila continues her trademark bodywork by landing another right to the belly, forcing Jessika into the ropes. As Laila comes in, Jessika lands an uppercut that snaps the champion’s head upward but doesn’t buckle her legs. Laila takes a step back to clear her head as Jessie looks at her, still with her arms raised and elbows in. Laila moves in and the two women trade punches. Laila lands a straight right that grazes Jessika’s nose and a left hook that hits Jessie just below her right eye. Jessika responds by snapping Laila’s head back with a straight right of her own. That punch saves Jessika some pain because it stopped Laila from throwing another hook to the liver. Laila drops her arms briefly as Jessika waits. Laila comes in again and gets hit with a counter right hand to her jaw, and then a left to her ribs. Jessika moves off the ropes and Laila fires a left to the body that is blocked by Jessika’s right elbow as Jessika launches a jab that gets Laila’s eye. Laila instantly begins blinking and raises her arms as Jessika slams another jab and right hand into Laila’s face, splitting her gloves. Laila may have punched herself out and Jessika lands a hard left hook to Laila’s body, then pushes her back. Laila keeps her arms up but they quickly drop as Jessika lands a straight right to Laila’s stomach and feels her glove sink in a bit.

“OOF!” Laila’s face twists in pain as she tries to grab Jessie, but Jessie makes her pay with two left to her stomach and a straight right to her chin. “UH!” Laila backs up as Jessika comes after her. Laila’s back is to the ropes but Jessie’s over-excited and just swinging wildly at Laila’s head. Laila, using her father’s rope-a-dope strategy against George Foreman, leans back on the ropes, but lowers her arms to protect her body. Jessika responds by hitting Laila between her legs, which makes Laila squat and cry “AAARRGGHH!!,” but immediately causes the ref to step in and issue a warning to Jessie. Laila stands straight up and looks at the clock to see how much time is left in the round. She is clearly hurt by the punch and backs into her own corner as Jessika comes in. Laila lands a hook to the head, a left uppercut under the chin, and Jessika holds. Jessika uses her shoulder to drive Laila into the corner and starts to fire hooks to Laila’s ribs, but Laila gets her arms down low. Laila then spins Jessika into the corner and throws a left to the stomach, another left uppercut under the chin, a left hook to the head and another left to the liver and Jessika is hurt but fires a hard jab to Laila’s stomach that backs her up. The fight is definitely on now as Laila lands a big right cross to Jessika’s head as Jessika comes out of the corner. Jessika is caught off balance by the punch, but stays on her feet as the bell rings, landing a right to the side of Laila’s head after the bell, which prompts Laila to turn and go after her, but the ref stops her.

“She’s tough,” Laila thinks to herself, “She’s really tough. I’m breathin’ hard. Gotta get her outta there now. I’m embarrassing myself in here.”

She looks at her father, who is in the audience at this fight because only a day earlier, he was honored at a ceremony in this very arena. His eyes are closed and his face is in a scowl. She rises for the third round and starts bouncing up and down and staring at Jessika. Laila’s right eye is red; she got caught with the thumb of Jessika’s left glove and she’s got a little mouse under her eye. Laila is a perfectionist and when you’re a perfectionist fighter who procrastinates in training, you can find yourself in this position. And she knows it.

“I’ve gotta go back to her body,” Jessika says, “But she’s so damn fast; I had her. I know I had her.”

“You’ve got a cut over your left eye,” Marie says, “It’s about a third of an inch.”

“Be careful in there, Jessie,” Kayla says, “Try blocking for God’s sake!!”

“She better block her damn self,” Jessika says

Round 3

Laila begins round 3 differently than the previous rounds because she bounces on her toes and dances around Jessika. Jessika comes out of her crouched stance and follows Laila around, bouncing on her toes from time to time also. The crowd quickly recognizes the style and starts to chant “Ali! Ali! Ali!” Laila lands a hard jab that snaps Jessika’s head back, then two, then two and a hook to the body and dances away. Jessika continues to follow Laila, who stops and lowers her left hand and fires a hard lead right hand to Jessika’s cut eye and moves away. Laila is using her superior boxing skills and this is confusing and pissing off Jessika as she rushes Laila only to have Laila move out of the way and then turn around and fire a left to the liver, a left to the temple, a right to the nose. Laila cockily walks to ring center with her left arm down and right arm raised as Jessika follows. Laila turns and nails Jessika again with a hard right hand to the cut eye, and blood begins to run down the side of Jessie’s face and her eye is swelling. Not a lot of blood, just a line. Jessica hesitates and Laila jumps in landing a straight left and straight right that snap Jessika’s head back followed by a jab to the stomach,

“OOOFF!!” But Jessika counters with a straight right to Laila’s jaw that shakes her legs, lands a left to Laila’s liver, a right to Laila’s belly and then holds. Both women wait for the ref to split them apart as both are breathing heavy and holding on to each other. Jessika is panting and bobbing her head while Laila is making a hissing sound. Laila backs up with her hands down and as Jessika approaches, Laila jabs high at Jessie’s head, and when Jessika brings her arms up, Laila slams a hard right hand into her stomach. With a loud “OUGH!” Jessika goes down and Laila moves to her neutral corner.

“1...2...3...4...” the ref begins as Jessie is on all fours. The punch came out of nowhere and knocked the wind out of her. Jessika turns away from the ref and spits her mouthpiece as far away as she can, then rises at the count of six. It takes an additional forty-five seconds to locate the mouthpiece, which fell out of the ring, and Kayla still has to wash it off and put it back into Jessika’s mouth. As Jessika and Laila meet up at ring center, the bell rings, because the ref didn’t have the sense enough to call for time to locate the mouthpiece. Laila takes her mouthpiece out and says some not so nice things to the ref before going to her corner. Laila predicted a that this fight would be over in three rounds or less and the embarrassment was really beginning to annoy her. She couldn’t believe that Jessika had lasted this long. It was also how many things Jessika was allowed to get away with so far. Laila knew that in Europe, the refs are a bit more lenient with fouling and dirty tactics. She also knew how this fight was looking to the people in the United States. Laila Ali can’t knock out a 49 year old woman who’s never had a professional boxing match?

“All she knows how to do is hold,” Laila complains to her corner people, “She’s fightin’ me dirty.”

Marie puts the endswell on Jessika’s eye as Jessika hiss from the sting. The eye is swelling up and the cut has doubled in size, but Jessika only seems more fired up.

“Jessie, I don’t know what to tell you,” Kayla says, “Other than I told you so. You’ve got to cut the ring off and knock her out, because she won that round and she won it big.”

“I know,” Jessika says, “How’s my eye?”

“Protect your eye,” Marie says, “She targeted it last round, she’ll be going for it again.”

“Jessika,” Kayla says, sounding a bit angry, “You wanted this fight, right? You had the stones to get in the ring with Laila Ali on four days notice, right? Well, now you’re gonna have to do something.”

Round 4

Laila comes out bouncing around and jabbing again as Jessika rushes out. Jessika getting hit with a lot of leather, but she keeps coming. She’s determined to get Laila to the ropes. Laila on the other hand, is taking her time, sticking and moving. She’s looking at the clock and taking the rounds. Laila rips Jessika with a textbook three punch combo (left hook to the jaw, right cross to the jaw, left uppercut to the nose as Jessika pull her head back). Jessika’s nose is bleeding now also, but she bangs her gloves together and continues after Laila. Jessie slows Laila down with a hard left to the belly and pushes her into a corner. Jessika starts to once again hammer away at Laila’s body as the Black girl covers up. Jessika seems to focus her attack on Laila’s stomach only, slamming hard lefts and rights into the waistband of Laila’s shorts “GOOOF!!” and “UUGGHH!!” are just a few of the loud noises that come from Laila as the proud girl can‘t hold her pain in any longer. But as Jessika pounds away with Joe Frazier precision, she notices blood on Laila’s shorts… her blood. Her eye and nose are bleeding, but that seems to make her hit harder. Laila gets her arms down to cover up, but Jessika just hits her above or below her arms. Laila’s belly is really softening now and Jessika is tugging them down in the front to try to get a shot at Laila’s upside-down triangle shaped navel. Laila realizes that she’s going to have to do something. So, stealing a page from Jessika’s book and her own, Laila places her left glove behind Jessie’s head and then lands a right uppercut to her chin and another to her eye. “ARRGGHH!!” Jessika cries as her vision in her left eye goes red. Laila smashes a right into the already doubled over Jessika’s stomach as the taller woman drops to her knees. “OOOMMPPHH!!” groans Jessika as she goes down. Laila raises her left arm and moves to a neutral corner. Jessika goes to all fours now as the ref begins his count.

“1...2...3...” Jessika looks around and sees both Kayla and Marie B telling her to stay down. She looks at Laila who is in her corner with her elbows resting on the top ropes. Laila is staring at Jessika with no expression and breathing slowly, getting her strength back. Then Jessika looks at the blood on the floor. No one would blame her if she stayed down. No one would doubt that she came to fight or that she did her best. She’d definitely get another fight with someone if she wanted it. She went toe-toe-toe with Laila Ali; no one would ever say that she didn’t have heart. All she has to do is stay down. But Jessika isn’t the type of woman who quits. Jessika rises at 6 again, Laila rolls her eyes, Kayla pounds the mat, and Marie shrugs her shoulders. Laila immediately rushes in on Jessika and begins to land her trademark hard straights combinations, backing Jessika into the corner and firing straight rights and lefts as Jessika covers up in the corner. Laila keeps glancing at the referee thinking he’s going to step in and stop this but he doesn’t as Jessika grabs and holds her.

“Is that all you… got?” Jessika says as the blood from her eye runs on Laila’s shoulder, “I’m gonna …knock you out.”

The ref pulls the two women apart. Laila hurts Jessie with a right to her eye and Jessie stumbles backwards into the ropes with an “AARRGGHH!!” Laila looks at the ref again and then moves in on Jessika… but the bell rings.

“They better stop this fight or I might end up killing her,” Laila says, “She’s too tough for her own good; too stupid for her own good. But you know what? She picked this fight and now she‘s getting it.”

“I’m stopping this fight!!” Kayla says, “I can’t have you in there taking all of this unnecessary punishment! You’re left eye is almost swollen shut!”

“But my ears work… fine,” Jessika says weakly, “So stop your god damn yelling. And you better not… stop this fight. I got this bitch right where I want her. I don‘t back down, I don‘t run; I fight.”

The cut over Jessika’s left eye has grown to the length of her eyebrow and she is very much in pain, but Jessika is a veteran of many fights and she is ready. Like Beowulf in the face of the dragon, Jessika rises to face Laila.

Round 5

Laila doesn’t bounce out to start this round. She and Jessika meet at ring center and measure each other. Jessika isn’t in her crouch stance, she’s standing a bit more straight up now and Laila is back to her knees slightly bent, arms high stance with her left arm waving around. Laila lands three hard jabs and a straight right hand to Jessika’s eye and Jessika backs up. Laila comes in but takes a right to her gut, “ugg” comes from Laila as she bends a little but moves to Jessika’s left and lands two straight right hands to the cut that back Jessika up further. Laila is taking her time as Jessika is on the ropes. Laila doubles two left hooks to Jessie’s liver and comes over the top with a right cross to the jaw when Jessika lowers her arms. Laila moves to Jessika’s left while she’s on the ropes and lands a left right to her cut. Jessika angrily turns and swings wildly at Laila, but Laila avoids it and lands a straight right to Jessika’s stomach and another right to her cut. Laila realizes that Jessie can’t see too good out of her left eye and is moving in that direction. And the blood is flowing. While that fires Jessika up, she can’t catch Laila and she can’t see Laila when Laila is moving to Jessika’s left. And if Laila isn’t tattooing that eye, she’s hitting Jessika’s stomach and ribs, taking the energy away from her and setting her up for more shots to the eye. And Laila seems to be picking her spots, she’s not trying to overwhelm Jessika. Laila knows that she’s going to get criticizes no matter how long this fight lasts and no matter how badly she hurts Jessika. Kayla wants to throw in the towel, she needs to throw in the towel, and finally… she throws in the towel. The referee steps between Laila and Jessika as Jessika throws two hard shots at Laila that miss. The ref raises Laila’s arm and Jessika begs the ref to let the fight continue. When the ref tells her that her corner threw in the towel, Jessika makes her way to her corner.

“Did you throw in the towel on me?” she says to Kayla

“Yes,” Kayla says, “There was nothing you could do. The fight was over.”

“Don’t talk to me,” Jessika says growing angry, “Don’t fucking speak to me.”

Laila hugs her father and poses with him and her corner people. Usually, she would go over and hug her opponent, but because of the brawl, she chooses not to. Laila thought she had an easy night, and to a certain extent it was. But she knows she was in a fight and her stomach is hurting. She actually conducts her post fight interview sitting down.

Later on that night as Jessika’s penthouse. Jessika is icing her swollen eye now that it’s stitched up while Kayla is talking and Marie is silent.

“What the hell did you want me to do?” Kayla says angrily, “You were getting killed in there!”

“What did I want you to do?” Jessie fires back, “How about let me determine the outcome of my own damn fight? You butted in when you shouldn’t have.”

“Oh really?” Kayla says, “You brought me into this mess, Jessie. You didn’t have a damn corner man, a cut man, none of that. You brought me into this and despite the fact that I knew you were gonna get your ass kicked, I went along and helped because I’m your friend!”

“That’s all well and good,” Jessie says, “But how many times have I come from behind and won a fight? From the beginning you were down on me. You didn’t think I could go as long as I did, and I would’ve gone longer and could’ve won if you just stayed out of it! You didn’t give me a chance!”

“Didn’t give you a chance?” Kayla yells, “If I didn’t give you a chance, then I wouldn’t have worked your corner! If I didn’t give you a chance, I wouldn’t have helped you train in the first place!!”

“It’s always about you!” Jessie yells back, “I couldn’t have a moment without you sticking your foot in it! I’m the one sitting here with a cut fucking eye, NOT YOU!! I’m the one with the bruised face, NOT YOU!! I took all those punches and I took them, but I had earned the right to continue!! I earned the right for her to either knock me out or I’d knock her out! But you, goddamm you!! You robbed me of my right!!”

“You have some damn nerve, Jessika,” Kayla says, “How could you say that about me? I’m hurt now. I really am hurt. That shit you said is foul.”

The two women sit in silence for about a good ten minutes before Marie cuts in, “It was a damn good fight though.”

It takes some time, but Jessika and Kayla do go out with Marie that night and have a blast. Jessika and Kayla don’t bring up the fight, but they both understand the other’s position. And they would have many many more arguments and many many more fights.

THE END

[petelv]

Hi Howard.  Thank you for posting this excellent story.  I hope that you will post more of your stories real soon.

pete

[Kayla]

Hi Howard

Great to see this splendid story of yours again - a real classic! 

Hugs
Kayla
P.S. Am sure Jessie will enjoy reading it again too.

[howardcosell]

Hey guys, sorry I didn't thank pete and Kayla for replying to this. I've been pretty occupied with life lol. But I must say that I'm enjoying it and it's always good to visit a place where I let so much of my frustrations out and tried to entertain some folks. Take care.

[howardcosell]

I've been feeling under the weather, but I am going to do a sequel to this story at some point in the very near future. I was going to repost it because I'd forgotten that I'd posted it before. Hope you guys enjoy it and I'm glad I found it, because I sure did lose it 

[howardcosell]

it took Marie a while, but she finally took an interest in my love of navel love and as that bathing suit bottom indicates, she's still a child at heart

P.S. yes, I know that's Hayden Panettiere... all in fun.

[howardcosell]

yeah, at some point, I just have to use Laila again and this story lends itself to a sequel. Glad y'all still like it!

[howardcosell]

in honor of today March 21 being the birthday of the real Howard Cosell (RIP) I hope no one minds if I brought this one back, since Cosell was such a help to boxing and to Muhammad Ali and this story features his daughter Laila. I hope all of you are doing well.   I wanted to do a story for the birthday, but I'm so damn tired and had less time on my hands today than I thought I would.

Edit~~~~ Howard Cosell's birthday is on March 25th  I don't know why websites post "facts" that aren't really facts... and no, I didn't go to wikipedia. In any event, I'll probably do a story for that since I've got a little more time.