This story carries on from where I left off in 'back to basics'. When I got back from Sian’s, Erica was waiting for me at my cottage with a wonderful dinner and some less than wonderful news. Now read on…
Erica appeared from the kitchen holding two glasses of wine. She handed me one, wrapped her free arm around me, hugged me and kissed me on the lips. Then she stepped back and raised her glass:
“A toast to my warrior queen!”
“Why thank you my lovely, are you OK?” I asked, she looked tired.
“Verdammt, ich hasse Covid.” she cried. “Oh, sorry liebling.”
If there was one thing I knew about Erica. it was that she only resorted to her native tongue when she was drunk, tired or stressed. She wasn’t drunk, at least not yet, she looked tired but my guess was she was stressed.
“What’s up honey?” I asked, “And what’s with the cooking?”
“I needed something to take my mind off things. This damned Covid. I’ve been in meetings with Gabi and Jay all day, first at Jay’s house, then at the fortress. I thought I’d cook you a nice welcome home meal and we could get drunk together and make love.”
I was taken aback, Erica wasn’t normally this forthright, and as for calling Marshall’s ‘the fortress’ – that was a new one on me. I’d heard her call it ‘Gabi’s castle’ before but never ‘the fortress’. Something must really be upsetting her.
I followed her into the kitchen and she seemed to relax a bit back among the pots and pans. She indicated to the table and said: “Sit down liebling, not long now.”
My cottage is small and I don’t have a dining room so we eat in the kitchen. I did as I was instructed and a few minutes later I was presented with a big plate of German comfort food, Jaeger Schnitzel, spätzle and green salad. Home cooking away from home. I was right, she was stressed.
As we ate, she started to tell me what was causing her so much upset. As I’d expected, it was the latest announcement on Covid restrictions.
“Jay and Gabi have studied the new rules and they’re worried that things will just get worse. For now, the clubs can stay open, the gyms are OK and so are the spas but we’re really not sure about CLAWS. We could claim it was elite sport but it’s debatable.”
I could see that, women boxing and wrestling half naked wasn’t everyone’s idea of sport. She continued:
“When lockdown started video sales went up. I had this idea of setting up a premium streaming service, a subscription thing. Gabi and Jay liked the idea but insisted we only use high quality videos, the recent stuff and the stuff Paige has restored. The service has been running for several months and it’s very popular. Unfortunately, people are binge watching and we’ve only got a limited amount of content. Paige is working on restoring more old stuff but Jay and Gabi want new stuff as well. They’re determined to finish this year’s senior tournament because, with the league suspended it’s our only source of new material this year. With new rules coming in we need to move fast…”
It was then she hit me with it.
“…so they have decided to bring the 5th round of the tournament forward to this Sunday.”
My thoughts went immediately
“Poor Terri.” I mumbled.
“Poor who?” Asked Erica
“Sorry, Tee – she had two fights this weekend and now she’s got to fight for her place in the final in just four days’ time.”
“You called her Terri.”
“That’s what Sian and Shannon call her. She used to live there. She delivered Shannon. But then you know all that, don’t you? You’ve spent plenty of time there yourself, haven’t you?”
“Stacey and I have stopped by a few times when we were that way on business. You’re not jealous, are you?”
I tried to look indignant and failed miserably. She reached across the table and kissed me.
“Come on, liebling, let’s get more comfortable and you can tell me about your weekend and who split your lip for you.”
If you want to know what I told her that evening you can read it in my story ‘back to basics’. Suffice to say that very little of what I had to say came as a surprise to her. Even when I told her Tee was reverting to her old name of Terri she just nodded. About the only thing she was surprised to hear was how Lesley got the jump on me and what a bitch she had turned out to be.
I felt, as I often do, that I was an outsider, peering through a misted window at what was really going on. If I’d said to Erica “there will be a plague of locusts in the new forest tomorrow.” She would simply have said; “It’s in Gabi’s calendar and Jay has already sorted the liability insurance.”
And yet this Covid thing seemed to have them running scared. It was impossible to tell what the future held for any of us. I am, by nature, rather fatalistic – I believe what will happen will happen and there isn’t much I can do about it. Gabi and Erica aren’t like that. They like to be in control and they weren’t. There wasn’t much I could do for my friend other than offer comfort and support through these uncertain times. I was glad she was here though, because I needed that as well.
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On Sunday afternoon Erica and I were in the courtyard at Jay’s manor, along with about twenty other CLAWS regulars including the lady of the manor herself, to watch the fifth round of the tournament. As we mingled with the other spectators I wondered if Jay knew anything about what I’d got up to with Terri just a few days earlier. If she did, she didn’t mention it.
As usual for the final qualifying round, the card had been arranged for maximum suspense. First into the ring were Stacey and Mair. Mair still had a long shot at making the final two, but Stacey needed a miracle. In the event, they fought to a draw with both girls taking two falls before the twenty-minute time limit. Those two points were enough to put Mair briefly in the lead but it didn’t last long.
Next into the ring were Judy and Nikki. A newcomer to the club, Judy had proved just as formidable a fighter in her first tournament as her daughter, Ellie, who was the league champion when lockdown started. Apart from a surprise defeat at the hands of Mair, Judy had won every match so far, including knocking Terri out.
Fourteen minutes into their match, Nikki became Judy’s second KO victim of the tournament. The buxom brunette was trailing by two falls to one when she breast-smothered the Swiss blonde into unconsciousness. Judy stormed through to a final place, taking four points.
Finally, it was time for Jen and Terri to decide who Judy’s opponent would be. I was worried that Terri’s fights with Shannon and, in particular, Mandy the previous weekend would have left her drained ahead of her fight with Jen. I also knew that she was intimidated by Jen’s DD breasts and terrified that, like Judy earlier in the year, Jen would use them to suffocate her. In the event I needn’t have worried. Terri used her height and weight advantage to pin the smaller Welsh woman and managed to keep clear of Jen’s tits to take the match by three falls to one.
So, it was decided. Stacey and Nikki would fight for 5th place, Jen and Mair would fight for 3rd and Terri would defend her title against Judy.
With the card for the final decided, the date was set for October 24th. Earlier than normal but six weeks away, giving the fighters time to recover and train as best they could.
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In the weeks that followed I was in touch with Pauline, discussing our plans for a boxing match. In case you haven’t read my story “Back to basics” (shame on you) and particularly the last part, Pauline is another veteran fighter who has recently challenged me to a boxing match.
As a student teacher Pauline fought at CLAWS in the late 80s and early 90s. She was about four years younger than me and of similar build. She and I wrestled a couple of times and fought tag matches together but it was boxing where she excelled, winning the club title on many occasions.
When her teaching career took off, she stopped fighting at CLAWS but remained active on the underground scene, fighting privately and, occasionally, at the NBFC. In private circles she became known by her day job title “the headmistress” and used the gym at her school as a venue for her fights. It was there that I had first taken on Jan twelve years ago. I knew very little of this until fairly recently. My trip to Sian’s in early September had been an eye opener, I had no idea about the fighting world outside of CLAWS or that many of my old opponents had kept fighting privately all this time.
When Pauline heard about my fight with Lesley in early August and immediately challenged me. I accepted – how could I refuse? As wrestlers we were even and I’d been waiting 30 years to find out who was the better woman, wrestling or boxing I didn’t care – now was the time.
It was agreed that the fight would take place a week before the senior wrestling final and just ten weeks after my fight with Lesley. I had initially harboured the hope that we might have strip boxing match like I had with Lesley but Pauline is old school and expressed a preference for a regular six round of topless boxing. She’s also very straight so I knew there wouldn’t be any ‘after match antics’ of the kind I had with Lesley.
Despite that, I was very much looking forward to my match with Pauline. I’d hardly seen her in 30 years but I’d enjoyed fight both against and with her back then. She’d only fought in the CLAWS wrestling league for a couple of years and we only met twice, with each of us having a single victory, but she also partnered me in four tag matches and we won three of those. Pauline’s main interest had always been boxing and, although the boxing group at CLAWS was only small, she was a dominant force there for over four years.
I now knew that she’d kept fighting after leaving CLAWS and, unlike me, never really took a break. However, she was only fighting three or four times a year whereas, for the past ten years or so, I’d had at least six fights a year and, in some years, as many as ten.
One factor in setting up a fight with Pauline was her desire for privacy or, more correctly, secrecy. She had a successful career as the headmistress of a large local secondary school (high school to my US readers) and, as such, discretion about her hobby was important. With that in mind, we agreed that our fight would not be filmed and would take place in front of a small audience of CLAWS members and Pauline’s fighting contacts.
Erica and Gabi were keen to make up a card for the evening with a few other fights. I asked Pauline if she had any suggestions. She made a few suggestions and we settled on three supporting matches. First there would be a boxing match between a girl called Samantha, who had beaten Pauline in the past, and Donna, a CLAWS league boxer – both women are blondes in their late thirties. Then there would be a light weight wrestling match between Pauline’s sister-in-law, Louise, and former CLAWS champion, Amber – red headed Louise is a good bit older than Amber but has an impressive record of wins. Finally, there would be a cat fight between Lesley and Jan before Pauline and I stepped into the ring for the main event.
I hoped it could go ahead as every match on the card had exciting possibilities, but the news wasn’t good. It seemed that every day things were getting worse, with rumours of impending restrictions that would limit us even further. Every evening the blonde buffoon would appear on the television and blather and waffle his way through the day’s events, surrounded by his scientific stooges, who rattled off statistics and chanted the latest government mantra. It seemed to me the scientists actually knew what they were talking about but they struggled to explain it in simple terms and you didn’t get much simpler than the politicians. They really were useless. They couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery.
The result was we kept getting hit with new instructions on what we could and couldn’t do and everything seem to be contradictory. For the girls at the club it was difficult. We got paid for fighting so technically we were working and it was work you couldn’t do at home. But were we elite sportswomen? Certainly, we were among the finest mature female topless fighters in the country but, somehow, I doubted most of the people tuning into Gabi’s streaming channel were watching our fights for the skill and competitiveness. So, were we some sort of sex business? Well, I don’t think any of the girls really wanted to consider themselves to be sexual objects. We fought for the pleasure of it, we fought for the money, yes, we fought to entertain and, yes, we got our tits out. Porn? I think we preferred to think of it as sport but others might not see it that way.
So where does that leave us? Work from home unless you can’t. Don’t do sporting events unless you are elite sports people. No gatherings of more than six people indoors, except where it might affect business. No mixing with multiple households outside of work. Could we, or couldn’t we? It was all very confusing and it was causing my young German companion a lot of stress.
One announcement that came in the middle of October put the kibosh on my planned meeting with Mandy in December. The north was being placed in a higher tier of lockdown than we were in the south and simply travelling up to Sian’s was now out of the question, let alone fighting there. Mandy would have to wait until things improved.
A few days before my fight with Pauline I got a call from Gabi, who had a big favour to ask.
“Hi Ellen, it’s about your fight with Pauline this weekend…”
“Oh dear, are we going to have to cancel it?”
“No, no, the good news is you will be able to go ahead but, unfortunately, there will be a lot of conditions and we need your help, a favour if you like. Jay and I have been studying the latest rules and we think it will be okay for fights to take place if there is no audience present. It will be a bit like your fight with Lesley back in July. Just you, me and Pauline in the ring, plus your chosen seconds of course, ideally people you’re living with.”
“And what about the other matches we had planned?”
“I’m afraid we probably will have to cancel them for now.”
“You mentioned you had a favour to ask us…”
“Yes, I’m hoping you can talk Pauline into this. As you know, we have the senior wrestling final the week after your fight. We think this can go ahead in the same way that your own fight, provided we keep all the girls separate and once again have no audience. What we would like to do is set up a live video stream so that the people who would’ve been in the audience can watch the fight online.”
“Is that possible?”
“Erica and Paige seem to think it is but we need to test it, and that’s where you and Pauline come in. We would like to try live streaming your fight as a test. I know that Pauline specifically didn’t want cameras at her matches but this is the only way that we can get you an audience. Obviously, the video will be recorded but we won’t use it unless Pauline specifically allows us to.”
“Okay, let me talk to her and see what she says. If she says no, can our fight still go ahead?”
“Yes, I think it can still happen Ellen, but if possible…”
And she left it at that. I waited till 9pm to call Pauline. I figured by that time she’ll be home from work and have had time to eat and deal with any family matters. I called her mobile. when she answered I could hear the TV in the background.
“Hi Pauline, it’s Ellen, can you talk? it’s kind of urgent.”
“Oh, hi honey, yeah just give me a moment. Hang on…”
I heard her moving round. The noise of the TV receded and then stopped altogether. She was obviously walking into another room where she could talk to me alone.
“Okay Ellen, go ahead. What’s the problem?”
“I had a call from Gabi earlier…”
“Oh dear. Is the fight off?”
“No, no. She says the fight can go ahead but without an audience. Just you, the referee and our chosen seconds in the ring room.”
“Okay, I can live with that. I would kind of liked to have had the girls watching and cheering us on but you can’t have everything.”
“Yes, it is a shame, but there is more. Gabi wants to test some technology and she asked if you would agree to the fight being filmed and live streamed to the people who would’ve been in our audience? I’m not sure if they’re going to be able to get real-time feedback for us but if they could it almost be like having an audience in the room with us.”
“Well, you know I’m not that keen on the idea of being filmed. We talked about this before. If a film gets out and someone sees it could be the end of my career.”
“Don’t worry, Gabi has promised it will be a secure transmission. Only people who have been invited to watch will be able to get in and see it. And it will only be available live. No recording or playback, unless you want that.”
“Okay, let me sleep on it. I’m really not comfortable but I’ll give you a call in the morning and let you know one way or the other. By the way, what did Gabi say would happen if I refused?
For a second, I thought about telling her the fight would be off but I decided to be honest and said:
“Gabi says the fight can go ahead but we’ll be doing her a big favour if we let her live stream it.”
“Okay honey, I promise you I’ll sleep on it and call you in the morning. And, hopefully, I’ll see you in the ring on Saturday.
The next morning my phone woke me up, ringing incessantly. I picked it up.
“Hi Ellen,” Said the chirpy voice, “it’s Pauline, how are you this morning?”
Half asleep I mumbled, “Hi Pauline, what time is it?”
“6am, us working girls have to get up early you know.”
Cheeky bitch, doesn’t she know that I have a shop to run? I’m a working girl too. Anyway, she went on:
“I’ve had a think about what you said last night. I would kind of like to hear the girls cheering us on. Tell Gabi if it’s possible to have audience feedback then I agree is doing a live stream.”
“Okay I’ll pass it on and let you know what she says.”
I waited till a respectable hour before calling Gabi. By respectable I mean about half past eight. My shop doesn’t open until ten and most of the orders are online at the moment so I wasn’t rushing to go into work. I told Gabi about my conversation with Pauline and asked whether she thought audience feedback could be piped into the ring room through the PA. Gabi suggested I ask Paige. I called Paige and she told me to speak to Larry as he was sorting out all the web stuff for live streaming. Of course, Larry, that made sense. The wealthy software guru and club archivist who had made his fortune and retired three years ago. He would be just the person to handle this live streaming stuff. I hadn’t seen him or spoken to him in months and our relationship these days was a very casual friendship so when I called it was one of those awkward ‘how are you getting on in Covid’ calls that we seem to have with all but our closest friends at the moment.
“Hi Ellen, how are you doing? How are you getting on in the pandemic?” He asked.
“I’m doing fine thanks Larry. It’s hit the business a bit obviously. No summertime trade to speak of but I’m doing okay. The online shop is working well.”
“Well, that’s good to know. I hear you started fighting again. I guess retirement didn’t suit you.”
“I only said I was retiring from tournaments, I didn’t say I was retiring from fighting altogether and, anyway, how do you know about that? I haven’t told anyone.”
“Oh, but you have Ellen and it’s a small world. But it’s good to know you’re back in action. You know you’re one of my favourite fighters. I love to see you in the ring.”
“Well, actually, Larry that’s the reason I’m calling.”
Obviously, Larry was in on the whole live streaming the senior wrestling final but I didn’t know if Gabi had mentioned the idea of a test streaming using the fight between myself and Pauline so I approached it gently.
“Larry, I understand you’re setting up a live streaming for the senior wrestling tournament this year?”
“Yes, that’s right, Ellen. It’s coming up in a couple of weeks’ time. I’m just setting everything up and testing at the moment.”
“I don’t know if you know but I’m going to have a boxing match with Pauline in a week or so is time and Gabi was wondering if we could use it as a test for the live streaming system?”
“Yeah, I don’t see why not. She did say she was looking for someone who could test the system before we went live with it on the day. I guess she figured you’d be the right person.”
“I’m happy enough to do it myself but Pauline is wondering whether it would be possible to get audience feedback into the room where we are fighting. I think if we can’t do that, she really doesn’t want to do the live stream. She wants her friends to be cheering her on.”
“Yeah, I’ve been looking into that. It will be possible with a small audience, say up to 50 people or so, but there will be a slight delay in the feedback, maybe a second or three.”
“Wow, that’s amazing, how does it work?” I asked and immediately wished I hadn’t. Larry, like most techies, can talk for hours when you get him on his pet subject, Paige is similar. He launched into his pitch:
“Well and you’ve heard of things like Zoom, haven’t you?”
“Yes, I’ve actually used it once or twice for talking to my suppliers. Understand it’s not really very secure.”
“No, it’s not. It’s better than a lot of the other products out there but it’s not too secure and that’s why we’re not using it. We’re going to be using something some former colleagues of mine developed for NATO. It’s virtually uncrackable. The feed will go to an invited audience who all have the app on their devices. Their mics will be turned on but their cameras will be off so they can be heard but not seen. For the championship fights a buddy of mine has developed a plug-in that allows us to take the stream and feed it out on our streaming website site. I think Gabi’s hoping to make it a pay-per-view thing for the website subscribers. If they pay, they get to watch the fight like a video but it’s in real time. If not, they have to wait until the video is released.”
I was worried for a moment he was going to launch into a whole load of tech speak about how the system work but fortunately he didn’t and I was able to thank him and bring our call to a close.
“Thank you, Larry, I’ll let Gabi and Pauline know it’s doable and we’ll live stream it.”
“Excellent, I’m looking forward to it. Just be aware that the headmistress is a powerful opponent – I wish you luck.”
I’d given up being surprised by his comments so I just said:
“Thank you, I’m looking forward to it myself, now you take care won’t you”
“Sure. Will do, and look after yourself. I’ll see you soon. Bye now.”
With that he hung up. It was good news all round. I knew Pauline would be at work so I waited until the evening to call her back again and give her the good news. The live stream is on and so was our fight.
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On Saturday evening Erica and I drove over to Marshall’s in her Audi S3, ready for my fight with Pauline. We pulled into the car park and drove round the back of the building. I was surprised to see how many cars were there. I expected to see Gabi’s Z4 and Stacey’s little Ford Focus but I was surprised to see Jan’s BMW estate and Lesley’s SLK there as well, along with an old Morris Minor convertible, Pauline’s retro car. It was as old as I was, which made me chuckle. It seemed we were the last to arrive.
“What is Lesley doing here?” I asked.
“Jan was really keen to have a cat fight with Lesley and she persuaded Gabi into allow them to be a supporting match to you tonight.”
Jan, Jill and Paige would have come in Jan’s car, Stacey would have brought Sally and I guess Lesley came on her own. The one vehicle that was conspicuous by its absence was Larry’s Land Rover. He had to be in the building somewhere, he was running the live stream. Maybe he’d got a lift with Gabi or maybe he’s cycled over.
We entered Marshall’s through the back door and made our way up the stairs to the chillout zone and on into the blue corner dressing room. The monitor above the ring room door was on and displaying the action in the ring. Lesley and Jan were already in the ring and going for it big time. Both women were already topless, their bras scattered across the ring, and Lesley was doing her best to smother Jan with her large tits. Paige was refereeing. I had no doubt they were fighting using Jan’s cat fight rules.
Jan had proudly told me she’d fought Lesley several times and never lost. As I watched the action, I got the feeling there might be a first time for everything. Lesley was certainly dominating the smaller brunette. I didn’t know what the score was but I watched Jan tap out to Lesley’s breast smother and, a few minutes later, submit again when she was trapped in a brutal Boston crab. it looked like Lesley was adopting the same “beat ‘em up” strategy against Jan that she had used against me at Sian’s a month or so before. I certainly felt for Jan, this was likely to be a very painful experience for her.
Erica told me to stop watching and get ready for my own fight. I slipped out of my street clothes and stood admiring my naked body in the mirror for a moment. I wasn’t exactly toned but my tits stood firm and my belly didn’t wobble too much.
“Not bad for a 58-year-old.” I said to myself. Erica looked me up and down and said: “Not bad at all.” Before reaching across and slapping my bare bum. “Now get your kit on, it’s fight time.”
I opened my kit bag pulled out my favourite black panties with the white polka dots and slipped them on, before putting on my black boxing boots and my black silk kimono. Finally, I got my gloves out and Erica help me lace them up.
When I looked back at the monitor, I was surprised to see that Jan was back in control of the fight. Lesley was taking a hell of a beating and looked to be in big trouble. Lesley had lost her emerald green thong and slumped, naked, in the corner. Jan still had her canary yellow pants on and I could see she was giving Lesley a full fisting in the pussy. I knew that Lesley could be easily aroused and I have no doubt that Jan was working on winning this one as a sexual conquest rather than a physical fight. Sure enough, seconds later Lesley screamed out her orgasm. Jan stepped aside and Lesley collapsed to her knees. Jan retreated to a neutral corner and Paige began counting over the fallen redhead.
Amazingly Lesley made it to her feet at eight but it was pretty clear she was in no state to carry on. Jan closed on her, stuck three fingers in her pussy and pushed her back against the ropes. Lesley was pleading now but Jen’s fingers worked their magic. Seconds later she erupted again. This time Jan grabbed the back of Lesley’s head and threw her face first to the mat. The big redhead lay on the mat convulsing as her orgasm ripped through her and Paige stood counting over her. She made no attempt to get up as Paige reached ten and Jan raised her arms in victory.
The fight was over. Once again Jan had beaten the large Irish woman, but she didn’t waste time showboating or pressing her sexual domination. Knowing what a bad loser Lesley could be, Jan and Paige quickly made their way out of the ring before she could recover and slipped out of the main doors of the ring room.
A few seconds later Lesley got to her feet, cursing and swearing, and climbed out of the blue corner. For a moment I thought she might be heading this way but she also turned and headed out of the main ring room doors. I looked quizzically at Erica. She said:
“I believe Jan is using the training room’s wet room to change in and Lesley is using one of the pods.”
Just before lockdown Marshall’s had invested in three flotation tanks and converted three of the small private workout rooms on the first floor into flotation tank rooms, each one effectively a wet room with its own shower. It occurred to me that this has been a fortunate decision as it now meant that they were at least six different places where fighters could change before and after their matches, ideal for the wrestling tournament where all six fighters needed to isolate from each other except when they were in the ring.
The PA in my dressing room crackled into life and I heard Jill’s voice say:
“Pauline and Ellen, it’s now time for your fight. The changing room doors will open in 30 seconds. Please make your way to the ring.”
Erica gathered her seconds toolkit; a bucket. two towels, my gumshield and a bottle of water, and we made our way to the ring room door. A few seconds later the buzzer sounded. Erica pushed the door open and we walked out into the ring room and made our way to the blue corner. On the opposite side of the ring Pauline and her second made their entrance at the same moment. Gabi was already standing in the ring dressed in her referee’s outfit. Over the PA system I could hear the murmuring voices and a couple of seconds later an eruption of applause from the 50 or guests watching online. As Larry had predicted, there was a slight delay in the sound but it did give a bit more atmosphere than the sterile environment where I’d fought Lesley three months before.
When everyone was in the ring Gabi made the introductions:
“Ladies, our main event tonight is a senior challenge boxing match to be fought over six three-minute rounds in accordance with club rules. Introducing in the blue corner, 58 years of age, standing 5’7”, weighing 155lbs and measuring 38c-29-42, our former senior boxing champion Ellen Shaw!”
I slipped off my kimono as applause and calls of encouragement from my supporters echoed around the empty room. As it died down Gabi continued:
“And in the red corner, 54 years of age, standing 5’4”, also weighing 155lbs and measuring 38d-31-42, a former CLAWS league boxing champion, The Headmistress – Pauline Grainger!”
Was it just my insecurity or was the applause for her much louder? I looked across at my opponent. Pauline was shorter than me but stockier with big boobs and strong looking thighs. Everything about her said she would be difficult to knock down but I was also glad I wasn’t wrestling her. I didn’t fancy being caught in a body scissors between those legs. Her shoulder length straight hair, once flame red was now strawberry blonde and highlighted. She could clearly afford to spend more time in the salon than I could. I hadn’t had my haircut in quite a while and it was a wild frizzy mess which I tied back in a sort of bun come ponytail for the fight.
Pauline was wearing brown gloves, brown boots and floral-patterned cotton knickers with pink lace trim around them. It seemed to be her one concession to femininity, not that she was anything but curvaceous but everything else about her radiated the fact she was here on business.
I also recognised her second as another fighter from my early days CLAWS. Helen had replaced Jane in the wrestling league and I’d fought her once but she left after a year or so, having lost most of her fights including her one with me. Like Pauline, her real forte was boxing. She’d joined the boxing league about a year before Pauline, replacing Sarah, and fought there for about seven years, winning the title on numerous occasions. She was probably a year or two older than Pauline, and a year or two younger than me. Her once blonde hair was now silver and cut in a stylish Bob.
Gabi called Pauline and me to the centre of the ring for the pre-fight briefing and I got a chance to see my opponent close up for the first time in almost 30 years. Pauline has a reputation as a bit of a brawler so my strategy was clear; use my height and reach to keep her at a distance and hope I could wear her down. Unfortunately, that was pretty obvious and I had no doubt that her strategy would be to get in close, under my defence, and give me a damned good beating.
Briefing over, we returned to our corners and our corner women. In my corner Erica was dressed in her favourite outfit, denim shorts and a plain white t-shirt. In Pauline’s corner I was surprised to see Helen was wearing a blue mini-dress that was so short that every time she bent over to tend to her fighter, she revealed a tiny black thong disappearing into the crack of her expansive arse. I thought my bum was big but Helen must have been about 46 around the hips.
But enough of my catty observations about Pauline’s lard arsed friend. It’s fight time. Here’s Stacey’s account of the action.
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The bell sounds for the start of round one and the girls come out of their corners and face off. They start dancing cautiously, feel each other out. Ellen uses her height and reach, throwing out jabs towards Pauline’s head and keeping the shorter woman at bay.
After a minute or so Pauline is clearly getting frustrated by this tactic and seeks to duck under Ellen’s jabs. She manages to get in close and deliver a few body blows to the taller woman before a blow to the temple forces her to take a step back.
The dance resumes. Ellen leading with her right, keeping the younger woman at bay until, once again, Pauline manages the duck under Ellen’s swing and closes on her. Attacking her body with a rain of blows Pauline pushes Ellen back towards the ropes. Ellen raises her guard and lowers her head, her gloved fists protecting her face while her elbows do their best to protect her boobs.
Pauline storms in, her right bashing Ellen’s ear while her left pummels the former champions ribs and right breast. Gabi seems about to intervene when suddenly Ellen drops to her right knee. Pauline backs off swiftly and moves to a neutral corner as Gabi starts to count over the blonde.
Ellen is quickly on her feet but Gabi counts to nine before waving Pauline back in. The action resumes and Ellen is now clearly on the defensive. She backpedals round the ring for the remaining minute or so of the round, using her jab to keep the shorter the woman at bay.
The Bell sounds for the end of the first round and the two women return to the corners. Pauline seems confident and satisfied while Ellen looks little deflated as she slumps on her stool. Helen and Erica do their best to get their fighters ready for round two as the scores flash up on the scoreboard. Unsurprisingly the judges have awarded four of their six points to Pauline and, with two points from the knockdown, she leads by six points to two going into the second round.
The bell goes for round two and Pauline is quickly on the attack again. She charges out of the corner and, ducking under Ellen’s right hook, delivers another combination of blows to the blonde’s breasts. Ellen staggers back. Pauline pushes forward with her attack and forces Ellen back in her own corner. Gabi responds faster this time and quickly moves to separate the pair. She gives Ellen a standing count of nine before waving Pauline back in.
This time Ellen is ready for Pauline. A rapid exchange of blows between the two fighters ends when a right cross from Ellen connects with Pauline’s temple and sends the younger woman crashing to the canvas face first. Ellen retreats to the neutral corner as Gabi moves in and starts counting over the fallen school teacher. Pauline pushes herself up on her hands and knees and gets to her feet as the count reaches six. She’s clearly ruffled but otherwise unharmed. Gabi counts to nine before waving Ellen back in.
The action resumes and, for a minute or so, Ellen seems back in control, using her reach to keep the smaller woman at bay. But eventually Pauline finds a way through and delivers another series of heavy body blows to the blonde who eventually wraps her arms around Pauline’s neck in a clinch. Gabi moves in to separate them and gives Ellen another standing count if nine.
With thirty seconds left on the in the round, Pauline goes on the attack again but Ellen is ready. As Pauline closes in, another clubbing right from the blonde connects with her jaw and, for the second time in the round, she finds herself on her back. This time she is slow to get to her feet and when the action resumes, she seems more cautious.
The bell sounds a few seconds later and both women retreat to their corners glistening with sweat and breathing hard. This has been a fast paced, hard-fought round. Ellen’s second knockdown is the decider when the judges score is flash up on the scoreboard. This time Ellen takes four judges’ points to Pauline’s two and they go into the third round tied on ten points each.
Round three begins much is round two finished, with Pauline testing Ellen’s defences but unable to find a way through until, about 40 seconds into the round, a straight left to the breast brings Ellen’s guard down. It is followed by a right upper cut that connects with the older woman’s jaw. Ellen goes down hard on her back and initially looks to be out cold. At the count of five she rolls over and begins to push herself up, just getting to her feet as the count reaches nine. She looks decidedly shaken. Gabi waves Pauline back in and moments later Ellen finds herself on the deck for the second time in the round. This time left-right combination from the shorter woman brings Ellen’s guard down and left hook connects with her temple putting her down on her right side. Ellen looks decidedly dazed as she slowly staggers to her feet, once again just beating the count.
Pauline senses victory and goes on the attack. A few seconds later she is rewarded with a third knockdown as Ellen fails to spot a telegraphed right hook which connects with her left temple. Ellen is face down on the canvas. It looks like this could be it. I can hear Terri’s voice in the audience screaming at her to get up.
Gabi counts over Ellen as she slowly pushes herself to her hands and knees and gets her feet swaying uncertainly as the count reaches nine. Gabi looks concerned and gives Ellen a thorough checking over, confirming that she wants to continue the fight, before waving Pauline back in. Pauline wastes no time picking up where she left off, hitting Ellen with another barrage of body blows.
Ellen is being completely dominated. Pauline pushes forward with another series of lefts and rights. Ellen deflects a lot of them but many more strike home and she is rocked repeatedly as she backs up. None the less she is still firing off punches of her own.
A right hook from Pauline connects with Ellen’s temple as Ellen fires off an uppercut aimed at Pauline’s exposed jaw. Ellen’s legs buckle and she starts to fall back to the mat but the upward moment of her arm continues and the uppercut intended for Pauline’s jaw connects instead with her floral panties.
Ellen hits the mat. Pauline staggers and clutches her nether regions but remains on her feet. She stumbles to the neutral corner as Gabi signals a low blow. Ellen’s low blow is clearly unintentional, she is on the deck, but Tee’s law dictates that not only has she given away four points but she must now beat the count. Gabi counts over the fallen blonde as Pauline watches from the neutral corner. Ellen staggers to her feet at eight and the bell sounds for the end of the round.
Both fighters make their way wearily to their corners but there is no doubt who is winning this fight. Pauline has taken 18 points in this round. Ellen has scored nothing and trails by 28 points to 10 going into the fourth round. Erica does her best to get Ellen ready for the next round while Pauline stands in her corner confidently chatting to Helen.
Ellen has survived a disastrous third round but still looks very unsteady as she comes out for round four. Pauline is quickly on the attack again, forcing Ellen back into her own corner where, for the second time in the fight, she takes a standing count. The score clicks on to 29-10.
When the action resumes, Ellen tries to keep the fight open with her long-range jabs. But she is quickly shut down when Pauline moves inside and delivers three sharp blows to her left breast which drop her to knees once again. She takes a full nine count to come back to her feet but it does her no good. Moments later another right hook from the headmistress connects with Ellen’s temple and she crashes back to the canvas, this time coming to rest on her back, arms spread wide.
It looks like this might be it. The count is at four when Ellen rolls over and begins to hesitantly get to her feet. Once again, she just manages to beat the count. Gabi waves Pauline back in and soon Ellen is back pedalling around the ring again under the assault from the younger woman. Eventually she is forced into a neutral corner Gabi intervenes to award another standing count. Ellen takes a timeout, resting her bum on the middle turnbuckle as Gabi counts to nine and then reassures the referee that she’s happy to continue. She raises her guard and squares off against Pauline again.
Once again Pauline seeks to press home her advantage but she’s getting over confident. She leaves herself wide open and Ellen strikes back. A straight right hits Pauline in the face and her gloved hands instinctively clutch her nose. A straight left hits her in the solar plexus and her knees buckle.
Ellen moves to a neutral corner and Gabi counts over the fallen teacher. Pauline is on her knees, arse in the air and head on the canvas, with her right hand clutching her middle and her left hand covering her face.
Helen shouts at her to get her act together and get her arse up. Pauline’s fans can be heard yelling at her from the speakers. Pauline pushes herself up to her knees. Blood is trickling from her left nostril, it runs down her chin and drips onto her breast as she staggers to her feet, only just managing to beat the count. She looks decidedly shaken as Gabi checks her over.
The action resumes and Ellen closes in, driving two quick blows into Pauline’s ribs. Pauline responds by throwing her left arm around Ellen’s neck and hugging her close in a clinch. Gabi moves into separate them and gives Pauline a standing count of nine. Ellen moves to a neutral corner, her sweat-soaked left shoulder and breast now covered with Pauline’s blood.
Gabi finishes checking Pauline over and waves Ellen back in but there are just a few seconds remaining on the clock. Although Ellen continues to take the fight to the small woman, she is unable to score a convincing blow before the bell rings for the end of the round.
As they retreat to their corners the scoreboard shows Pauline leading by 34 points to 13. Pauline has dominated the action for the first two minutes but Ellen has fought back bravely and the judges award three points to each fighter, taking the score to 37-16. As they come out for around five Ellen looks a stronger but with a 21-point deficit she has it all to do if she’s actually to win this fight – and she knows it.
The bell sounds for the start of round five and Ellen is quickly on the attack. Pauline retreats and covers up but Ellen is relentless. A straight right from the older woman strikes home below Pauline’s left breast. Her guard comes down and a left hook hits her right eye. She topples backward and measures her length on the mat.
Ellen retreats to a neutral corner and Gabi starts counting over Pauline. Pauline slowly pushes herself up, getting to her feet as the count reaches eight. Gabi checks her over and waves Ellen back in.
The action resumes and Ellen goes on the attack again. A left to the breast brings Pauline’s guard down and a right hook to the temple turns her legs to jelly. Pauline hits the mat for a second time in the round. This time she is face down on the canvas as Gabi begins counting.
Once again Pauline doggedly pushes herself up to all fours and pauses for a moment, her breasts swaying as sweat drips off her nipples onto the canvas, before getting to her feet as the count reaches nine. In the neutral corner Ellen watches intently, breathing hard and taking every moment to catch her breath while Gabi checks Pauline over.
Ellen is now on seventeen points, still seventeen behind Pauline. Gabi waves her back in and the action resumes. After her dominance of the last two rounds, Pauline seems to be fading fast. With a little over two minutes of the round gone Ellen’s right hook connects again and Pauline goes down for a third time. She makes it up at eight and her nose is bleeding again as the action resumes with Ellen attacking and Pauline doing her best to stand her ground.
The round is drawing to a close. Ellen pushes forward again looking for her fourth knockdown in the round but this time she overreaches herself. Pauline sidesteps and fires off a solid right hook that connects with Ellen’s jaw sending the older woman crashing, face first, to the mat.
Gabi steers Pauline to a neutral corner and begins counting over the fallen blonde. Ellen is lying face down, unmoving the count slowly rises. It looks like it could all be over for the blonde but, at five, the bell sounds for the end of the round.
Pauline walks back to her corner, her frustration evident. Erica is quickly in the ring tending to her fallen fighter. A few seconds later, with Erica’s help, Ellen rolls over on her back and slowly sits up before getting to her feet returning to her corner. The judges scores are in and Ellen takes five points to Pauline’s one. The three knockdowns give her eleven points in the round to Pauline’s three. The gap has closed thirteen points. The question now is how much damage did that last knockdown do to Ellen?
The bell rings for the start of the sixth and final round. Both women look exhausted as they wearily get to their feet and close on each other in the centre of the ring. With a 13-point advantage, Pauline simply has to hang on for the next three minutes and avoid too many knockdowns. Ellen has it all to do, she must score at least four knockdowns or knock the younger woman out if she is to win the match.
They meet in the centre of the ring and Ellen immediately starts forcing Pauline back. Pauline quickly retreats to her corner under a hail of largely uncontrolled blows from the blonde. Gabi steps in and gives Pauline a standing count and Ellen closes the gap to 12 points.
Gabi stops counting at nine and checks Pauline over before waving Ellen back in. For the next minute or so Ellen attacks and Pauline retreats but she keeps her guard up and, much to Ellen’s frustration she is unable to land a telling blow. Eventually an exhausted Pauline lunges at Ellen and grabs hold of her again to stop herself going down. Gabi separates the pair again and gives Pauline another standing count of nine.
Ellen is a point closer to winning but, with less than two minutes left on the clock, she needs to knock her opponent down if she is to stand any chance of winning.
When the action resumes Pauline makes a last-ditch attempt to even things up. She goes into brawler mode. Head down and fists flying she batters Ellen’s breasts and ribs. Ellen tries to break free but she can’t and eventually wraps her arms around Pauline’s neck as the shorter woman continues to batter her belly.
Gabi moves in and this time it’s Ellen taking a standing count and the gap widens to twelve points again. Both women and grateful for the break. They’ve been fighting for almost seventeen minutes and they both look a complete mess.
Although her nose is no longer bleeding, Pauline’s eyes are starting to close as her face swells following Ellen’s punch at the end of the fourth round. For her part Ellen has taken quite a beating. Her ribs are reddened from the beating they’ve taken; her breasts are swollen and there is a trickle of blood from a cut on her left nipple. Her left eye is also starting to close.
The action resumes with Ellen still seeking that elusive knockdown and Pauline still desperately clinging on. Once again Pauline gets inside and wraps her arms around Ellen. She may be almost out on her feet but she knows that she can afford to lose a point or two if it wastes a little time. And it does. Gabi separates them and gives Pauline another standing count of nine while Ellen takes time to catch her breath in a neutral corner. The scoreboard moves on the Pauline 41, Ellen 30 as Gabi finishes checking Pauline over and waves Ellen back in.
The clock is ticking down. Ellen has staged an impressive fight back from being 21 points behind at the end of the fourth round. Her dominance of this round means she will almost certainly take all six judges’ points but, even so, she is at least still six points short of victory. She must knock Pauline out in these closing seconds to win the fight.
Ellen goes on the attack again and her efforts are finally rewarded as she connects with a right hook and Pauline goes face down on the mat. Ellen retreats to a neutral corner where she slumps, exhausted, as Gabi slowly counts over the fallen fighter. Amazingly, at five, Pauline starts to push herself up. She staggers to her feet as Gabi counts to nine.
She’s clearly beaten. Her puffy eyes are almost closed as she stands swaying unsteadily. Her gloves are barely raised, let alone guarding. Gabi really should stop the fight but instead, when Pauline nods that she wants to go on, she simply waves Ellen back in.
Ellen closes on the hapless teacher and fires off the last punch of the fight, a right uppercut to the jaw. Pauline never sees it coming. It pretty much lifts her off her feet and she crashes down on her back, arms spread wide. Ellen moves back to the neutral corner and Gabi starts counting. It’s a formality. She could count to 100 and Pauline would still be on the deck. As she counts ten the bell rings.
Ellen raises her arms in victory. Helen is quickly in the ring and tending to her fallen fighter. Erica also climbs in and hugs the jubilant Ellen. But Gabi is looking perplexed. She looks up at the gallery and runs her finger across her throat, a sign to Jill to cut the public audio feed so that she can talk to the judges in private.
Gabi can be seen talking urgently into her headset as Ellen and Erica celebrate and Helen helps the conscious but decidedly groggy Pauline to sit up. Then the scoreboard flickers. Ellen’s score advances to 40 but Pauline’s is on 41. What’s going on? Did Ellen knock Pauline out or did Pauline win on points?
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I genuinely thought I’d won. Why wouldn’t I? Gabi had counted to 10 and the bell had rung. I’d knocked Pauline out, hadn’t I?
Well, it seems things weren’t quite that simple. Although Sally’s official role is time keeper, the timing is actually automatic. Sally starts the timer at the beginning of a round and bell sounds. The bell sounds again exactly 180 seconds later. That was what had confused Gabi. Yes, she had counted to ten but she had not signalled the knockout. The round had ended before she could do so. I had scored 12 points in the final round but I needed 14 to win. So, despite being counted out, Pauline had technically won.
Gabi crossed to Helen and Pauline and squatted down to talk to them. Pauline was sitting up and looking a lot more alert now. Helen was squatting on her haunches next to her, her mini-dress riding up. She was facing me. She fixed me with a firm gaze and spread her legs slightly so that I could see her damp, thong clad crotch between her meaty thighs. Between each round of the fight, she seemed to have gone out of her way to moon at me while tending her fighter. Now she was flashing her sex at me. Was this a challenge? If so, bring it on sister, I’d love to whip your fat arse.
A whispered conversation followed, Gabi obviously didn’t want Erica and I to hear what she was saying. Gabi finished speaking and Pauline nodded she understood and said something to Gabi. Helen hissed something angrily to Pauline. I caught what sounded like “cow”, “fucking” and “won” but missed the rest. Pauline looked at her and shook her head.
Gabi asked Pauline something and, again, Pauline nodded. Gabi stood up and walked over to us in the blue corner as Helen helped Pauline to her feet and back to the red corner.
Gabi explained to Erica and me that although I had knocked Pauline out, and she had conceded that, the bell had gone before Gabi signalled to knockout. As a result, Pauline had technically won on points.
Erica started to launch into a tirade of German. Her cousin held up her hands for silence. Erica stopped mid-sentence and Gabi went on to say that Pauline had said she agreed to call the fight a draw if I would.
I looked across at the strawberry blonde slumped on her stool in the red corner. She looked a mess, soaked in sweat, hair stuck to her face, blood trickling from her nose and tears running down her face. My heart went out to her. It had been a great fight. She’d come so close to beating me, or was it the other way around? What could I say? Yes, let’s call it a draw.
With that I got up, crossed to the red corner and hugged Pauline. As I did so I heard Gabi’s voice announce over the PA:
“Ladies, as you have just witnessed, Ellen knocked Pauline out at the end of round six. You saw me count to ten. So, Ellen wins by a knockout. Or does she? Although I counted to ten, I had not signalled the knockout before the round ended. At the end of the round Pauline had 40 points but Ellen only had 39. So, Pauline wins on points. I have discussed the situation with both fighters. Pauline accepts she was knocked out; Ellen accepts she was beaten on points. Both fighters have agreed to declare the match a draw.”
As Gabi spoke the delayed audio from the audience filtered into the room. Gasps, applause cat calls, cries of “Yesss!” and “Nooooo!”
I helped Pauline to her feet and together we joined Gabi in the centre of the ring, me to her right and Pauline to her left. Gabi took hold of our wrists and raised our arms. Holding them there as the applause from our fifty or so spectators filled the ring room.
As the applause died down Pauline and I shook hands and then embraced each other.
“Fancy a rematch sometime?” She asked.
“Any time.” I replied.
“Helen fancies taking you on as well.” She added.
I just nodded. Just as I thought – lard-arse fancies her chances too. With that we returned to our corners and headed for our dressing rooms.
Back in the blue corner dressing room I stripped and showered before allowing Erica to give my aching muscles a through massage. I had enjoyed the fight but I was feeling it now. I also realised I’d come very close to losing on more than one occasion. Despite that, the prospect of boxing Pauline again was very exciting and I was already looking forward to it. As for lard-arse – well, I’d have to give that some thought.
