[EllenShaw]

Oh my, what have we here? The third Ellen Shaw story in less than a week!

Well, lovely people, that's the way it tends to work with me. My stories are connected to each other and it's not unusual for me to finish several at once. This story follows on from my story “The Love That Lasts a Lifetime” (https://www.freecatfights.com/forums/index.php?topic=97144.0) and also links to "The gloves are on" ([https://www.freecatfights.com/forums/index.php?topic=121672.0). It’s taken me a while to get around to writing it and, in the meantime, I’ve learned a bit more about the scene in Germany in the 1970s.

I am going to add an additional disclaimer to this story. As readers of my other stories will already know, many of my characters are based on real people that I have either met or know about. Furthermore, many of the events that happen to my characters outside the squared circle have actually happened to the people they are based on.

In some cases, I have introduced ‘real’ fighters in fantasy situations (Blake Mitchel in several stories and Susan Strong taking Jay Marchant’s CLAWS title to name just two) but those stories have been obvious fantasy. 

In this story I go one step further by identifying a real person and a real period in their life. I therefore wish to make it clear that my stories are set in a parallel universe of my own creation and Lena Strauss, who fights at the LGIS under her mother’s maiden name of Soerensen in this story is not the same Lena Soerensen who fought in the LGIS in Germany in 1977 and 1978 – or perhaps she is, in a parallel universe.

If the real Lena Soerenson is on this forum, or if anyone who knows her is, I'd love to hear what she thinks of this little homage to her.

Ellen xxx


Checking my emails one morning I was surprised to find an email from Gabi Marshall, the CEO of Marshalls Health Clubs, with the subject line “You are invited…”

 Opening the email I read the following:

“Ladies of CLAWS,

Tigress Enterprises cordially invites to an evening of fighting nostalgia with a twist in the ring room at Marshall’s Health Club on Friday July 19th, 2019 at 8pm sharp.

This is a ‘ladies only’ event for members only. Please bring your CLAWS membership card for identification. We hope you enjoy the show.

Love to you all,

Gabi Marshall”

Well, that sounded exciting. It’s not every day you get an email from Gabi and it’s certainly not every day you get an invitation to an event from her. Tigress Enterprises was the name of the new company that Gabi had formed with Paige Rodrigeuz-Sommerville (Jan’s daughter) to market the video processing technology she had developed.

Paige had already got her master’s degree for developing software that combined images from multiple cameras to allow the producer to select any angle and pan as they want. Now there were rumours that she’d been awarded a doctorate for another piece of clever video technology she’d come up with.

Gabi, ever the entrepreneur, had encouraged Paige from the moment she started helping Jill Montrose in the CLAWS video suite as a teenager and had bankrolled her studies. Right now, that was starting to look like a worthwhile investment.

I was wondering what the evening would involve, clearly it would have something to do with Paige but what was the nostalgia angle? I pestered Erica, my boxing coach, the CLAWS secretary, Gabi’s cousin and, right now, my lover, to tell me more but she refused to give me any clues, simply teasing me with the promise:

“It will be special, Ellen, you’ll love it.”

Needless to say, I was desperate to know more. I’m naturally curious, a nosy bitch if you prefer, and the two-week wait was excruciating.

Finally, the evening of the 19th arrived and I made my way into the city to Marshall’s HQ where the great and good of CLAWS past and present were assembling. I got a lift with Suzi Lomax, the Marshall’s finance director and another CLAWS veteran. Suzi and I were good friends who had enjoyed our years in the ring. As she was part of the management, I hoped she would shed more light on what we could expect this evening but, if she knew, she remained tight lipped about it throughout the journey.

When we entered Marshall’s, the receptionist directed us to the first floor where the other guests for the evening were mingling and enjoying drinks and nibbles. Looking around it was clear that this was a ladies’ only event. None of the small, select group of male members of CLAWS had been invited. Not even Larry Foxton, Gabi’s faithful acolyte and, quite possibly, the only man she vaguely trusted other than her late father, although I suspected he was fully aware of everything we were about to see.

Just before 8pm Erica appeared and instructed us all to enter the ring room and take our seats. The first thing we noticed when we entered the ring room was the huge video screen suspended above the ring. It was clear that at least some of this evening’s entertainment would be pre-recorded. The screen itself was of cinematic proportions, it hovered above the ring at the height of the corner posts and seemed to stretch almost all the way from the blue corner to the red corner, rising up into the high ceiling of the ring room. No one in the audience was going to miss the action on this screen. (Anorak note, I later discovered it was a 16ft by 9ft screen projecting a 16:9 aspect ratio.)

Suzi and I sat, as we so often did, next to each other near the blue corner. I absently noted to myself that it was probably the first time we’d sat like this with all of our clothes on. Suzi looked particularly stunning tonight. I was used to seeing her in one of two uniforms; either the A line skirt and neatly ironed blouse of a professional businesswoman or a pair sports briefs, usually black with a vertical yellow stripe on the right hip, and little else. Tonight, she was dressed in a flowing, brightly coloured kaftan that both concealed and emphasised her ample figure.

Suzi and I had fought many times in the league and in senior tournaments. Although a few years younger than me she had wisely decided to retire at 50. Muggins here was still getting into the ring at 57, although I felt this year’s senior boxing tournament might well be my last.

Once everyone had settled into their seats, the screen came alive with a grainy colour image of two women boxing topless. The quality was very poor and, even on the big screen, it wasn’t clear what they looked like, how old they were or even whether they were landing telling blows. Then, as we watched, the images became crystal clear. A woman with curly, shoulder length black hair, wearing black briefs, was boxing a slightly taller blonde with short hair, wearing blue briefs. The blonde looked familiar and suddenly Suzi exclaimed:

“Jesus! That’s Gabi!”

I realised she was right. Not the Gabi Marshall we know and, if we are honest, are quite fond of, even if we don’t love her, but a young, vibrant Gabi Marshall. I would have put her at about twenty and she was certainly taking the fight to the dark-haired woman, albeit in a rather untidy way. The dark-haired woman covered up as Gabi rained punches on her with gay abandon, offering no guard whatsoever. The suddenly the dark-haired woman launched a right uppercut which connected with Gabi’s jaw and the CEO to be measured her length on the canvas. The screen went black and the ring lights came on to reveal Erica Strauss standing in the middle of the ring.

“Ladies of CLAWS, welcome to a very special evening brought to you by Tigress Enterprises, Marshall’s health clubs and the incredible talent that is Doctor Paige Rodriguez. Tonight, we will take you on a trip back in time before bringing you right up to date and inviting you to join us for a special reception to celebrate Paige’s PhD and the life of my cousin, Gabi. Let’s go back to the beginning. Long ago and far away…”

The lights faded along with Erica’s voice and the big screen came back to life, revealing two women of a certain age sat in comfortable chairs and looking at the camera. There was no denying this time that one of them was Gabi Marshall and she spoke first to introduce the other one:

“Ladies of CLAWS, you all know me and you know that I love fighting and watching you amazons in action but did you ever wonder how I started down this road? Let me introduce you to my aunt, Lena, Erica’s mother.”

The other woman, an attractive blonde with shoulder length hair and a clear resemblance to our host for the evening, spoke in a husky, heavily accented, voice.

“I apologise for the video but my English is not so good as Erica and Gabi so we decide to record this bit. I will be here after the show and I look forward to meeting you all.”

Gabi continued:

“My grandmother, Lena’s mother. Inga Soerensen, was born in Sweden in 1916. She met my grandfather, Heinrich Strauss, while studying as an exchange student at the Leibniz University in Hannover in the 1930s.

They married and had two daughters, Astrid and Clara. Astrid, my mother, was born in 1936, and Clara a year later. When war broke out, Inga took the girls to neutral Sweden for safety. Despite his academic standing Henrich was conscripted into the Germany army and sent to fight on the eastern front where he was later captured and became a prisoner of war.

After the war ended Henrich was one of the many prisoners who were not released by the Soviets for many years and it was 1950 before he was finally reunited with his wife and daughters in Stockholm.

The family returned to Hannover the following year and Henrich resumed his teaching job at the University. Two years later the couple were blessed with a third daughter, Lena. By this time Astrid was 17 and Clara 16 so having a new baby in the house must have been interesting, to say the least.”

Lena took over the story:

“One of my earliest memories is of my sister Astrid’s wedding. Astrid married an Englishman, Peter Marshall, who was almost 10 years older than her. He had come to Germany with the British army as part of the reconstruction efforts in 1948. After his time in the army ended, he remained in Hannover and, by the time they married, had become a successful businessman. A year later the couple had their first and only child, Gabrielle Marshall.”

Gabi: “My parents lived close to my grandparents and Lena and I spent a lot of time together. Even when Lena was a teenager and I was still a kid we hung out together. We played together a lot and our families went on summer vacations together. To me she was my older sister and I worshipped her. Then, when she was 18, she left for college in Munich and I was heartbroken. My big sister and best friend was gone and, at 14, I was wracked with teenage angst.”

Lena: “I also missed Gabi; she and I were inseparable and all the excitement of college life in Munich couldn’t fill the space she left in my life. I went back to Hannover whenever I could to spend time with her. Then, finally, she was old enough to join me and we were reunited.”

Gabi: “In the autumn of 1975 I also started University in Munich. It was wonderful to be back with Lena. She had graduated by then and had found work in the city. We had a wonderful time together and shared our innermost secrets in a way that only young liberal women can. But there was something Lena wasn’t telling me.”

Lena: “By that time I’d got my own place but it was expensive and I couldn’t afford it on the salary I was being paid. My sister Astrid, Gabi’s mother, sent money to pay for looking after her but it wasn’t enough. Early in my student days another girl had introduced me to casual work in night clubs and bars. Initially it was bar work but I was an attractive blonde in need of money and one thing led to another. One of the girls I worked with told me that she was making a lot more money as a stripper in a gentlemen’s club. She introduced me to Wolfgang Stillermann, known to everyone as “Woosti”, who ran a club in a back street near the Englischer Garten. Initially I worked as a stripper. Woosti liked the ladies and he looked after us girls. He made sure his customers behaved and we were well paid.”

Gabi: “Woosti had been a boxer himself and still trained people at an amateur club, so it was no surprise when he decided to combine his passion for boxing with his love of naked young women and he started offering topless boxing as an attraction at his club.”

Lena: “Initially I wasn’t keen on taking part. Showing off my naked body was one thing but letting other girls punch it? But then I watched some of the other girls and it looked like fun. Also, they were getting paid a lot more to fight than I was to strip so I thought, what the heck, let me try it.”

Gabi: “That was a few months before I came to Munich wasn’t it, Liebling?”

Lena nodded and Gabi continued: “But you didn’t tell me anything about it until that night in April when you came home crying with a bloody nose.”

Lena: “No, it was my secret. I would have told you at some point but I didn’t want to upset you.”

Gabi: “When I found out what had happened, I was furious. Somebody had hurt my beautiful aunt and I was determined to hurt them back. I insisted that Lena take me to the club and let me fight the woman who had hurt her.”

Lena: “Reluctantly I took her to the club and introduced her to Woosti. She was very abrupt and forceful insisting he let her fight Marianne, the girl who had bloodied my nose.”

Gabi: “He asked me if I’d ever boxed before. I told him that I hadn’t but that I was a pretty good street fighter. That wasn’t strictly true but I’d had a few fights with girls at school and I’d never lost.”

Lena: “Woosti said to Gabi ‘Okay, prove it, get your clothes off and get into the ring with Lena here, right now.’”

Gabi: “And that’s how I started, stood a boxing ring in my knickers facing my aunt with boxing gloves on.”

Lena: “We sparred for a couple of minutes; I didn’t want to hurt Gabi and I knew she didn’t want to hurt me so we both pulled our punches but it was enough to satisfy Woosti. He told Gabi to come back in two weeks and be ready to fight Marianne.”

The view on the screen switched to two topless boxers in a ring. The view was again crystal clear.  One protagonist was clearly a very young Gabi Marshall, the other is a brunette who the male referee introduced, in German, as Marianne. My German is almost non-existent so I have no idea what the ref was saying but both girls stood listening to him and nodding intently.

Gabi was an inch or two taller than her opponent and probably 10lbs heavier. She was wearing blue sports briefs with a white stripe up the side; an outfit I’ve seen her wear many times. Marianne was wearing similar black briefs with a yellow stripe. Both had black boxing gloves and boots on. Gabi’s skin was pale and her hair was cut short in a wedge, which was fashionable at the time. By contrast Marianne was tanned and her brown hair frames her face and cascaded down to her shoulders.

Introductions over, the girls retreated to their corners to await the opening bell. In the blue corner Lena (also topless in blue briefs and clearly intending to fight later) can be seen giving her niece last minute advice.

The first round was a scrappy affair that showed how inexperienced Gabi was. At the sound of the bell, she charged out of her corner, fists flying, and battered the brunette with a hail of wild punches. The more experienced Marianne simply hunkered down and took the blows on her arms until the youngster tired.

Then she went on the attack. Eventually an uppercut from Marianne found its way through and Gabi dropped to one knee, a gloved hand held to her nose.

The referee steered Marianne to a neutral corner before starting to count over the blonde. Gabi got to her feet at 7 and rode out the remaining seconds of the round.

Between rounds the camera first showed Gabi in her corner with Lena, clearly wired and seeking advice from her aunt, before switching to a more relaxed looking Marianne in the opposite corner.

Round two started much the same way as round one with Gabi charging in, with fists flying, in brawler mode. Once again Marianne just covered up and rode it out.

But midway through the round things change. Gabi suddenly backed off and adopted an altogether more professional stance, slowing down, taking guard and feeling out her opponent. A series of precisely aimed punches dropped Marianne to her hands and knees. She was quickly on her feet again but went down again 20 seconds later when a hay making right cross from the rookie blonde connected with her temple and sent her sprawling. This time Marianne took the full nine count to get to her feet.

Sensing victory Gabi switched back into street fighter mode, abandoning her guard and flailing at her opponent until the beleaguered brunette launched a desperate upper cut that connects with Gabi’s chin and put her flat on her back.

The round ended with Gabi staring at the ceiling, gloved hands either side of her head. The bell sounded with the count at four and camera followed the blonde as she got slowly to her feet and walked unsteadily back to her corner.

The view switched to the red corner where a worried Marianne slumped on her stool talking urgently with her second, who was fanning her with a towel, we couldn’t hear what is being said. After a few seconds we saw the activity in the other corner. Gabi sitting upright and focused while Lena massaged her shoulders.  Gabi looked up and spoke to her aunt. Again, we couldn’t hear what was being said but Lena’s expression radiated reassurance as the referee called seconds out and a confident Gabi got to her feet.

Coming out for the third round Gabi adopted a determined look and raised her guard as
she stalked her opponent like a professional boxer, pushing out jabs at every opportunity.

Half way through the round the pace picked up again and, once again, it was the rookie blonde taking the fight to the experienced brunette. Marianne was rocked by a series of hard lefts and rights from the young blonde and eventually went down hard on her backside. She sat dazed, with a blank expression on her face as the referee counted over her and eventually pushed herself up as the count reached nine.

The referee checked her over and waved Gabi back in. Gabi released another salvo of punches culminating in a right cross that connected with Marianne’s temple, spinning her round and sending her face first to the canvas.

Marianne pushed herself up before staggering into her corner and using the ropes to steady herself. The referee looked concerned and spoke to her, clearly considering stopping the fight, but Marianne shook her head, raised her guard and walked out to meet the blonde. Gabi closed on her and launched a left hook that connected with her jaw and that was that. 

Marianne went down on her back, arms spread wide. She rolled over onto her knees, her black clad backside in the air, but was counted out before she could stand up. Gabi raised her hands in victory and the screen returned to the interview with Gabi and Lena as the audience applauded.

Gabi looked satisfied as she said: “So I did. And I knocked the bitch out and avenged you, didn’t I Liebling?”

Lena: “Yes, you did.”

Gabi continued: “Sadly, Woosti passed away last year and this evening is partly a tribute to him. After he died his widow, Marianne – who you just saw me knock out, contacted Lena to say that he wished to leave his entire film archive to CLAWS…”

Lena interjected,” What she actually said was; ‘he told me to give the films to Gabi, she would know what to do with them’.”

“And he was right. As soon as the boxes of old films arrived, I asked Paige to look at them and see what she could do with them. I’ll let her tell you more.”

The camera panned around to reveal a third chair and the vaguely boyish and decidedly bookish figure of Paige Rodrigeuz-Sommerville, as she likes to be known. The thirty-two-year-old former CLAWS wresting champion’s pale skin and short blonde hair belied her Anglo Spanish origins as well as her prowess in the ring.

“At the time I was close to finishing my dissertation on how old footage could be restored by taking individual frames and merging them, filling in the missing parts of one frame from another. The idea wasn’t exactly new; UFO investigators have been using similar techniques to spot planes masquerading as spaceships for decades.

What was different about what I was doing was that I was taking what I’d learned in my Masters work about blending images from multiple cameras. The challenges were that it wasn’t always easy to work out the relative positions of the cameras and older material, particularly cinefilm, varies widely in colour palate.

I’d worked out how to do it but it required a lot of computing power and the results weren’t always that good. I’d done enough for my PhD but not enough for the marketable system Gabi and I wanted.

Woosti’s old cine films were key to making that leap. In most cases they were made using two cameras mounted outside the ring on tripods, perpendicular to each other. The quality wasn’t great, a lot of the film had degraded in storage, but it was useable. Compensating for the colour palate was relatively easy and our existing technology could already merge the two camera views, albeit with a few adjustments to allow for differences in the tripod heights.”

She was about to continue when Gabi interrupted:

“Enough my little genius, let’s show our friends some more.”

With that the view on the screen switch back to what we now knew was the ring at Woosti’s club and were treated to another couple of fights. First Gabi and Lena wrestling each other and then Lena boxing Marianne in what was clearly a rematch of the encounter that got Gabi involved in the first place.

Gabi: “Lena and I both became regulars at Woosti’s club and fought many battles with each other and other girls over the next year or so.”

Lena: “We both had at least 12 matches between January and November 1976…”

Gabi: “Around that time two of Woosti’s friends has the idea to take topless boxing to a bigger audience. Fred and Erich recruited Angie and Lena and a few other girls from Woosti’s club and elsewhere and started putting on topless boxing events in big halls around the country. They called the group the Liberal Girls International SportsClub or LGIS. I was still a student then and was worried that word might get back to my class mates so I didn’t take part, something I now regret. But Lena had nothing to lose and I think she found it empowering, didn’t you, Liebling?”

Lena: “Yes, I did. I’m not a great feminist but I thought it sent a powerful message, we had escaped the back street club and come out in the open. Some people said it was exploitation but we were doing it because we wanted to. It was an early form of girl power.

Being in the LGIS was certainly fun to begin with, I loved travelling around and getting in the ring with Angie, Heidi, Karin, Tina and the others, and I needed the money. We were already boxing topless at Woosti’s so I thought it would be easy. We trained for a few months and then, suddenly, we were in front of an audience of 700, a bit different to the 20 or so that usually came to Woosti’s. Erich was keen to emphasis the ‘international’ element so I fought under my mother’s maiden name of Soerensen and was billed as Swedish, despite having spent most of my life in Germany.

Initially I had quite a few victories but, unfortunately, I suffered from travel sickness. We often travelled long distances by bus and I was never at my best when we arrived at an event. The other girls were better than I was and, after a year or so in which I lost more fights than I won, I gave up the LGIS shows and went back to fighting at Woosti’s only.” 

Paige: “Unfortunately I don’t have any of the old LGIS stuff. From what I’ve seen it’s very poor quality and would be difficult to process. What I do have is a lot of Woosti’s stuff. Here’s a selection of fights that we are close to releasing.”

The screen displayed a series of about a dozen vignettes of Gabi and Lena in action wrestling and boxing each other and other opponents, including one I recognised as former CLAWS boxing and wrestling champion Leah Martins. One thing I noticed about the wrestling was the format. While many of the European clubs I’d seen favoured ten count controlling submission holds, Wolfgang preferred straight tap-out submissions and three count pins were used as well. I’d have been much more at home there than, say, the GMC that was active around the time I joined CLAWS.

Next, we were treated to a tag match featuring Lena and Gabi against Marianne and another brunette. The best of five falls match went to the wire and Gabi was pretty much destroyed by the double-teaming brunettes before Lena managed to secure the winning fall. The screen switched back to Paige who continued:

“The technology is now working well on Woosti’s material so I’ve started experimenting with other footage. I’ve started with some of mum’s fights from the 90s. Jill filmed these in a similar way but with the two fixed cameras opposite each other and an additional hand-held camera. It’s a bit more challenging but here are a couple of fragments that I’ve done so far…”

The first clip showed Jan in a canary yellow bikini wrestling a redhead in a black halter neck bikini on mats. As with the earlier films the camera panned around seamlessly and zoomed in offering interesting angles that could only come from a hand-held camera. The room they were fighting in was relatively dark but both the venue. The redhead seemed familiar but I couldn’t place her. I asked Suzi if she recognised her. Her reply completely embarrassed me:

“Ellen, surely you recognise her? That’s Pauline, your old tag team partner.”

“Really? I didn’t know she’d fought Jan.”

“How do you think Jan learned about CLAWS and you.”

I shut up as I watched the woman who I used to fight with and against lose her bikini top to Jan before tapping out.

I hadn’t thought about Pauline in years. She was a few years younger than me and had joined CLAWS a few months after I did. She fought in both the wrestling and boxing leagues and held the wrestling title a couple of times. She and I also fought tag matches against some of the other wrestlers. She left CLAWS in the early nineties, after about four years at the club and just after Gabi had taken over. I’d assumed she’d given up fighting but this clip suggested that perhaps she hadn’t.   

The second clip showed a topless Ellen Shaw being dominated by Ms. Somerville, again in her yellow bikini or at least the bottom half of it, at the same venue. I watched in horror as Jan caught me in a full nelson, kneed me in the crotch and then choked me while squeezing my left breast until I tapped out.

My ‘comeback’ fight in 2008. Well, that confirmed the venue as the school gym where I had first encountered Jan. I knew Pauline was a teacher and I wondered whether she had arranged the venue.

As I submitted, the view switch back to Paige who looked slightly embarrassed:

“Sorry Ellen, I know you’re watching. I hope that wasn’t too painful a memory for you. And now I’d like to show you a film which is very special to your hosts and one I’m sure you’ll all enjoy.”

The final film featured Lena and Gabi boxing in the ring. Gabi looked a bit younger than in some of the other films so I assumed this was early in her time at Woosti’s.

The fight was very even. Gabi dominated the first round but took standing counts in the second and third. She put Lena down early in the fourth but was herself on the deck at the end of the round and was probably saved by the bell. 

Early in the fifth round Lena put Gabi down for a second time. She made it to her feet but with her back to Lena. Wolfgang gently turned her around to face her aunt and then ordered ‘box on’. 

They both raised their gloves and began trading punches again. Gabi still looked shaken and it was no surprise when a right upper cut put her down on her back a few seconds later. The view quickly panned around to show Lena stepping aside to reveal a dazed Gabi pushing herself up on her elbows.

Gabi stared at the camera with a vacant expression. At 8 she tried to get to her feet but she was still sitting on the canvas when the count reached ten. The view panned back around to show Lena coming back in and squatting in front of Gabi, checking she’s OK before hugging her and helping her up.

A caption appears on the screen giving the date of the fight and a simple message:

“Fin…for now.”

The view on the screen returned to the two veterans and zoomed in on Lena, who smiled at the camera and said:

“Well ladies, we hope you enjoyed our little trip down memory lane but, as you English are fond of saying, there is no such thing as a free lunch and we have a favour to ask you all.”

The camera panned to Gabi who said: “You have all fought here at CLAWS at some point and many of you have fought elsewhere. Tonight, we are asking for your permission to remaster your old fights using clever Paige’s technology. In a short while we will hold a reception for you, at which we will ask you to sign an agreement allowing us to use your old films.”

Okay, I though, if that’s what you’re after I’m in if the price is right.

The camera switched back to Lena who continued: “But before that we have one last treat for you.”

She smiled sweetly at the camera and the image faded. The audience broke into spontaneous applause and, as it died away the screen rose in the air and the ring lights came on. Once again, the lone figure of Erica Strauss stood in the centre of the ring. This time she was wearing black briefs and a black and white referee’s shirt, as she addressed the audience:

“Ladies, we hope you have enjoyed that small slice of nostalgia, brought to life in a way that was unimaginable a few years ago thanks to the talents of Paige and her friends. Finally, this evening we have another special treat for you. You saw them earlier in their first fight against each other. Now we invite you to witness their last ever fight, here, live at CLAWS.”

As she spoke, two shadowy figures in hooded gowns climbed into the ring in the red and blue corners.

“Introducing in the blue corner. Standing 5’9” tall, at 63 years old, weighing in at 160lbs and measuring 38D-28-40, my cousin, the CEO of Marshall’s Health Clubs, Gabi Marshall!”

The crowd applauded and there were a few wolf whistles and cries of “Go Gabi!” as Gabi slipped off her gown to reveal that she was topless, wearing navy blue running briefs, blue boxing gloves and black sneakers, just as she had in her fights on film (and, indeed, every boxing match I’d ever seen her in). When the applause did down Erica continued:

“And in the red corner. Standing 5’7” tall, measuring 38B-28-38, 66 years old and weighing in at 150lbs, Gabi’s aunt and my mother – Lena Strauss!”

Lena slipped off her gown to reveal that, like Gabi, she was wearing the same outfit of red briefs and gloves she had worn when they first met on film 40 years earlier.

This was incredible. Four decades after they had first faced each other with the gloves on in a seedy back-room club in Munich, Gabi and Lena were going to fight for a final time in the opulence of the ring room at Marshall’s HQ, the home of CLAWS.

Both women looked stunning for their age. Gabi’s bigger breasts were sagging somewhat but still held their shape while Lena’s were firm and pert. Both women had toned waists and buttocks and, at a distance, both could have passed for being 20 years younger than they were.

I could understand why Erica had decided to referee this match, watching from the audience would be hard and choosing a corner to second impossible, but I admired her for it none the less.

A briefing seemed unnecessary for these veterans but formalities must be observed and the three women had a brief discussion in the middle of the ring before Gabi and Lena tapped gloves and returned to their corners. In the blue corner Gabi was seconded by CLAWS CEO Jay Marchant. On the far side of the ring Lena’s second was a brunette with greying hair who I assumed was Marianne Stillermann.

I had no idea what Lena was capable of beyond what we’d seen of her in her youth this evening. I later discovered that she hadn’t fought in sixteen years but that she had won her last fight, knocking out Marianne.

By contrast I was well aware of what Gabi was capable of. Not only had I been present the last time she fought in the CLAWS ring, I’d also had the honour of being her victim. For the first three rounds of the fight, she completely dominated me and, although I fought back hard, as the seconds ticked away in the final round it looked like she would beat me on points. In a last-ditch effort in the final minute, I drove an upper cut into her jaw but failed to spot her left hook arcing towards my temple. We both went down and were counted out by referee Suzi.

I’m not suggesting that double knockout had any influence on Gabi’s decision to get back into the ring today, she could have done it at any time in the past six years, but I’m sure she would have preferred a clear-cut result for her final fight – even if she had to wait six years for this moment.

After a few final moments of preparation Erica called seconds out for round one, the two pugilists got to their feet and, at the sound of the bell, advanced on each other.

The bell sounded for the start of round one and the two old campaigners came out of their corners fist raised ready for action. They met in the centre of the ring and started feeling each other out jabbing fainting, ducking, weaving and dancing for all the world like women half their age.

It was an impressive display as they moved around the ring in syncopation, first one retreating and then the other, for the next three minutes. When the bell sounded for the end of round one, there was nothing to choose between them. They both returned to their corners, breathing hard and sweating slightly, with satisfied looks on their faces. Unsurprisingly the judges scored it three points each.

Round 2 began the way round 1 had finished. Both women still seemed fresh, and now warmed up, as they bounced out of their corners to continue their dance. The action remained even until, about halfway through the round, a straight right to Gabi’s belly bought her guard down and Lena’s left hook caught her temple, forcing the younger woman to turn away. Erica intervened immediately, sending her mother to a neutral corner while she delivered a standing count of 8 to her cousin, much the annoyance of the Marshall CEO.

Keen to capitalise on her success, Lena was quickly on the attack when Erica signalled “box on”. But Gabi had composed herself and quickly shut her aunt down with a series of well-directed jabs to the head. Lena backed off and Gabi began to stalk her around the ring, using her height and reach advantage to strike at the shorter woman’s head. Eventually, she backed her aunt into a corner and once again Erica intervened to deliver a standing count, this time to her mother, while Gabi looked on from the neutral corner. With the seconds ticking away both women upped their game, going on the attack in the hope of scoring at least an extra point before the round was out. In the closing seconds Gabi began to overwhelm Lena and almost succeeded in forcing her into a clinch but the bell saved her and the round ended one point of piece. Once again, the judges scored the match evenly and going into the third round both women were still on seven points.

Between rounds, Erica visited both corners to check on the fighters. The pace had been fast and furious for women in their seventh decade and she was clearly concerned for the welfare of her family. Both Lena and Gabi assured her that they were in fine condition and happy to continue with the fight and both were on their feet before Sallie called seconds out for the start of round three.

When the bell sounded for the start of the round, Lena came out fast again, crossing the ring and stopping her niece with a series of body blows when Gabi was barely out of her corner. The younger woman lowered her guard to protect her boobs and a clubbing right hook from her aunt connected with Gabi’s left temple and sent her crashing to the mat face down – the first knockdown of the fight. Lena retreated to a neutral corner as Erica moved in and began counting over her cousin. A clearly dazed Gabi pushed herself to her hands and knees as the count reached four and then came slowly to her feet at eight. Erica checked her over and, satisfied there was no major harm done, waved her mother back in.

Gabi was still a little shaky as Lena resumed the attack, forcing the taller woman onto the back foot with a series of lefts and rights. Gabi did her best to cover up but a hard straight right to the left breast bought her guard down and a solid left upper cut to the jaw put the former world topless boxing champion on the deck for a second time in under a minute.

Things didn’t look too good for Gabi as she sat on the mat, a blank expression on her face while Erica counted over her. At six she began to push herself up and was on her feet by nine, but she was clearly in a bad way as Erica signalled for the fight to continue. Lena resumed her assault, taking advantage of her niece’s slower reactions. More body blows followed, forcing the Marshall’s CEO into a clinch.

Erica intervened again, separating the pair and giving Gabi a standing counter of eight. The round was barely half over and Gabi had already dropped five points, unless she could pull something out of the bag she would be significantly behind going into the fourth round.

After thoroughly checking her cousin over and giving her a few extra seconds to recover, Erica waved to her mother back in. Both women were clearly now starting to tire. Gabi may have taken a beating in the last minute or so, but Lena was also struggling. They resumed their dance, slower than in the two previous rounds but still elegant and precise, showing the command of boxing that both had gained through many years in the ring.

For the next minute or so they were evenly matched but then, with just seconds of the round remaining, Gabi found a way through Lena’s defences. A vicious left/right combination to the breasts brought Lena’s guard down and a solid left hook to the temple sent her spinning to the canvas. Lena sprawled face down on the mat as Erica steered Gabi to the neutral corner before starting to count over a fallen mother.

At five Lena began to stir and started to push herself up onto her hands and knees and at seven the bell rang for the end of the round. Whether she could’ve beaten the count and continued the fight is a moot point but she was quickly on her feet and back in her corner where Marianne ministered to her as the judges is deliberated the score. With knock downs on both sides there would be extra points, but Lena had dominated the action for at least half the round so the judges awarded four points to the veteran from Hanover and just two to her niece. Along with the five points she gained from the knock downs and standing count Lena’s score moved onto 16 points while Gabi’s advanced to just 11.

Gabi’s face showed no expression as the scores flashed up reviewing that she was five points behind. I had no doubt she’d worked them out for herself and I was wondering what she was planning to do to claw those five points back in round four.

What none of us in the audience knew at the time was that Lena wasn’t just Gabi’s aunt and she wasn’t just Gabi’s opponent – she was also Gabi’s lover. The pair had been together since childhood and the Marshall’s CEO was infatuated with her aunt to the exclusion of almost every other woman in the world. Fighting Lena must’ve been incredibly difficult for Gabi but it didn’t show as she got to her feet ready to take the fight to the older woman in round four.

This time it was Gabi who was quicker out of the blocks when the bell rang. Clearly looking to make up lost ground Gabi tore into her aunt, guns blazing until another left hook put the older woman down for the second time in the fight.

Lena made it up at eight and returned the compliment a minute later with a solid right hook that left the Marshall’s boss face down on the canvas. Gabi doggedly pushed herself up and staggered to her feet at nine but, once again, she seemed shaken and unsteady as she assured Erica she was fit to continue.

The action resumed with Gabi decidedly on the back foot as the shorter woman continued to press home her attack. After another minute of back pedalling and covering up Gabi found herself on her back courtesy of a right upper cut to the jaw.

Gabi made it to her feet just beating the count but seconds later she was on the deck for a third time. This time a right hook to the temple but her down on her right side and she rolled onto her back, arms spread wide.

Once again, she struggled to regain her wits and, for a moment, it looked like she might be counted out. Could it be that the first woman to ever defeat Gabi Marshall in the boxing ring would also be the last, over 40 years later?

With the count at eight Gabi was still lying on the canvas, conscious and supporting herself on her gloved hands but seeming lacking the strength to get to her feet, when, much to Lena’s disappointment, the bell for the end of the round sounded.

Gabi was clearly in serious trouble as Jay slipped between the ropes and helped her fallen fighter to her feet and back to her corner where she slumped on her stool while her aunt, on the opposite side of the ring, remained standing, clearly convinced she had the fight in the bag and keen to get it over with.

As Jay did her best to get Gabi ready for round five the judges’ scores flashed up, 5-1 to Lena. Along with the knockdowns this advanced the scores to Lena 27 and Gabi 14, a dominant position for the older woman. But a glance at the red corner showed all was not well in camp Strauss. Lena was red faced and breathing hard as her daughter and Marianne checked her over.

The start of the fifth round saw Lena attacking again but Gabi had clearly recovered somewhat and, once again, used her height and reach to force the smaller woman to break off her attack. Now it was Gabi’s turn to take the fight to her aunt, backing Lena into a corner where she received a standing count.

When the action resumed it was clear both women were looking to wrap things up quickly as they stood toe to toe trading punches with first one and then the other seeming to dominate.

Halfway through the round a hard straight right from Lena found its way under Gabi’s left breast, striking her hard in the rib cage around her heart. Gabi was momentarily stunned and dropped her guard to protect her boobs and rib cage. Lena powered in, forcing the younger woman back with a series of lefts and rights to the head and shoulders.

The crowd cheered Lena on as she beat out a tattoo on her niece’s body. Gabi hunkered down, fists up, her arms protecting as much of her head and body as she could as Lena backed her into the ropes. It seems certain that Gabi was about to go down – but no!

Whether Lena are overreached herself or Gabi, being the wylie the veteran she is, just saw an opening is unclear but suddenly her fists flashed and it was Lena being rocked by the younger woman’s punches.

She staggered backwards and Gabi followed her off the ropes, fists swinging. As they reached the centre of the ring a combination of a right to the breast and a left hook to the head sent Lena crashing to the mat again.

She lay still on her side for a moment before rolling onto her front and trying to push herself up. Erica counted slowly, encouraging her mother to get up between each count, but a tearful Lena was exhausted and she was still on her knees when her daughter reached 10.

Gabi rushed in from the neutral corner as Erica got to her knees to embrace her mother and a three-way hug ensued before the two cousins helped the older woman to her feet.

They stood together in the centre of the ring and, although it seemed unnecessary, Erica announced:

“Ladies, after two minutes and ten seconds of round five, our winner, by a knockout – Gabi Mashall!”

Gabi raised her hands and the crowd applauded furiously. After a few moments Erica continued:

“Please show your appreciation for our loser, my mother, Lena Strauss!”

Again, there was loud and furious applause. Erica held out her hands for quiet before saying:

“Ladies, we hope you have enjoyed show this evening. If you’d like to make your way to the restaurant, we have laid on a buffet and drinks for you and Paige, Jay and Marianne will be on hand to chat about our plans to remaster your old films. Just give us a few moments to clean up and Gabi, mother and I will join you shortly."
 

[DarkKnight9980]

Wonderful story Ellen! Loved the build up using the old footage. Then the big fight to finish things off. Can't get enough Ellen Shaw stories in a week ?

[bosom-buddy]

Wonderful story telling as usual. Loved the idea of using the old footage as a build up to a fascinating fight between two matures totalling 129 years between them and still able to put on a superb show. Bravo Ellen!

[EllenShaw]

Thank you both for your kind comments. As a writer I appreciate all feedback. It's shame so few people on this forum take the time to either comment on or even like the posts they read.   

[PaulineG]

:Lack of feed back is pretty much why I stopped posting my art stuff here. But it isn't just here even on DA I can get a couple of thousand views but maybe one comment on the pics.

[EllenShaw]

I would love to put more on DA but it's really a visual thing and I've struggled to work out how to post my stories. I did post one a couple of years ago but I don't know what it looks like because I can only view it in edit mode 

[DJBOXES73]

Another Great Read, Wonderful Build-up, These Stories you Write, are Fantastic, Enjoy them All, Thank you so much, you have an Awesome Talent! Ellen!