Ellen didn’t exactly feel great when she turned up at the club for day three of the senior boxing tournament. She’d taken quite a beating at the hands of Emma the day before and she wasn’t used to fighting three days in a row. None the less she was in with a chance of taking third place in the tournament and a £500 purse to add to the £300 she was getting for the three fights and that was enough to spur her on.
Her opponent today would be Nancy, a woman three years her senior who had won the boxing title eight times. Ellen had met Nancy when she first joined the club but, as she only wrestled and Nancy only boxed, they never got in the ring together. Nancy had been one of the ‘gang of four’ boxers who fought in the late 80s. For much of Ellen’s time at the club Nancy had been absent, giving birth to her two children, but after seven years she returned and spent another three years at the club before retiring as undefeated boxing champion. Ellen was under no illusion, today would be another tough match.
There was a change to group in the blue corner dressing room today. As Gabi and Suzi would be facing off for 4th and 5th places Gabi was in the red corner and Claire had moved to the blue corner group. When she walked in, she treated Ellen as a long-lost friend, congratulating her on her success so far.
“You’ve done well for a rookie Ellen, you put up a good show against Emma – I think you’ve got a good chance today.”
“I wish I shared your confidence. How do you think you’re going to do against Christine?”
“I don’t know, we met four times in the league, I won two and lost two. I’m feeling good today so it depends on how tired she is.”
Soon it was showtime again and the four girls walked out and took their places by the blue corner.
First into the ring was Claire, facing Christine. As usual the redhead came out of the red corner all guns blazing and, for the first two rounds, completely overwhelmed Claire. Although the blonde avoided any knock downs, she finished the second round trailing by 11 points to 1. Early in the third round Christine seemed to tire and Claire went on the attack. Against the run of play the blonde put the older woman down one minute into the round. Christine was back on her feet and 7 and took the fight to the hapless Claire again, who went down twice before the round ended. Coming out for the fourth round Christine had a commanding 19-5 lead but was clearly running out of steam. Needing to wrap thing up quickly she went on the attack but left herself exposed. A clubbing right hook from Claire put her down just one minute into the round. Although she made it up at 9 Christine was unsteady on her feet. She did her best to hold the younger woman off but a second right hook put her down just before the two-minute mark and, this time, she stayed down for the 10 count.
Next up was Suzi against Gabi. The pair were old rivals and had met seven times in the league and twice since Gabi ‘retired’. Suzi’s record again the club’s owner was not good, she had won only one of their nine encounters and been heavily beaten in the last one just two years ago. Their rivalry wasn’t limited to direct combat either. After retiring from the league Gabi initially trained Lorraine, who fought Suzi six times and took the tile from her once, before going on to train Erica and Stacey while Suzi trained Emily and Lucy – the four meeting each other many times in the league.
As the pair squared off for round one Gabi showed that, once again, she wasn’t deterred by the age difference between her and her opponent. Suzi was on the back foot from the opening bell as Gabi pushed her around the ring, using her height and reach to full effect. It took the big blonde just over minute to find a way through the younger woman’s defences and a right hook put her down for the first time. Suzi was on her feet and 7 and did her best to recover and fight back but Gabi was landing two punches to every one of the younger woman’s and, seconds before the end of the round, she went down again in the blue corner. Clearly shaken by the beating she’d taken from the older woman and trailing by 10 points, Suzi came out hesitantly for the second round and was soon on the back foot again as Gabi continued to take the fight to her. A further two knock downs followed in the second round as the blonde extended her lead, dominating the younger brunette. But a spirited fight back by Suzi in the closing seconds of the round saw her take her first point of the match. None the less she came out for the third round trailing by 19 points to 1. Gabi was clearly starting to fade in the third and Suzi took the fight to her, finally being rewarded when a right hook put the blonde down for the first time around the two-minute mark. Gabi hit the mat again a few seconds later courtesy of an upper cut to the jaw but as Suzi tried to press home her attack, she fell victim to Gabi’s left hook again. She went down with seconds of the round remaining and was still on her hands and knees when the bell sounded with the count at 6. Although Suzi took 8 points from the round she was still trailing by 23-9 as she came out for the fourth. Gabi was clearly running out of steam and moved to finish the match by launching a blistering attack on the younger woman with her remaining energy. It was a risky strategy as she clearly couldn’t keep the pace up for more than a couple of minutes. As it was things came to an abrupt end mid-way through the fourth round when a left cross from the southpaw connected with Suzi’s jaw and she went down for a sixth and final time. At 53 Gabi had managed to beat two women more than 10 years her junior to secure fifth place over all but one look at her as she stood in the centre of the ring for the announcement told you that victory had come at a high price and it would take a while for her to recover.
Ellen was nervous as she climbed into the ring to face Nancy. It was make or break time and she had a real sense that her luck might be about to run out as Jay made the announcements:
“In the red corner, aged 50, standing 5 feet 5 inches tall, measuring 38B-28-39 and weighing 145lbs, Nancy Holder!”
Nancy slipped off her robe to reveal her curvaceous but solid figure. At 50 she was both still attractive and clearly fighting fit.
“And in the blue corner, aged 47, standing 5 feet 7 inches tall, measuring 38C-29-42 and weighing 155lbs, Ellen Shaw!”
Ellen had the height and weight advantage, as well as being three years younger, but Nancy was more experienced and her victory over Suzi showed that age and size counted for very little where she was concerned.
The bell sounded for round one and the girls advanced on each other. They spent much of the first round feeling each other out with long jabs, keeping their distance but in the last minute of the round Nancy upped the pace and Ellen was forced onto the back foot. Ellen suddenly found herself retreating and defending herself around the ring. With a few seconds remaining Nancy trapped her in a corner but the bell went before the referee could intervene. Ellen was grateful for the break but, although she avoided a standing count, the judges awarded the round to the red head by 4 points to 2 and she came out for the second round trailing by two points.
Initially the pair traded blows fairly evenly but one minute into the round it looked like things could be over. A right hook from Nancy connected with Ellen’s jaw and she went down hard on her back, apparently out cold. After a tense few seconds Ellen rolled over, shook the cobwebs out and got slowly to her feet as the count reached 9. She recovered her poise and things settled down. Although she managed to hold the red head off for the rest of the round, Ellen failed to make any headway herself and Nancy extended her lead to 10 points to 4 after two rounds.
Early in the third round Ellen was in trouble again as she was backed into a corner and took a standing count of 8 but when the action resumed she went on the offensive and was rewarded when a hay making left hook connected with Nancy’s temple and put the red head down for a count of 9. Nancy was clearly groggy following the knock down but, although she dominated the rest of the round, Ellen was unable to knock her down again and at the mid-way point in the fight the red head was still leading by 13 points to 10.
The pair still seemed to be evenly matched in the fourth round but both were tiring and the fighting began to get a bit ragged as the round wore on. One minute into the round Nancy’s right hook found its mark again and Ellen went down for another 9 count. A minute late Ellen returned the compliment when a straight right to the jaw put the red head on the deck for a second time. Towards the end of the round the exhausted pair locked up in a clinch. Unable to decide who initiated the move, Jay separated the pair and awarded a standing count of 9 to both fighters. The round ended without further incident. Both women looked exhausted and were clearly grateful when the bell sounded for the end of the round.
It was no surprise that the judges awarded the round evenly with 6 points going to each fighter. Ellen was still trailing by 3 points and the pace was starting to tell.
“I don’t think I can last another two rounds.” She confided to Erica during the break.
Erica replied: “She’s just as tired as you are. Use your reach and put her down. Let’s finish it in this round!”
The bell sounded for round 5 and a determined Ellen went out on the attack but she was pulled up short and forced into a clinch by a flurry of punches from the red head. This time Jay was in no doubt who initiated the clinch. It was Ellen who took the count and Nancy who got the point. When the fight resumed Ellen followed her trainer’s advice, standing back from the smaller woman and using her long jab to frustrate Nancy’s efforts to attack her. After a minute of this Nancy was getting annoyed and ducked under Ellen’s jabbing right launching a right of her own which caught Ellen under the left breast. Ellen doubled up but as she did so she launched a right upper cut which connected squarely with Nancy’s jaw. Nancy sat down hard on her backside with a vacant look on her face before collapsing onto her back. Ellen retreated to a neutral corner as Jay bent over Nancy and started to count but she needn’t have bothered. At 6 the redhead pushed herself up onto her elbows but the dazed look stayed in her eyes and she made no attempt to get up as the count reached 10. The rookie had finished in style, taking third place in the tournament with a knockout!
A few seconds later Nancy was back on her feet and, after a brief rest in their corners, Jay called both fighters to the centre of the ring and announced: “Ladies and gentlemen. After one minute and forty seconds of round five. Your winner, by a knockout, Ellen!”
Jay raised Ellen’s arm and she drank in the applause before announcing: “And your gallant loser, Nancy!”
As Jay raised her arm, Nancy turned to Ellen and said: “You got lucky this time. How about a rematch?”
Ellen didn’t respond but the seed was planted in her mind as she returned to her corner and prepared to leave the ring and watch Lorraine and Emma battle it out for the title.
