Emma had missed the 5th senior boxing tournament after breaking her wrist in a riding accident. Tee had taken her place at short notice and had, arguably, won the tournament. 18 months after her accident Emma was fit and ready to resume boxing. She returned to the club for a check up by Cassy prior to joining the 6th tournament the following year.
At the time Tee and I were three qualifying rounds into the 7th senior wrestling tournament and, although our rematch for the senior boxing title was looming, we weren’t focused on boxing in early July. That said neither of us are the type to pass up the opportunity for a scrap…
Work out complete, Tee was just on her way to take a shower when a familiar voice hailed her.
“Tee, can you spare me a minute please?”
“Oh, hi Erica, yes, of course my lovely.”
“Come this way please.”
Tee followed Erica to the medical room on the first floor where the young blonde ushered her in. In the centre of the room stood a statuesque woman in her mid-forties with long, strawberry blonde hair. From her build she looked like a fighter. The fact she was stood unselfconsciously in the medical room dressed in nothing but a pair of black lace panties was also something of a giveaway.
Erica made the introductions: “Tee this is Emma, you took her place the last year’s senior boxing tournament. She’s recovered from her injury and wants to fight in the next tournament but first she wants some practice.”
Emma extended a hand and said “Hi Tee, I’ve heard lot about you.”
Tee was slightly taken aback; she took the proffered hand and shook it “Hi…umm….”
Emma grinned “Don’t worry Tee, I’ve chosen my practice opponent and it’s not you – although we’ll meet soon enough in the tournament.”
Dr. Cassy called from behind the screen: “OK Emma, you can put your top back on now.”
Tee watched, mesmerised, as Emma picked up a white blouse from the chair next to her, slipped it on, put her hands behind her neck and flipped her long hair out from beneath the fabric. She left the blouse unbuttoned and answered Tee unasked question:
“I’m going to have a quick sparing session with Erica in a couple of minutes, Cassy wants to confirm I’ve still got it – no need to get dressed just yet.”
Erica interjected “Yes, Emma’s going to fight Ellen first, they have some history, but we’re trying to put together a card and you’ve had a challenge so I wondered if you’d like to take part?”
“A challenge? Who from?” Asked Tee.
“Nancy. Technically she’s retired but she wants one last fight before she turns 60 and she’s asked for you.”
“Oh. Who else have you got?”
“Well Christine and Suzi have agreed to a match, again it’s probably going to be Christine’s last, and a couple of other girls are considering it…”
Erica stopped, Tee wasn’t paying attention, she was still staring at Emma, absorbing the scantily clad woman’s every feature. And Emma was doing the same to Tee.
“Tee?”
“Oh yes, sorry, great, when’s this happening?”
Before Erica could answer Emma broke the spell that seemed to have locked them.
“Hey Tee, I know you’ve just finished your workout but are you in a hurry? I’d love to go a few rounds with you right now.”
That snapped Tee out of it. She looked shocked initially, then thoughtful before replying:
“Yes, why not?”
Erica clapped her hands together in excitement.
“Excellent!” She said, “I’ll second Emma. Cassy, you can second Tee. If Gabi’s free she can referee. Ladies, please follow me.”
With that she led the four women down the corridor, sticking her head into Gabi’s office as she passed:
“Leibling, Tee and Emma are going to box, will you referee for us please?”
Gabi got up from her desk and the group down the stairs to the chillout room and on into the red dressing room, where Erica said:
“OK, standard club rules. Gabi will referee, Cassy will second Tee, I’ll second Emma and be time keeper. It will be down to Gabi alone to award the judges’ points. Do you ladies mind if we film this? It’s a training match after all.”
Emma and Tee nodded their assent.
“Right, if you get ready, I’ll just switch the cameras to auto and meet you in the ring room.”
With that she left the room. Emma slipped off her blouse while Tee quickly stripped to her white cotton panties and the four women walked through to the ring room where Erica was already waiting by the red corner. Cassy tossed a pair of gloves to each fighter and both girls slipped them on and climbed into the ring with Gabi – they would fight this match bare foot.
For the cameras Gabi made the following announcement:
“This is a non-title boxing match to be fought over six three-minute rounds between, in the red corner, aged 48, standing 5’8”, weighing 150lbs and measuring 38C, 28, 44, Emma! And in the blue corner, aged 50, standing 5’9”, weighing 155lbs and measuring 38b, 30, 44, the reigning senior boxing champion, Miss Tee!”
For training purposes, the red corner, which has a better view of the time clock, is equipped with a button to stop and start the timer and ring the bell so that the red corner second can double as time keeper. On Gabi’s instruction to the girls to fight, Erica pressed the button, the bell rang and the 3-minute count down timer started.
Both women started cautiously, feeling each other out. Tee hadn’t boxed in 6 months and Emma hadn’t been in a competitive match for two and a half years. It came as a surprise to everyone when, after a minute or so of felling each other out with jabs and feints, it was Emma who landed the first telling blows. Tee was immediately on the back foot and spent the rest of the round covering up and retreating.
Although she failed to score any match points, Gabi awarded the round to Emma giving her four judges’ points to Tee’s two.
Round 2 started much as round 1 had ended, with Emma on the attack and Tee covering up. Emma’s frustration was beginning to show and just under a minute into the round she fired off a wild left hook. Tee ducked under it and delivered a right upper cut which caught the younger woman on the jaw and sent her staggering to the ropes.
Gabi quickly stepped in and administered a standing count of eight to the strawberry blonde. Against the run of play Tee had taken the first match point and Emma was clearly unhappy about it.
When the action resumed Emma continued her assault on the brunette and was eventually rewarded when she succeeded in backing Tee into her own corner. Before Gabi could intervene, Emma fired off a couple of solid punches to Tee’s tits but the champion stayed on her feet and took at standing count. One match point each.
Back in the centre of the ring the two women went toe to toe for the next minute, both landing solid blows but failing to break through their opponent’s defences. In the closing seconds of the round Emma finally hit pay dirt when a right connected with Tee’s temple and sent her crashing face first to the mat.
Gabi steered Emma to a neutral corner before starting to count over the brunette. A dazed Tee pushed herself up on her elbows as the count reached 5 and the bell rang for the end of the round.
Tee was quickly on her feet and made her way back to her corner. Both women were now breathing hard and glistening with sweat. It had been a fast paced two rounds and there was little to chose between the fighters. However, once again, Gabi scored the round four-two in Emma’s favour and, with the additional two points from the knockdown, she went into round three leading 11-5.
Early in the third round Emma struck again. A straight right found Tee’s left breast and, as her guard came down to protect her tits, a left hook connected with her temple and put her down on her backside.
Tee was clearly not happy and, as Gabi started counting over her, the familiar Tee look came over her face. She pushed herself to her feet a 7 but Gabi insisted on administering a full 9 count.
Gabi waved Emma back in. Seconds later Tee’s fists flashed and Emma went down for the first time, victim of a right uppercut to the jaw. For a moment it looked like the fight was over but at 5 Emma pushed herself up and was on her feet, albeit somewhat unsteady, when the count reached 9. Gabi stopped counting, Emma raised her guard and Gabi waved Tee back in.
Now it was Emma’s turn to back pedal under a hail of blows from the champion. Thirty seconds later she went down for a second time as Tee’s left hook crashed into her temple. Again, she just beat the count.
Tee continued to dominate and a left uppercut dropped Emma to her hands and knees just before the closing bell. The count had reached four and Emma was still staring at the canvas when the bell sounded.
The early knockdown gained Emma three points but Tee’s dominance of the latter part of the round with three knockdowns gained her five of the judges’ points and put her in the lead for the first time at 16 points to 14.
Although somewhat shaken Emma seemed to recover during the break and was on her feet before Gabi called “seconds out”. As she did so Cassy leaned over the ropes behind Tee and whispered in her ear: “Just a couple of months and I’ll get to wrestle you again – I can’t wait!” With that she nibbled Tee’s ear and slipped her hand between Tee’s thighs just as Erica rang the bell.
Distracted by Cassy’s attentions, Tee looked over her shoulder as she got her feet and failed to notice Emma charge across the ring as the bell sounded. Three hard rights connected with Tee’s head and she dropped to the deck in a heap in her own corner. Gabi stepped in and began counting. At 5 Tee tried to collect herself and struggled to get back on her feet but she was still on her knees, hanging on the ropes when Gabi reached 10 and Erica sounded the bell to signal the knockout.
A few seconds later Tee was back on her feet and rounded on her second: “What the fuck were you playing at Cassy?”
“Sorry Tee, I just wanted to…” Cassy’s explanation was cut short as a hay making right from the enraged brunette knocked her off the ring apron and she landed heavily on the floor.
Only the ropes stopped Tee from leaping out of the ring and landing on top of her. Gabi moved swiftly, coming up behind Tee and locking her in a full nelson while Erica rushed around the ring to help the fallen doctor. After a brief struggle Tee started to calm down, Gabi turned her round to face Emma and released her. The deflated brunette staggered into the arms of her vanquisher and burst into tears.
Erica helped Cassy into a sitting position and called out: “She’s OK. Jesus Tee, what got into you? It was only a practice match!”
Emma hugged the weeping brunette and whispered in her ear: “You were really good Tee, you almost had me once or twice. I’m really looking forward to facing you next year.”
Tee sniffed back her tears, looked Emma in the eye and said: “You were good too, but I’ll have you next time.”
With that they separated and returned to their respective corners. Erica helped Cassy to her feet and lead her out of the ring room as Gabi bought the two fighters to the centre of the ring and announced, for the cameras:
“After ten seconds of round four the winner, by a knockout, Emma!”
*************************************************************
Two weeks later we assembled at the club for a special “mid-summer’s eve” senior boxing card. There were to be four matches that evening: Sallie vs. Connie, Suzi vs. Christine, Tee vs. Nancy and Emma vs. Ellen.
Sallie Woodrow was normally the timekeeper for our matches, a role that would be taken by Stacey Williams tonight. Sallie joined the club 20 years ago and enjoyed a successful few years as a league boxer before retiring to raise a family. I had faced her (and knocked out) in the third senior boxing tournament five years ago. Now 48 she hadn’t fought since that event although she did coach some of the league boxers.
Connie van der Sal, also 48, joined the league after Sallie retired and fought 36 matches over 8 years before retiring as league champion when she turned 40. She declined an invitation to join the senior circuit hadn’t fought since.
The pair were evenly matched and, initially, it looked like the fight could go either way. But Connie proved to have the greater stamina and, as the fight wore on, Sallie started to fade. She succumbed to a knockout two minutes into the fifth round, simply too tired to beat the count.
Suzi Lomax (50) and Christine Bennett (55) had fought each other many times in both the wrestling and boxing leagues as well as in senior tournaments but both had now retired from the senior circuit so this might well be their last encounter with the gloves on. The fight followed the formula of most of Bennett’s boxing matches with the redhead attacking relentlessly over the opening rounds and buxom brunette Lomax covering up and riding out the blows. By midway through the fourth round Christine had punched herself out and Suzi was able to deliver a series of killer blows that left the older woman unable to beat the count.
Next up it was Tee against Nancy. Gabi made the introductions:
“Our next match is a senior boxing match. Introducing in the blue corner and wearing black gloves, 50 years old, standing 5’9”, weighing 155lbs and measuring 38B, 30, 44, our current senior boxing champion – Miss Tee!”
Tee slipped off her robe to reveal a pair of high waisted white cotton briefs decorated with a penguin motif. Tee’s hair was tied in two braids as it had been for all her matches so far this year.
“And in the red corner wearing red gloves, 59 years old, 5ft 5inches tall, measuring 38B, 30, 42 and weighing 145lbs – Nancy!”
Nancy removed her robe to reveal her usual cream towelling briefs. Nancy’s shoulder length red hair hung loose, flecked with the odd strand of silver.
In theory this should have been an easy win for Tee she had youth, height reach and weight on her side. All Nancy had was the knowledge that Tee had already fought two matches in the past four weeks (a gruelling 5 fall wrestling match with me a month ago and her ignominious defeat to Emma just two weeks ago).
However, it was the redhead who dominated the early action. Nancy was on the attack from the opening bell and soon had the champion covering up and back pedalling around the ring. Despite her height and reach advantage Tee seemed unable to respond and simply covered up as best she could until, halfway through the round, a hay making right hook connected with her temple and sent her face first to the canvas.
The stocky redhead seemed keen to prove that, at almost 60, she still had it and Tee was soon in trouble again from that right hook. This time a left jab flattened her right breast before Nancy’s right hook connected with her jaw and put her down for a second time.
As the round drew to a close Tee was still on the back foot when a right upper cut connected with her jaw and put her down for a third time. The round ended with the reigning champion sitting in a neutral corner on her ample derriere with a dazed expression on her face making no attempt to get up as the count reached six. Only the bell saved Tee from a humiliating first round knockout.
As it was all 12 points from the first round went to the redhead.
Early in the second round Nancy took a wild swing at Tee who stepped back to avoid it, lost her balance and promptly sat down. From where I was sitting it didn’t look like Nancy’s blow had connected but Gabi signalled a knockdown, sending the redhead to a neutral corner and counting over champion.
Tee was furious. She quickly got to her feet protesting that she had slipped but Gabi insisted on counting to 8 before allowing the action to continue. Tee’s dander was up and she attacked Nancy relentlessly, putting the older woman down twice in quick succession.
Nancy managed to regroup and hold Tee off for a minute but was then caught again by the brunette and dropped to the canvas. With seconds of the round remaining Tee drove an uppercut into Nancy’s jaw and the redhead went down for a fourth time. As the count reached four she pushed herself up on he elbows. At that moment the bell rang for the end of the round.
This time it was the redhead on the deck at the end of the round but there seemed little doubt that she would have beaten the count. The early knockdown secured Nancy three points moving her up to 15 but Tee’s four knockdowns meant she was now just two points behind the redhead as they came out for the third round.
Early in the third round Tee landed arguably her best combination of the fight. A straight right connected just below Nancy’s left breast, bringing her guard down, and a left hook caught her on the jaw sending her sprawling.
For a lesser woman that would have been that but I can vouch for the fact that Nancy’s tough old bird. Despite the beating she’d taken and needing the whole 9 count to get back to her feet Nancy wore a determined expression as she squared off against the younger brunette.
For a while the pair stood toe to toe in the centre of the ring trading punches until a straight right from the redhead caught Tee full in the face and she staggered back stunned, her gloved hands going to her face. Nancy hit the brunette’s undefended breasts and body with a series of blows that pushed her back onto the ropes. Tee’s guard came down to protect her tits, revealing a trickle of blood running from her right nostril, and she folded forward slightly, her head presenting an easy target for her veteran opponent. Gabi moved to intervene but before she could stop the action Nancy fired off a solid right, left, right combination to Tee’s face. All three blows connected. The first, a right hook, caught her on the left temple, the second, a left cross, on the right cheek and the third, a right upper cut, on the jaw. As each blow landed Tee turned her head, sending her pigtails flying and releasing a shower of sweat and blood as she was rocked against the ropes.
As the final blow landed Nancy stepped back and allowed Tee to pitch forward. She landed face down on the mat, spread eagled with her legs apart and her gloved hands outstretched. Nancy retreated to a neutral corner while Gabi began counting over the fallen brunette. At the count of 7 Tee raised her head, a dazed expression on her face and blood trickling down her chin, and began to push herself slowly up but she was still resting on her elbows when the count reached 10 and, at the sound of the bell, she flopped back to the mat.
At the sound of the bell Nancy tapped her gloves together and gave a little dance before raising her arms in victory. Tee remained face down for another 15 seconds or so before Emily entered the ring and helped the dazed brunette slowly into a sitting position before wiping the blood from her face and pushing a tissue into her nostril to stem the bleeding. After a few more seconds Tee got to her feet and Gabi brought the two fighters together in the centre of the ring to announce:
“Ladies and gentlemen, after one minute and twenty seconds of round three, your winner – by a knockout – Nancy!”
As far as the main event of the evening is concerned, I shall draw a discrete veil over the proceedings. Suffice to say I was completely outclassed and fared even worse than Tee did. Emma completely dominated me, sending me to the mat 7 times in the first two rounds and I was trailing 28-0 when she put me down for the count midway through the third.
It was a timely reminder to both Tee and myself that we are probably not the best senior boxers at the club. In a few months’ time we’d face each other in our title rematch and, after that, we’d both be facing Emma again. Time to start training again.
