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24 April 2010 Julie Adams vs Barbara Eden

Page history last edited by Archer844 12 years, 5 months ago

RETRO BOUT: CA. 1959

Posted by simguy on 4/24/2010, 5:52 pm

BEFORE: In the front lines for Universal ever since 1954's "Creature From The Black Lagoon" Julie (oft billed as Julia) Adams would enter this 1959 contest as a favourite against the then unknown TV starlet Eden. "We didn't know who she was," Julie recalls in a recent interview. "She was just some blonde bimbo on 'How To Marry a Millionaire' - this was way before 'Jeannie' and her beach movies. She had a movie coming out in 1960, and Universal wanted me to spoil it. I really wasn't expecting anything from her, and quite frankly, getting the chance to undercut a girl's big debut was something we all looked forward to." Fought in a ring set up poolside at the Beverly Hills Hotel - Julie wore her white one piece from 'Creature' while Babs sported a lavender one piece with a small osprey on the right hip. Both vixens sported the small, short-wristed gloves common to fights of the 50s.

During R1: Barbara scooted forward, her hands tight at her temples - immediately bringing the fight to Julie. Adams - a good boxer by this time - double-pumped her jab into blonde guard, and sidestepped-left, turning the aggressive starlet midring. Engaging Barbara inside, Julie got her first taste of Eden's ferocious, non-stop whirlwind style as blonde punched her way into brunette lungs with carefree abandon. Adams learned her lesson: badly mauled in the middle minute - she stepped outside and calmly restored order with her jab, rotating clockwise to avoid Barbara's free-swinging receipts. At the bell - Julie had pinpointed Barbara for points, but the little blonde was seething, forcing hot eye contact and looking like she might jump over the ref's back to get at her retreating foe after 1.

R2: Barbara hurtled into Julie at the bell, tackling the bewildered brunette into the ropes and going directly at her. Small but stocky, Eden kept her head on Julie's chest and moved her hands with pumping insistence, looting the brunette's trim little tummy. Adams' look of shock said it all: she was a helpless vixen - butt-on-turnbuckle - constantly ram-stacked and jostled as Barbara reset and belted away. Few had seen a little blonde dynamo this active - with a curl dangling down into her eyes and her teeth bared, the girl seemed to be a perpetual-motion punching machine. Though tying Barbara up behind the elbows slowed the punishment, Julie could never complete halt the blonde. Eden stormed Julie's gates bell to bell - earning a warning at the break for several flat-knuckle stampers against Julie's dancer's quads.

R3: Wide eyed, spooked, Julie backpedaled before Barbara, turning at the ropes to avoid another brutal beat-down session. Eden's aggressive, but uneducated footwork was exposed as time and again, she would bore in on her foe, only to be sidestepped and turned. Nevertheless, the blonde was unquestionably the aggressor, and she gambled often, lunging in hooks to clip her foe's chin as Julie scampered backward. Adams offered little in receipt - the odd smoke-screen jab; tepid little right hands while bailing out - none of it seemed to discourage Barbara in the least.

R4: Barbara surged forward again, but Julie had had enough of the harassment. Pumping the jab, Julie gave ground, but set down on right hands, intercepting Barbara on the way in and buzzing the blonde's legs for the first time. When an uncertain Eden covered up and stooped forward behind her mitts...Julie hooked ribcage, digging in batting ganchas while leaning in on her left (front) leg. Eden cringed, and Julie celebrated, fitting blonde breadbasket for succulent, short left uppercuts from the left leg. The body blows were working - slowing Eden's pursuit: Adams was able to work behind her jab, turn her blonde and pick her apart as the round wore on. At the bell, the classy brunette pasted her weary foe a tart left/right/left through the guard - spanking away to good effect on Barbara's pretty face.

R5: Barbara shook off all hurt and immediately charged her foe, scoring a number of clubbing lefts and rights to Julie's head and shoulders as Adams backed to the ropes. Reaching in to pull at Barbara's left arm with both hands, Julie spun off the ropes and began a masterful boxing-in-reverse campaign - retreating in good order; walking Babs onto jabs and tasty straight rights. The chipping, tapping pepper-pot punching took its toll: Eden gingerly came forward, fielding blows upon her pate and brows, and was visibly lumping up as Adams' legs once again imposed order on the little blonde riot through 5.

R6: Julie's legs; Julie's jab; Julie's timing...all conspired to shut an overeager Babs Eden out. Julie retreated while popping poke; dropped short right hands off her shoulder; jerked palm-down hooks across Barbara's face. As the round wore on, Eden bulled her way in only to munch on energetic, chugging uppercuts - Julie rolling her shoulders to pick her foe up hup-hup-hup, sampling blonde chin and rack to good effect. After scoring, Adams rarely stayed put - always pivoting smartly to one side or the other, and sliding back to create space. For Barbara Eden, it was a harsh lesson in veteran persistence: Julie Adams was in control, clearly picking her willing foe apart through 6.

R7: Once again, Barbara Eden would show her uncanny resilience, shaking off punishment to attack her foe with renewed vigor. Lunging, free-swinging lefts and rights chased Julie down, scattering her out of her stance and sending her into panicked, headlong retreats. Brunette stands where quickly overwhelmed as the blonde hurtled in - slugging/elbowing/headbutting without restraint. At one point, the girls were separated and lectured - the fighters standing with knuckles on hips, nodding and listening intently (a far cry from the disdain the current crop of celebrity fighters show official interruptions). Upon resumption, it was all Eden - pressing Adams to the ropes and looting her torso with chugging lefts and rights. Down the stretch, a badly fatigued and staggering Adams was caught backing up by a lunging Eden left hook: clipped to chin, the brunette splashed onto her back, bringing the star-studded audience to its collective feet. Barbara was all a-jiggle with success - beaming broadly/chatting with ringsiders as a badly shaken Julie Adams got creakily to her feet.

R8: A relentless Barbara Eden hounded a wilting and discouraged Julie Adams. Punches bounced and clapped off Adams' head as she backpedaled - the blonde gambling big and being rewarded for her lunging efforts. Inside, Barbara churned away, digging up Julie's tummy meat and scouring her jugs - pummeling Adams senseless along the ropes. Julie's only though was for escape: she desperately slid to one side or the other along the ropes, trying to get out from under. It was vintage pursuit-fighting from Babs Eden - her scuttling footwork and non-stop fists more than making up for Julie's edge in class and experience through 8.

R9: Julie was tired. Her eyelashes fluttered and lips parted in exhaustion. She stumbled flat footed away from Eden, whining whenever the blonde closed and crowded. Barbara took Julie to the ropes and battered her - working the brunettes belly and ribcage to loosen her guard, then bouncing winging punches off the noggin. The wheels came off pretty Julie Adams then...bewildered, overwhelmed - she sputtered against the ropes, trying to cover her face as Barbara Eden ransacked her body. It was all too much; a series of plugging right hands in behind the elbow broke Julie's composure, sitting her in the ropes "UHHH!", her eyes shut as her hands dropped. She never saw the tightly-clipped hook that ended her night - nor did she see the follow-on blunt right hands Eden hacked over and over to the head as Julie spilled to her right. Adams crashed to her shoulder and rolled to her back insensate - her body parallel to the ropes as a seething Barbara Eden was bodied back. It was KO9 Barbara Eden - one of the first of many, many victories to come.

After: It wouldn't get any easier for Julie Adams following this stunning defeat. Rematched again and again with Eden, Adams always gave a good account of herself early, only to fade late under the relentless pressure and passionate punching of her feisty blonde rival. And then, in 1962, Universal saw fit to oppose Ann Margaret with Julie, and Adams' downward spiral became a nosedive. Overmatched, and under-managed - Julie would become the classic "pretty brunette opponent" for some of the best fighters in Hollywood history. It would make for some memorable fights, but ultimately, it would also spell the end of Julie Adams as a front-running contender.