Posted by Simguy on 2/24/2004, 7:15 am.

Ca. 1964. Site: Caesar’s Palace. Las Vegas.

Before: “As soon as it was announced that Ann-Margaret would be refereeing out bout, I had reservations,” Mitzi recalls in her memoirs of a 1964 showdown against brisk-punching Yvonne Craig. “I was going to have my hands full with Yvonne—I didn’t want to have to worry about Ann, too, but that was Caesar’s: you never knew what those boys would throw at you. You have to remember—Annie was a headliners in those days and if she wanted a piece of your match, there wasn’t much you could do about it. Neither Yvonne or I was happy about it,. But our hands were tied.”

Of  the Classic Era fighting celebs, perhaps only Barbara Eden could match Yvonne Craig’s work rate and ferocity—both were smaller women who could hold their own with bigger girls through sheer tenacity. “I wasn’t scared of Mitzi at all, “ Yvonne remembers. “She was a busy gal—not Yvonne Craig busy, but busy, and that’s how I liked ‘em. I knew Gaynor would try to big-girl me around, but I wasn’t about to take any guff from her. I couldn’t wait to tie into that luscious ribcage of hers!”

Outdoors at Caesar;s, sunny and clear, great celebrity turnout that included Elvis, Frank and the Pack, Angie D, young Raquel Welch taking notes—it was the golden era of celeb fighting in the desert, Girls as depicted, small gloves for both—Ann in pink Capri pants, pink crop sweater showing off that tempting midriff, hogging spotlight and obviously trying to overshadow the two contestants.

During R1: Yvonne got off her typical fast start and Mitzi got an early taste if what she’d be up against. Craig’s hook was special—she’d step in, twist her hips and snap that thing to head or body so fast that Gaynor was often caught posing for the punch. But that would be just the beginning. Craig never landed just one—she’d step and hook again, then drop a chiseling short right hand on the face, then reef up into the gut a hustling left, and once she snuggled in close: CLAMBAKE! Gaynor found herself crowded into ropes, under a pelting barrage if tidy Craig lefts and rights—Yvonne just writhing inside, rolling her shoulders and digging amidships with youthful vigor. Mitzi tried to tie up, but Craig was like a snake—twisting and jerking her arms free, then banging back to the face with a brace of cramped lefts and rights, then swinging free to the gut as Gaynor sat back down into the ropes. All the while, Margaret, with her curious habit of staying very close to the fighters when they fought inside, actually rode a hand on Yvonne’s back while leaning in to monitor the action. It was hard to tell f Margaret were more ref than fan the way she grinned at the non-stop punishment Gaynor was shipping. At the bell, furious Yvonne landed an extra right across the chops and a clouting left between the eyes before Margaret could grab her around the waist and gut-wrench her off a stunned Mitzi Gaynor.

R2: More Yvonne, and better Yvonne as Craig took midring brazen, flashed a jolting lead right, twisted into that clipping hook and darted off to her left. Craig has some of the best tapping footwork in the business and even Gaynor, no slouch in that department herself, was wary of the compact brunette’s deft feints and pivots. Gaynor was shiny with punishment, but essentially unhurt—keeping her guard up, Mitzi cut off the ring, countering Craig’s quickness with timing and veteran angles, but there was no answer for Yvonne’s blinding handspeed. Time and again, Craig put together chewing sequences of stubby rights and lefts, punching straight into Gaynor’s mitts and face, then tugging downstairs as Gaynor could only cover up and ride out the squall. And then, in the final minute, as Craig pounded out a tune up and down Gaynor’s pale flanks, Mitzi stepped out of her crouch and caught Yvonne a clouting hook on the chin to formally begin the fight. Craig’s back leg buckled and she staggered to her right, she was badly rattled and Mitzi bodied up like a pro on the spirited minx. Leg-driving Yvonne to the ropes, Gaynor smothered the quicker girl, got her shoulder in Craig’s chest and went to the midsection with thick rights and lefts. Gaynor could punch to the body, too, and Yvonne was just sick about it, reaching hurt around Mitzi’s neck, slumping into the strands and soaking, when suddenly, Annie M took a hand. Gaynor felt a stern tug on the back of her trunks and Margaret pulled her out of there, reaching around the belly to gut-wrench and swing Mitzi off her feet, as the bell rung, tempers flared: an irate Gaynor went chest to chest with Margaret, both girls barking, while a grimacing Yvonne got a valuable moment to collect herself.

R3: Mitzi knew  she had to act decisively: the longer this went on, the more Margaret’s bumbling and interference would take effect. Gaynor came out determined to hurt her smaller opponent this round. Mitzi came forward tight covering up and crouching, anticipating the stinging rain of leather that Yvonne would unleash. Rolling her torso, Gaynor got under the punches, then rotated back up to tug Craig’s chin a hook and Yvonne didn’t like it. Once again, Craig’s sturdy legs didn’t take the shot well—Yvonne stepped away, eyes shiny with hurt, only now, an upbeat Gaynor pursued her with shooting jabs to the forehead. Craig hit the ropes in disarray and Mitzi climbed aboard. A think, flat right hand amidships stiffened Craig up—Mitzi carrying the punch on her body, then bullying the girl back into the ropes. Craig’s defence floundered and Mitzi didn’t help matters with a rolling burst of pounding leather breadbasket and ribs—Yvonne gasped, tried to clinch, but the bigger woman palmed her back and would have none of it. It was Gaynor at her cold-hearted best, eyes flinty with concentration as she hammered Yvonne’s face to the side with clouting rights, hooked the chin and sternum, used the left shoulder to constantly bump and prop the slumping brunette up. Craig slipped into shock, then went limp, curvy legs holding her up even as her upperbody drooped, sloshing over side to side, Mitzi kept punching—legs strong, buttocks tensed, shoulders pumping, fists thumping into lungs, cracking sharp against face—it was all too much. Poor Yvonne Craig finally spilled to the canvas in the final minute of the third round, outmaneuvered and outfought by a splendid Mitzi Gaynor on the night. By the time Ann-Margaret tackled Gaynor from the side and pinned her to the ropes, it was too late: Yvonne Craig had been beaten senseless.

After: In many ways, it was one of Mitzi Gaynor’s most professional efforts as a boxer. Faced with the superior speed and explosiveness of the talented Craig, not to mention to unpredictable menace of Margaret as the third woman, Mitzi efficiently whittled down the ring, countered Yvonne to get her in trouble, and finished her off as efficiently and decisively as anyone could have wanted. Craig would go on to do great things in the rings of the sixties, but on this night, she got outclassed and beat up by a cagey Vegas veteran. “I had to knock her out,” Mitzi would later admit, “I didn’t think I could take a decision from someone who through that many punches and Margaret was a ticking time bomb in there. I had no choice: Yvonne had to go.”

Reposted by Archer 8/19/09.