Florence Pugh vs Kate Mara
(Writing: LMW / Results: Lookout!)
Florence Pugh
(25, 5’4, 3-0 combined, League of Mighty Women)
Kate Mara
(38, 5’2, 3-11 FCBA, Free Agent)
Pre-Fight: Florence Pugh makes her second appearance in FCBA for the League of Mighty Women as she takes on the free agent Kate Mara, who was released by Emilia’s Empresses last year. Florence will be looking to build up on her win from her FCBA debut, while Kate will be looking to put a stop to her losing streak since she became a free agent.
There is a rather friendly atmosphere during the pre-fight press conference as Florence goes first to make her remarks. “I’m looking forward to taking part in this event and I have been working hard with my coaches and fellow fighters at the stable to prove that I belong here. I know that Kate’s record could be misleading as most of her fights were against high-level opponents, so I’m expecting a hard-fought match and that’s what I trained for.”
After listening to Florence’s comments with a smile, Kate goes next. “I would have preferred you to be misled by my record, but I guess that’s not happening now. *chuckles* I’m not having the best time with my fights lately and Florence is an up and coming fighter, but I’m hoping to use my experience to get a win against her before she gets more comfortable in the ring.” After Kate finishes her comments, they shake hands and the press conference comes to an end.
It is time for the fight and Florence comes out first with her coach Gillian Anderson besides her. She waves at the crowd as they cheer for her. Florence enters the ring and goes over to her corner to go over her warming up routine.
She is wearing a black sports bra with white trim, matching trunks, gloves and shoes, while her hair is in a ponytail.
Kate comes out next with her coach behind her as she waves and blows kisses to the cheering crowd. After entering the ring, she goes over to her corner and listens to her coach as she loosens up.
She is wearing an all-white outfit consisting of a sports bra, trunks, gloves and shoes, while her hair is also tied into a ponytail.
Both fighters come to the center of the ring to listen to the referee’s instructions and after that they touch gloves, wish each other luck and get back to their respective corners. We are now ready for 10 rounds of flyweight action!
Fight: Round 1: They both start with a controlled approach as they test each other out with single punches and establish their ranges. Florence is the more active fighter early on as she circles around her opponent, initiates exchanges and throws more punches. However, while Kate’s activity level might be lower compared to Florence, she is still picking her moments well to land some short combinations of her own.
Towards the end of the round, Kate gets a bit overwhelmed by the speed and movement of her younger opponent. Florence hits a left hook and a right straight, and then side steps to avoid a counter punch by Kate. She presses on immediately as she goes for another hook to the chin and then goes down to the body with an uppercut. Just as it looked like she would be getting in trouble, Kate finally finds a well-timed counter hook as Florence was sidestepping again, which drives her opponent back and gives a much needed breather for Kate as the round comes to an end.
Florence took this round as she was more active and landed more punches, but Kate had her moments as well, so it was a close round. Gillian congratulates her fighter for winning this round and encourages her to keep up the good work.
Round 2: Another controlled start to this round as it is still anyone’s game and they don’t want to give their opponent an opening that could change the course of the match. Florence is still the more active fighter as she moves around a lot and engages with double jab-straight combos. Looks like Kate has been watching her patterns though, as she is now cutting angles and timing her counters perfectly to land some clean shots.
Florence is still the volume puncher in this round as it comes to an end, but Kate ends up landing more significant punches as her counter punching style has been working well so far and as a result she takes this one on points to tie things up on the scorecard.
Round 3: More of the same in this round as Florence keeps up the fast pace and moves in circles, but she doesn’t really commit to her attacks, so she doesn’t really trouble Kate, who keeps on playing the counter puncher role effectively. Here is another example of these exchanges. Florence comes in with a double jab, but Kate blocks them with her guard. She then gets a glancing blow with a straight, but Kate immediately answers with a counter hook, which causes Florence to step back before rotating and coming back in again.
Another close round, but it once again goes to Kate as she pulls herself up in the scorecard. Florence seems to be doing all the work, but it is Kate’s experience and game plan that is making the small, but significant difference so far as Florence seems to be getting a bit frustrated. Gillian addresses this issue with her fighter during the break and tells her to be more direct with attacks, instead of wasting her movement and doing all the work for her opponent.
Round 4: Florence comes out of the break with a more aggressive style as she tries to use her speed to overwhelm her opponent and stay in the pocket longer to force longer exchanges, which seems to catch Kate by surprise and gets her into trouble early on in this round. However, before things could get worse, Kate throws an overhand and Florence walks right into it. Her aggressive attack backfires, so now Kate gets a chance to push Florence back with a double jab-straight combination. Florence finally gets her senses back to put her guard up, so Kate redirects her attack to her opponent’s body as she pushes her towards the ropes. After several hooks to the body, Florence clinches with Kate to get a breather and the referee ends up having to separate them.
Kate takes the role of aggressor for the rest of the round as she looks to finish what she started, but Florence is careful in these exchanges to not give a significant opening. As a result she survives the round, but it is a big win for Kate, who starts to pull away from her opponent on the scorecard. Gillian is still hopeful that the more aggressive style would pay out for Florence as she reminds her that she needs to stay on the attack at this point as she is down on points.
Round 5: Looks like Florence is doubling down on her tactics from the last round as she starts with an aggressive and fast paced style right off the bell. Florence’s speed and power starts to overwhelm Kate again. She might be regretting not being more aggressive last round as she is forced back to defending now. Florence switches quickly between going up and down with her straights and hooks. The pressure is on Kate once again and she tries to counter with an overhand like the last round, but Florence is ready to dodge out of the way this time and she comes back with an uppercut that stuns Kate. A double jab-straight combo from Florence drives Kate back, who doesn’t look steady on her feet. Florence hits a lead uppercut that sets up a vicious hook to the chin that sends Kate down to the canvas! Florence quickly goes over to the neutral corner. 1…2…3… Kate stares at the ceiling, trying to get her senses back 4…5…6… she rolls over and tries to get back on all fours 7…8… she tries to rise on her knees but fails as she head is still spinning 9…10 she is still resting her forehead on the canvas as the count passes her by!
Official Result: Winner via KO in round 5, Florence Pugh!
Post-Fight: Florence keeps her celebration short and sweet. After getting congratulated by Gillian for a good comeback win, Florence goes over to check up on her opponent. Kate is helped to her corner stool and after the medical staff takes a look at her, she is given the all clear. Florence looks relieved to see that Kate is okay and they hug and congratulate each other for the fight.
After getting her hand raised, Florence gets the microphone for her post-fight comments. “I’m glad I came out with the win in this fight as Kate really made it a difficult and frustrating fight by using her experience, she really is better than her record suggests. It was a good learning experience for me though and I’m looking forward to improving myself and climbing through the ranks.” After her comments she waves at her fans cheering for her and leaves the ring.
It was a close fight for the most part, but after Kate failed to finish the job at fourth, Florence turned things around and her speed and power was just too much for Kate. Florence continues her promising start to her FCBA career, while Kate needs to look towards her next fight to put a stop to her bad run. |
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