BEFORE: Heidi Range returns to the her Merseyside backyard for yet another BBU contest but most pundits don't see her as the favorite against Wycombe's Leigh-Anne Pinnock who comes fresh off a pillar-to-post beating of Emma Bunton and threatens to annihilate the former Sugababes leader as well. The Little Mix crew happens to be making a lot of noise lately (sans Jesy Nelson) and Jade Thirlwall sets her sights on the flyweight title opportunity later this year with Pinnock in close pursuit. A hard-fought decision loss to Nadine Coyle only briefly stopped her rise towards the elite and beating a perennial contender like Range can fully make up for that heartbreak.

Of course Heidi has other ideas and plans to mount one last effort to enter the title picture again herself but most pundits think that bandmates Jade Ewen and Amelle Berrabah have a better career prospects at this stage. Range has lost too many "make it or break it" fights in her career (Michelle Keegan, Mikie Hara & Jorgie Porter to name the few standing out) to shake off the big audience goosebumps. But the Liverpool crowd doesn't mind that at all and hopes for a proper Pinnock trashing!

Heidi Range wears a red basque top, white hotpants and red gloves. Blonde hair tied in a bun at the back of her head. Leigh-Anne Pinnock wears a navy blue basque top, black knickers and silver gloves. Curly black hair in a Whitney Houston 1980s look. The fight is scheduled for ten rounds in the flyweight division.

Round 1:
Both girls waste no time in immediate leather bashing which results in the Liverpool crowd roaring in support as Heidi smacks Leigh-Anne over the top and settles in better inside the opening minute powering ahead to make the younger singer moan a little when she gets nailed on the nose a couple of times. Pinnock refuses to yield real estate though and leans on the blonde somehow trying to punch through the leather mayhem but when Range stuffs her with another left/right combo on the nose there's no other option but to back out of there and Leigh-Anne jumps to the side conceding the exchange. She's quick enough on her feet to avoid the blonde's pursuit thereafter but the crowd loves the spooked attire of the brunette and even Heidi punches the air in delight which looks a bit premature at this stage of the fight.

Round 2:
Another feisty tangle leaves Pinnock's head rocking and the crowd roaring with Range hammering in the punishment upstairs to lump the brunette's face up already! That win over Dannii Minogue must have done wonders to the blonde's confidence and Leigh-Anne retreats from the striking zone much faster than before but still eats too many punches on the fly while bouncing off Heidi's guard repeatedly instead. The superior footwork is her only strong suit now but that does very little to shake Range off her aggressive stance and the Merseyside veteran lands more nifty combos in the final minute to keep Leigh-Anne pinned on the back foot.

Round 3:
Pinnock continues to struggle in close range but maintains the aggressive stance however she just can't find the precision neccessary to trouble the blonde opponent. The hostile crowd atmosphere doesn't help her either as every single punch from Heidi is cheered like it's a potential knockout decider. A lenghty clinch allows the brunette to tame the local singer's attacks but in the second half of the round Range resumes the jabbing drill and picks Leigh-Anne off up the middle to wobble her towards the ropes where a last-ditch escape prevents - or rather postpones - a looming disaster.

Round 4:
A clubbing hook upstairs finally brings Pinnock some success as she briefly wobbles the blonde into a desperate earmuff and the wild swinging response skims off the forearms allowing the brunette to lean forward and drive more uppercuts on the rack. Heidi gets stuffed in the center of the ring and eats a left/right combo on the temples to finally yield the real estate and spend some time simply avoiding Pinnock's charge. However the brunette remains faster of the two across the canvas and traps Heidi in the corner with a jabbing series before stucking more leather on the chest and making the local favorite moan in pain at the bell.

Round 5:
Leigh-Anne seeks more success but fails to split the blonde's mitts with her initial charge and gets countered over the top instead; Heidi smacks her on the swollen cheeks with a heavy jabbing drive and roots her to the spot when she switches downstairs to punish the breadbasket. Pinnock slumps forward and wraps herself around the blonde's waist but gets wrenched on the liver area and bumped off towards the turnbuckle where the escape route is shut right in her face when Range blasts a left uppercut on the chin followed by another gutwrencher on the navel. Pinnock squeals in discomfort but soaks up the midsection beating and Heidi flicks a late hook on the temple to confirm her status leaving the brunette sagging on the bell.

Round 6:
A brief scare in the fourth is completely forgotten when Heidi beats Leigh-Anne for a right-on-right overhand before another belting hook on the liver area sends the Little Mix singer spinning back to the ropes and hugging her midriff. Range comes crashing down on her and blasts a left/right cross on the nose to set up a looping hook on the temple THAT RAGDOLLS THE BRUNETTE ON HER KNEES moments later... The Echo Arena crowd errupts in joy while Pinnock aches her heart out but still hugs her midriff as she sits down on her heels and takes her time before getting up at eight... she looks rather vulnerable right now and allows the blonde to pound her butt-in-ropes in the final minute but the hectic KO drive derails when the blonde fails to connect with the jugs and has Pinnock grabbing her by the arms and wrestling back into the turnbuckle. Both girls almost go down in the proccess and the ref separates them to give Leigh-Anne a warning but truth be told, she needed that respite to regain her breath and doesn't seem all that concerned about the warning. She retreats quickly to the opposite side of the ring and a stunned Heidi looks over at coach Gina Wild to find some answers.

Round 7:
Range remains in pursuit mode and Leigh-Anne keeps her honest working single hand counter from behind the guard. The mid distance hassle allows the younger singer to bide more time in recovery and even the Liverpool audience realizes their girl must up the tempo soon to prevent a late rally from the Little Mix faithful. But despite the knockdown blemish, Pinnock dominates the footwork drill and now Range begins to wear out in a fruitless chase herself suddenly sucking the life out of a hitherto high octane flyweight classic. Still, Leigh-Anne needs a haymaker KO to turn the tables on the Sugababes veteran and seeing out the clock isn't gonna win her this fight under any circumstances.

Round 8:
"You did enough already! Now it's the time to use some brains", coach Gina Wild advises the blonde to take it easy from here as she doesn't need a KO finish to confirm her superiority over the stubborn brunette. And for whatever the reason Pinnock refuses to engage the turbo either leading to a lethargic hit & miss, duck & weave extravaganza for most of the round. Only in the final minute does Leigh-Anne finally blink first and throws a solid combo upstairs that splits the blonde's mitts briefly but Range's too experienced to allow the brunette make further progress. She clinches Pinnock and wrestles her towards the ropes where she lets the clock expire as the Little Mix singer struggles to break free and receives no help from the referee either.

Round 9:
Heidi sticks to coach Wild's tactics but Leigh-Anne ups the tempo of her attacks as expected and pierces the high guard a bit too often to keep the Merseyside singer safe. A belting hook on the ribcage catches the blonde cold and wobbles her into an uppercut frenzy that punishes the jaw and stuffs her in the center of the ring with Pinnock rallying to knock the blonde about before scything her lips into a bloody mess with a brutal cross hooking combo. Heidi's suddenly thrown off the comfort zone and spins back to the ropes with her mouth bleeding badly and has to seek the escape route with Pinnock chasing her down and trapping in the corner come the final miniute. She splits the mitts again and wrenches the blonde's head sideways thumping more bloody marks across her face and signs off a dominant display with a mammoth uppercut on the jaw that shuts Range's eyes and makes her grab the ropes in order to stay upright. Bell rescues the Mersey pride but Pinnock threatens to silence the crowd with one round still remaining!

Round 10:
So much for using the brains here; Heidi gets stuffed with an uppercut drive again and has no answer to the brunette's aerial attack which pummels her back to the ropes and has Pinnock on top of her wholesale. Blonde just bellow out behind a desperate earmuff but all that early aggression has evaporated and Leigh-Anne tears into her like it's round one again batting the ribcage raw from both sides. Heidi's bloody lips were patched up during the interval and she's just protecting herself upstairs to somehow survive the Wycombe assault but Leigh-Anne's determined to at least score a knockdown to even the odds. Allthough she ravages the blonde's guts, she's unable to send her down but most pundits believe it's a 10-8 round anyway with Heidi battered into a standstill and offering nothing back anymore. Even the brunette gasses out in her efforts to put the older girl away and both hellcats slumps against each other at the bell but Heidi looks much worse to wear despite the early heroics and coach Gina Wild is speechless over the tight nature of the closing rounds. That was completely unneccessary and just a bad coaching job all round!

After ten rounds of boxing we go to the scorecards... Judges score the bout 97-93, 96-94 and 97-93 all for your winner through unanimous decision... Heidi Range!!!

AFTER: No immediate joy in the Lioness Club corner, the Echo Arena crowd and the BBU TV viewers get to witness a handbags spat between Heidi and coach Gina Wild... instead of a highlight KO finish, Heidi ends the fight with bloody lips and just surviving a late Pinnock rally which never should have happened in first place... speculations mount over coach Wild's future when she's ordered to leave the ring side prematurely and the word is that Lioness Club's security team acted on direct orders from stable owner Mr. V who watched the fight on TV and contacted his crew to have Gina removed...

As the Liverpool crowd finally has a chance to enjoy Heidi's arm being raised in the air there's a grim atmosphere in the Foxes corner where Leigh-Anne Pinnock still can't believe how she didn't put Range down for the count. Blasting apart the struggling Emma Bunton is one thing but that's the second decision loss against the Lioness fighters in three tries in the space of two months. First Nadine Coyle and now Heidi Range were able to eke out a close decision and spoil Pinnock's title ambitions. However she still hasn't been knocked out proper and serves as the biggest challenger test for any aspiring title contender according to Denise van Outen. Allthough Jade Thirlwall remains Little Mix's leader, Leigh-Anne's future in BBU is looking very safe indeed.

Final result: Heidi Range def. Leigh-Anne Pinnock UD10.