(Written by Girls Friday/Results BBU)

(Girls Friday vs Free Agent)

Intro:
The fourth fight out of five in the retirement tour of Melanie Sykes sees her come to Belfast in North Ireland to take on a girl from the Republic of Ireland, Victoria Smurfit.
Melanie comes into this fight looking to continue her streak in her retirement bouts as she beat Dawn Porter and Tamzin Outhwaite in her last two bouts after losing to Tara Moss in her first bout.
Her overall record is 4 wins, all by knockout and 2 losses in her career as the 46 year old is still in great shape with her toned 5'9 body.
Victoria is the more experienced fighter and the younger fight at 42, her record stands at 3 wins, all by knockout and 4 losses.
She is an inch smaller at 5'8 but she also keeps herself trim and fit for action in the ring, though her last fight was a win 4 years ago, when she defeated Kirsty Gallacher.

At the press conference, the two fighters met and respectfully shook hands but there was no warmth to each woman's reaction to seeing each other.
Both women sat on stools not too far away from each other and were able to look at the crowd of journalists and fans who'd come to see Melanie's retirement tour.
Each woman was given a microphone but Victoria waved Melanie to speak first, which got a nod from the brunette to her future opponent.
"It is great to fight in Northern Ireland, I truly love coming here with the girls because you guys always make us feel welcome and we truly do love you guys for that" said Melanie to start her speech as Victoria nodded that she agreed with Mel.
Continuing, Mel added "it's funny, me and Victoria's paths have never crossed at all, she's never fought anyone I would class as a friend or any of my stablemates, past or present"
"But I know of her career and I know how much of a threat she will be if I let her loose with her wide range of punches, so sorry Victoria but I will be going full throttle to knock you out" finishes Melanie.
Victoria says "you're right on some many things you said, these guys in Belfast are amazing, I haven't fought a Girls Friday girl and you are certainly right that I am dangerous in the ring"
Then she adds "but you are deadly wrong on whose knocking out who, I plan on finishing your career off when we fight, not just letting you walk all over me"
Melanie now nods before Victoria finishes by saying "I have seen your bouts and while you are superfit, you are not in my class and even in your prime, you wouldn't stand a chance against me"
The fighters quickly stand up off their stools and toss the microphones on the stage before going nose to nose as they ask how much the other wants this.
Security gets between the girls before all hell breaks loose and any respect the girls have is wiped away for pure aggression.
Both girls leave the stage in silence, their faces show the anger they have for the other as the masks have fell already from their faces.

Fight night in the SSE Arena in Belfast, Melanie Sykes comes out to a mixed reaction as Lauren Berlingeri and Eva Carneiro are by her side.
Melanie is wearing light blue sports bra, long trunks, shoes with white socks sticking out the top and light blue gloves to finish her look.
Determination is written across her face as she climbs into the ring and waves to the crowd quickly, then heads to her corner to finish warming up.
Out comes Victoria with her coach and again she gets a mixed reaction as well as she steps towards the ring at a brisk pace as she wants to get this on badly.
Her attire for this fight is mostly emerald green, a sports bra, trunks, shoes with light green socks sticking out the top and emerald green gloves.
Both girls for not being spring chickens let's say, still look amazing and put women half there age to shame.
As they meet nose to nose in the centre of the ring, the crowd hush down slightly as the referee finishes his instructions to both fighters.
Asked to touch gloves, Melanie becomes the aggressor, banging her gloves on top of Victoria's, that earns her a shove off the Irish girl and the referee has to step in early as the fight looks to start straight away.
They are told to keep this clean as the referee won't allow the girls to make a mockery of the rules but both girls eyes are staring hard into the opposite set, showing their tempers may overrule anything the official says.
Both fighters go back to their corners and get their gumshields in, the referee sees everything is done and points to the timekeeper to begin 10 rounds of welterweight action.

Round 1:
Out come the fighters, stabbing their jabs out at each other to test each others defenses out in the early part of the round.
The crowd watch closely as the fighters dig their feet into the canvas to land harder then they would normally start with jabs.
Victoria snaps forward first with a straight after a double jab to force the first meaty exchange of punches between the two.
The Irish fighter is the one landing the cleaner shots early as she digs her punches into the body and head of Melanie, forcing the brunette to take a step back.
Smurfit drives forward another step but Melanie wards her off with a flurry of punches that only have a small connection success, most miss their target but get the job done of creating space.
The fighters circle, weary of each others strength as they go back to throwing hard jabs to try and find a hole in defenses of the other again.
Till they come forward together again to pound away at each other till they nearly clash heads and clinch up together.
Both struggle to force the other back in the clinch and nearly fall over to the canvas with their legs tangling and some pundits question when watching the legs, if both girls are sneaking kicks to the others legs.
The referee pulls the girls apart and with less than ten seconds to go, both girls just let breeze with their punches to try and win the round.
Finally the bell rings with both girls jogging back to their corners happy with their work but most pundits at ringside believe that Victoria should be the happier fighter thanks to her cleaner punches and overall aggression.

Round 2:
Victoria again goes on the attack quicker of the two, stinging the arms of Melanie with jabs and straights before slamming hooks around the guard.
Melanie on the backfoot but using her strong legs to move out of the way of most of the punches, though some do dig into her cheeks.
Finding the rhythm, both girls rifle jabs into each others faces, Victoria is still landing the better punches with her right hand snaking around the left hand of Sykes to eat away at her cheek.
Melanie does try an uppercut but gets caught by Victoria with a left hook to make her think about the fight more as Smurfit is controlling this round with more ease than she did in the last round.
Victoria is coming forward more often as Melanie seems to be backing away from the punches of the blonde.
But Melanie seems to have been playing possum as she counters a left hook from Victoria by leaning out of the way and then stepping back in as it sails past harmlessly to snap a straight right between the eyes of her opponent to snap her head back.
Late in the round, it's Melanie who comes forward behind a quick thrown jab before slinging her right forward to snap at the face of the retreating Victoria.
Both bump into each other on the ropes as they start digging into each other in tight, heads rubbing against each other as the referee warns them to keep their heads up.
The bell sounds to end the round with both girls giving the other a glare, before going back to their corners to get their faces washed and more advice on how to win.

Round 3:
Circling each other to start the round, both fighters seem to agree to go for it without saying a word as the next moment they go in tight to rip away to the others body.
Cameras zoom in to see the girls are actually taunting each other as they slam in hard shots that are knocking sweat off their bodies into the air.
Both have to step back after pounding each other to take a breath as these are not too fighters in their prime.
Melanie seems to recover the quicker as she snaps the head of her blonde rival back with her right then slams a left to the body to back her up.
The fighters exchange near the ropes as the crowd roar both girls on, neither backs away as quick as before as their tempers drive them on.
Again they have to clinch, both continue to insult each other in the others ear.
The referee separates the girls, this time Smurfit is the one who strikes first with a straight before shoving forward with her head down.
The referee warns her as Melanie latches on to Victoria and ends up putting her in a front headlock that gets a warning in itself.
The round slows down late on as the girls throw single punches as they circle each other till the bell rings to end the round.
Both girls are starting to show the marks of war as their cheeks show some puffiness and their bodies are starting to get a pink hue.
Victoria still looks happy even after a bad round there, her coach tells her to keep on top of things before it runs away from her.
Melanie meanwhile glares across the ring as she tries to psyche herself up to go and hurt Victoria badly soon as her emotions are taking over.

Round 4:
Victoria starts off slow with the jab and Melanie is right in her face with a quick thrown barrage as her fitness is starting to show now.
Smurfit eats a right hook that pivots her head to the side and a straight rocks her to the ropes before she has to clinch to stop the assault she's under.
Melanie is leaning into the ear of Victoria and you can only guess what she is saying, it won't be a complement for sure.
Separated again, Melanie lunges forward and just misses this time as she throws an overhand right past the head of Victoria.
The blonde rattled her backwards with a hard right to the body and the momentum quickly shifts back to Victoria's hands.
She snaps Melanie's head and barges her back towards the other side of the ring with her own flurry of punches, before Sykes digs in and throws back her own forceful punches.
The girls attack slows down again as they can't find that punch to take full control over the other fighter just yet.
Instead it's back to a jab fest for several moments, till the girls step in to pound away to each others flanks in a heated exchange.
Both step back again, before Melanie forces the issue late in the round with a good right body shot just above the waistline of her opponent's trunks.
The bell rings with Melanie about to throw a hook and she holds herself back but her eyes tell you how much she wanted to throw that punch.
Victoria is starting to breath harder as ring rust looks to be starting to take effect on her.
Melanie meanwhile looks in better shape as her and Lauren are deep in discussion and are talking about how to force the tempo to hurt Victoria.

Round 5:
While neither have much spring in their legs compared to their youth, it is Melanie who changes plot by bouncing around Victoria on her toes.
Victoria is starting to give chase now as she is getting picked off by some good long range shots from the brunette.
The fight is taking a different tone from the first few rounds as it is becoming one sided, Melanie is knocking the head of her opponent back.
Victoria is getting forced to back towards the ropes under a quick flurry of punches and suddenly down goes Victoria.
An uppercut slams into her chin and down goes Smurfit flat on her back as she looks at the ceiling with her eyes glazed over.
The referee begins his count as Melanie looks ready to drive forwards and end this.
She looks like she'll have a chance to as Victoria manages to push herself up and beat the count at 9, but she stumbles back into the ropes and the referee hugs her, before waving the fight off.

Winner: Melanie Sykes TKO Round 5

After:
Melanie climbs the ropes behind herself to roar at the crowd as relief at winning once again in the twilight of her career.
Victoria looks like she is going to cry as she hates losing and after the way these two have went at each other in the build up, she knows she can never get revenge on Melanie for this loss.
Things get worse for her as she sits on her stool after being helped onto it by her coach.
Melanie is suddenly over to her after getting her gloves taken off and after pushing Victoria's coach out of the way, she pulls the blonde by her hair to tilt her head upwards so they are looking directly into the others eyes.
"I've always wanted to do this, so be honoured that you get to be my first and last I probably do this to" says Melanie before she stands on either bottom rope in Victoria's corner.
Then she tummies up to Victoria, scrubbing the beaten fighters face into her sweaty abs to prove her dominance over her.
Victoria tries to put up a fight with her fists hitting the sides of Melanie's body at first but gives up as air is leaving her lungs and she is about to pass out.
Relinquishing her grip, Melanie lets Victoria breath again as she whispers "thanks for that, I loved that" to the defeated Victoria.
Melanie goes around the ring celebrating as Victoria is quickly helped from the ring by her coach and by some first aiders.

Kirsty Gallacher, whose become sort of an unofficial interviewer for this retirement tour as she has done the last two events.
Melanie is asked about the fight and tells Kirsty "it was a good fight for me, she pushed me early on but I never felt in danger due to her not having the stamina to put me in danger"
Asked about what's plan for the final bout since it's been the biggest secret in the tour, Melanie answers "well first, I can announce that the fight will take place in a place I have dreamed of and a style I've never done before"
Smiling, she reveals "I will be fight on Boracay beach in the Philippines in my first ever beach bout and this is my opponent"
Melanie points out of the ring and the crowd can not believe their eyes as "The Body" Elle MacPherson walks up the stairs and climbs into the ring wearing a white dress.
"Do you think I chose well" says Melanie as even Kirsty looks shocked to see the living legend climb into the ring after turning 53 this year.
The future opponents shake hands and beam warm smiles to each other as they quickly chat to each other about the reaction that Elle got, giving both a laugh.
Kirsty doesn't know whether she should get a comment from Elle but Melanie tells her "boxing day is going to he special this year, so keep that date in your calender for a retirement fight and see you at our usual pub crawl"
Kirsty can just nod as Elle and Melanie are asked to pose together side by side with an arm around each other, before the money shot of them nose to nose with a hard stare down and fists raised at their sides takes place.
After the photos are taken, both girls hug as Elle jokes "I forgot how sweaty you are, God I'll have to get this dress cleaned right away"
Melanie just smirks and the girls leave together with Lauren and Kirsty behind them, chatting about what's just happened and the big fight on boxing day.