|
(Written by Girls Friday/Results by Lookout!)
(Free Agent vs Free Agent)
Intro:
The final of the New Blood welterweight tournament is on now, Sofie Rovenstine and Rachel Hilbert both won their fights earlier tonight to reach this fight.
Sofie is 19 years old; she stands 5'11 and has an unbeaten record of 1 win, that by knockout when she beat Pauline Hoarau.
Rachel is 23 years old; she stands 5'10 and holds a record of 3 wins, both by knockout and 1 defeat, she defeated Valerie Kaufman to reach this far.
Both women were asked for a quick word by the cameraman on how they felt before the big final in their locker rooms.
Sofie finishing getting her hands wrapped up by her mentor in this tournament Rebecca Romijn, she looks up excited as she's "that was so much fun, Pauline was a great first fight and I can't believe I am fighting for the trophy!"
Rebecca tells her "don't speak like that! You earned your way here and you will earn that trophy, you're the best fighter here!" With Sofie nodding at her in reply.
Rachel meanwhile is working the pads with her mentor Sarah Lancaster, who tells her to loosen up her punches as she is clearly tense thinking about the rewards that are ahead.
When asked for a few words; Rachel smiles as Sarah begins massaging her neck and back, telling the cameraman "Valery was a tough one to take out, but she is gone and I can almost feel the trophy"
Sarah telling her "you're the best fighter here babe, I have been honoured to help train you, now is the time to show the world what you are made of!" With Rachel banging her gloves together before they head out the locker room.
Fighting time; the trophy sits on a podium at the bottom of the aisle, a clear reminder of what these girls are fighter for as past winners Karlie Kloss and Kate Bock have their names on the title, whose name will join them?
First out is Sofie with Rebecca by her side, she takes a breath before beginning to walk to the ring, looking at the trophy makes her smile as she passes it.
She is wearing a red sports bra, red trunks with white stripes down the sides, red shoes and white gloves, her brunette hair is in a ponytail.
Getting into the ring; Sofie again does a quick lap inside the ring, before warming up with Rebecca giving her a pep talk that tonight she shows the world who she is.
Now out comes Rachel, who smiles as she heads down to the ring with her eyes firmly on the trophy, she can be heard saying to it "you're mine" as Sarah behind her smiles, clearly happy with her confidence.
She is wearing a bubblegum pink sports bra with green trim, matching trunks, green gloves and pink shoes, her blonde hair is in a ponytail.
Getting into the ring; Rachel flexes her arms and gives a wink over to Sofie, who smiles back as both seem at ease with each other, Sarah telling Rachel as they reach their corner to make her dreams come true starting tonight.
The fighters come to the center of the ring where the referee goes through the final instructions, both women look nervous as butterflies must be flying around their stomachs, this easily is biggest fight of both women's careers.
When asked to touch gloves they respectfully touch them up and wish the other good luck in a nice moment of sportsmanship, before returning to their corners so they can begin 10 rounds of welterweight action.
Round 1:
"Ding" both women start off looking tense, trading single punches as they test the other out and clearly neither wants to make a silly mistake this early on.
A jab strikes Rachel on her nose where she picked up a cut in the semi finals earlier, Sofie sees that it has Rachel looking more tentative and seems to spur her on.
Sofie moves forwards with a double jab and a straight combination knocking the head of Rachel back, making her retreat back.
Sarah doesn't look happy in Rachel's corner, urging her to stop backing off as Sofie has the blonde keeping her guard up and retreating around the ring.
The youngster looking good as she lands a jab off the gloves of Rachel, with a right/left hook combo digging into the ribs of Hilbert to make her cry out.
That looks to have wakened up Rachel as she throws back up top, giving the crowd a chance to roar as the fighters plan their feet and let their hands go.
The round ends with both fighters all smiles and bumping a glove together with their opponent to show respect to the other.
Though in the corner it is only Rebecca smiling as Sofie definitely won that round, Sarah yelling at Rachel to get out her head and go for it, she can't hold back to protect that cut all night.
Round 2:
It seems like Rachel has taken on board her coaches advice, the round starts off evenly fought as both models move up on their toes and trade stiff single shots to the others face.
When Sofie looks to land a quick fire combination, Rachel deftly dances back with great head movement to dodge, then counters with a right straight as she pops up.
Rachel starts to show off some impressive boxing skills, dodging and countering like she did in her semi final in the later rounds.
While Sofie looks a little confused by what is in front of her, making her retreat behind her guard to now have Rebecca shouting at her.
This time though it is Rachel making all the right moves, slamming shots to the body to open up Sofie up top, before switching her targets to make it hard for the brunette to cover up.
Late in the round Sofie manages to land a jab up to the face of her opponent, before switching down to land two rights to the abs of the blonde to make her groan out.
Both nearly bump heads as Sofie moves in tight, with the bell ringing to end the round with the fighters having a more intense look to them as they head to their corners.
Rachel gets a pat to her back from her mentor Sarah, who tells her "that's what I've wanted to see all night! You are the most skillful in this tournament!"
Round 3:
Now they are both warmed up and in the right frame of mind, they both start off fighting with more then simple single punches.
Rachel looks good again as she sticks and moves, TILL SHE COMES IN TO LAND A JAB AND GETS BEATEN TO THE PUNCH WITH A RIGHT HOOK THAT TURNS HER HEAD, AS SHE MOVES BACK A LEFT KNOCKS HER DOWN TO HER BACKSIDE!
Sarah can be heard cursing the air as Rachel looks up shocked she got put down, 1...2...3.. Once she realises fully what happened, Rachel says "f***!" 4...5...6 she hits the canvas with her left in frustration as she pushes herself up 7....8 beating the count and is allowed to continue.
Sofie comes looking for the finish, leading to some scruffy shots being exchanged as Sofie gets in too close then setting up her shots first, Rebecca yells that fact at her.
A left lands on the cut on Hilbert's nose to make it bleed again, Rovenstine hits it again and a right cross to finally knock the blonde to the ropes.
Where she gets in some good shots, but Rachel stops her assault by clinching up with her, both young fighters rub heads as Sofie pins Rachel to the ropes, maybe trying to show her power off.
Once apart; they exchange in close range as Sofie looks to keep the pressure on her opponent, with both slamming clean shots across the others face to reddened up the others face again.
The bell rings with Sofie looking proud of her work, Rachel stares hard at her as she jogs back over to her corner, where Rebecca while happy; tells her to set up her finish better like she did the first fight, with Sofie admitting she got too excited.
Rachel meanwhile has her nose worked by Sarah and her coaching team, with Sarah telling her to forget the last round and focus on making things right.
Round 4:
Sofie looks to keep on top of Rachel, stepping forwards behind a stiff jab now to try to set up more of her power punches as told by Rebecca.
She is getting some good punches to land on the seemingly more mobile Sofie, who is moving her head and upper body to try to dodge.
A missed left cross by Sofie is countered by an uppercut by Rachel, who pushes the younger fighter onto her heels and begins to bash her back towards the ropes.
Sofie manages to nudge Rachel off her, before firing a jab/straight combo to the face of the blonde, knocking her head back and allowing her to work her back.
A stalemate forms as both girls rub heads as they slam punches into the others bodies, before shoving apart with Rachel the quicker to the punch with a right across the face of Rovenstine to knock her back.
Soon a cut can be seen under the left eye of Sofie, making her try to protect it and ending up getting hit with combinations, as Rachel is finding gaps in her defence.
The round ends with Rachel almost strutting to her corner, happy over evening the cut score up and seeing Sarah all smiles over a good comeback round after being put down.
In the opposite corner; Rebecca has to tell Sofie to take a deep breath and not worry about the cut, she works to stop the bleeding as it doesn't look too bad, how will Sofie react to being cut for the first time though.
Round 5:
The early action sees both women looking to land those big right fists, missing mostly though as their opponents can telegraph it a mile away.
Rachel is the first to change things up as she slips under a right cross, landing her own body shots to drive her opponent towards the ropes.
But Sofie gives her a nudge with her left and lands two uppercuts that knocks Rachel backwards, leaving the blonde open as Sofie comes forwards to land more punches to her face.
As Rachel's back hits the ropes; she pulls Sofie into a clinch, with both women resting on the other, the referee steps in to pull both apart.
Once apart it is Sofie who beats Rachel to the punch this time, landing a double jab and straight combo to force her behind her guard.
With the final part of the round seeing Rachel moving back around the ring as Sofie hunts her down, the bell rings with Sofie jogging back to her corner smiling.
Rachel on the other hand looks annoyed she can't keep Sofie off her, Sarah advises her to keep calm and keep faith in her boxing skills.
Round 6:
Sofie is quick out her corner and trading stiff jabs with a seemingly retreating Rachel, who looks to be trying to keep space between them to work.
That is making Sofie a little frustrated as she tries to cut off the ring, each time she seems to have; Rachel slips under her punches and moves into space.
With Rachel ending up counter punching the more wilder punching Sofie with an overhand right that reopens that cut.
Giving Rachel a target she keeps going at, Sofie backs off as she winces everytime that cut is getting a taste of leather from her opponent.
Sofie guts it out though to land a straight off the cut on Rachel's nose, with the blondes nose now starting to bleed from her nostrils.
Both women end up slugging it out as they let their tempers control them, blood and sweat flies into the air till both clinch up and look annoyed at the others resilience.
Separated by the referee, Rachel dips under a straight and lands a hard right under the ribs of her opponent, Sofie groans out and eats an overhand left that turns her head.
She ends up on the ropes after taking more punches to her face, Rachel sending a flurry up top that mostly finds gloves but the ones that get through are knocking the brunettes head back.
At the bell; both women simply nod at each other, knowing they are in the ring with one hell of a tough woman, but as they sit on their stools and get cleaned up, they both have steely gazes over to their opponent as this means so much to them they won't stop till they win.
Round 7:
Both fighters come out trading stiff shots through to the others faces, their guards are starting to dip as tiredness starts to affect them.
Sofie looks to step forwards but ends up missing with a right cross and takes a right to the body, followed by an overhand left to knock her back.
The fighters plant their feet and trade hard shots across the others face, TILL SOFIE AGAIN MISSES WITH A LEFT CROSS AND EATS AN UPPERCUT FLUSH ON HER CHIN, HER LEGS TO JELLY AND A RIGHT HOOK TURNS SOFIE AROUND WITH HER GUMSHIELD FLYING OUT AS SHE FALLS TO HER FACE, THE REFEREE CHECKS ON HER AND WAVES THE FIGHT OFF! SOFIE IS OUT!
Winner and the New Blood welterweight champion Rachel Hilbert KO Round 7
After:
Rachel looks disbelieving that she score such a stunning knockout, Sarah rushes out the corner and hugs her from behind as she shouts "come on!" Which knocks Rachel out her stupor, she smiles and raises her fists in the air.
The ringside doctor rushes in to check on Sofie, using the smelling salts to waken the youngster up, where she looks around confused at first till she pulls around and realises she has lost.
Rebecca helping up Sofie as she needs a shoulder to cry on, maybe if she had settled down after scoring the knockdown in round 3, she might have finished the fight, now she can only think about that and have regrets.
After Sofie is sat on her stool and cleaned up, Rachel heads over to her and chats with her on the fight, telling her to keep her chin up as she gave her a hell of a fight.
Both women end up embracing as plenty of respect between the two, especially after the war they have been through to try to claim the title of New Blood champion.
Sofie then leaves the ring after telling Rachel she'll get her a drink later to celebrate her win, getting a laugh and Rachel telling her she'll hold her to that.
Rebecca helping Sofie to the back; telling her that the future is bright for her and that she showed the world that she can be a big fighter in the division going forwards, making Sofie smile as she wipes tears away from her eyes.
Inside the ring; Melanie Sykes comes into the ring with the trophy and tiara, Rachel can be seen saying "oh my god" to Sarah, who just smiles and shakes her head.
Sarah is handed the trophy as Melanie puts the tiara on top of Rachel's head, with Sarah telling Rachel "you earned this babe, you truly are the best here tonight" as the winner wipes tears of joy from her eyes, getting the trophy in her hands and raising up for everyone to see.
The winner goes for a victory lap, holding the trophy above her head as cameras flash and she fights back the tears, looking overjoyed by this moment as this is a big milestone for her career.
She poses at the center of the ring for cameras, smiling warmly as already people are wondering how far can this young woman go? She missed a year of her career but maybe now it will finally go forwards.
For now though Rachel leaves the ring with Sarah helping her with the trophy and tiara, joking with Rachel that she'll fight her for the trophy later, both chuckling as they put an arm around the others waist, Rachel holding the trophy close to her chest in her right hand, showing how much it means to her.
|
