TESS VALMORE


The January PPV featured three title bouts with only the flyweight belt not at risk Lilly took the bantam title away from Bella Thorne in a crowd pleasing bout that ended with Thorne being counted out late in the tenth round. The fight was Lilly’s 97th and the title is her seventh. She should enter the Hall of Fame in late spring. Scodelario and Kosarin won their bouts to remain at the top of the contender’s list with Larson coming up fast.

I spent a couple month’s complaining of Swift ducking Kendall Jenner. Well, she stopped ducking and much to my surprise, she flattened Jenner is the eighth round of a great fight. I would say Swift rudely shut my mouth. Strahovski moved into a title shot position by beating her long time rival Mary Elizabeth Winstead to take a 8-7 lead in the rivalry. It seems like every time DiDonato is in line for a title shot, she gets upset. This time it was Courtney Tailor, who fought mainly at JMDD lat year, who put the damper our her title bout hopes.

To no ones surprise. Righetti retained her title by being Utgaard. It took her nine rounds to do it, which was about five rounds longer than I thought it would. Righetti should step back and fight only once a quarter as the welter division becomes increasingly boring. Management uses the excuse that they want to give more fighters a chance. The truth is she has beaten every decent challenger and gets a few gimmies just to stay busy. Upton has beaten Righetti twice out of five bouts, but wastes her time at JMDD.
Rhoda looks like the best for a title bout, but lost a title match last year and is 0-2 against Amanda. Palicki beat Regan. Palicki had just moved to welter. Just another instance of a lightweight beating a welter.

Once again the flyweights were a little light in competition. The big fight was Panettiere’s win over Portman. Holts win over Emma Roberts was also notable Avril Lavigne and Michelle Williams had easy fights that really didn’t benefit them.

At the Asylum, Front Streets newbies looked good in a Front Street sweep. Scanlan and Del Toro were impressive. Eilish also looked particularly good.The future looks good for the flyweights, but the bantams remain Front Streets strength. The welter division looks the weakest. Utgaard gave Righetti a good fight in the PPV, but I don’t think she is a front line welter. Hill is definitely very promising, but is she going to fighting principally at lightweight?

All fights in the PPV and Asylum ended in KO’s. Thirteen ended in the sixth round with the nine ending in the fifth round. More fights ended in the sixth than in the later rounds.

The two cards introduced ten new fighters, one on the PPV and nine at the Asylum. Last year some 64 newbies were introduced. It will be interesting to see if the introductions this year can exceed last years. Let’s hope not.