(Results: Lookout! Words: Caspian)

5. Hannah Ferguson vs Doutzen Kroes

Hannah:
(27, 5’10, 130, 50:12 FCBA, VIXENs)

Doutzen:
(36, 5’10, 6:9 FCBA, Lookout! Atlantic Boxing)

BEFORE:
Battle of ex-champions here as Hannah Ferguson goes up against Doutzen Kroes, who just relinquished the BBU Welterweight straps in January. Blondes don’t seem to like each other very much though, setting the other with turned up glares and standing their ground too close for comfort whilst posing on stage earlier, with Doutzen packing more bulk in a side-by-side comparison.

Hannah, however, not looking too worried, later flipping her hair to the side as she’s asked by reporters for her thoughts going into the fight. “I’ve been wanting to fight Kroes for the longest time, of course. An ex-FCBA champ going up against the BBU Welterweight one? It’s fights like these that get people talking. But then, poor Doutzen goes and loses the belt to Damara Lewis? A shame. I was hoping to take the belt off her waist, and then go and take another one off of Lawrence’s. But we all know how that turned out. Champions are dropping left and right, and no one’s talking about the main criteria that deserves all the credit around here: consistency.”

Doutzen Kroes looks confused from the end of the table, immediately fires back. “I’m not sure what you’re trying to suggest. Are you saying the rest of us don’t deserve our belts?”

“Not at all,” Hannah replies. “There’s just one too many freak-wins going on right now, and no one appears to be able to defend their titles for longer than three months on end. Well, except for Bella Thorne.”

Doutzen’s nostrils flaring, of course, at the indirect insinuation that her title run was less than spectacular. “Whatever. I don’t need a title to knock you flat on your ugly ass. And speaking of hypocrisy, your own run as Welterweight champion didn’t last too long either, did it?”

Hours later, in the ring, big blondes are bouncing in their respective corners, ready to go for ten rounds of Welterweight action. Doutzen dressed in a light pink bra top, white boxing trunks and green gloves, whereas Hannah’s wearing a navy-coloured bikini top and denim hot shorts for bottoms, stretching her arms outwards in a pair of white gloves. HERE WE GO at the referee’s signal to start!

ROUND 1:
Not many people know this, but Doutzen was seen on the big screen alongside her stablemate, Gal Gadot, playing one of the Amazonians in the first Wonder Woman movie. The blonde looked the part back then, and she certainly does so tonight as well as she initiates with left-right combos sent towards Hannah, each blow a bomb designed to both scare the former champ away but also, if she’s lucky, to blow her off her feet with an early upset. Hannah needs time to adjust though, blocking and absorbing most of the punishment this early in the fight, her arms taking a beating, body the occasional hook, but she’s clearly not putting in her best effort to fight back. At least not yet. Alpha Vixen trying to stay at a distance, weave and avoid Doutzen’s multiple hooks flying at her head. It’s a good strat to adopt in the long run, but in the opening round, it’s ill-timed, allowing Kroes to run away with points as the bigger blonde ends her aggression with another hard thump to the side of the head, cocky strut back to her corner.

ROUND 2:
And here comes Hannah, flying into action at the sound of the bell! Almost a different fighter entirely as Hannah scores with a looping cross that connects with Kroes’ lips, at the same time avoiding her counterpart’s attacks with a slip of her head underneath or to the side in a show of expert agility. This was what Hannah was planning for: telegraphing Kroes’ attacks and then delivering her own smackdown to the bigger blonde’s face, the occasional one-two swipe at her taut abs as she begins to break the bigger blonde girl down. Doutzen, however, still as dangerous in close quarters, and as she slams another late hook into Ferguson’s arms, almost throws the Vixen off balance right there and then, only proving that Kroes is very much still in the game and hungry for action.

ROUND 3:
First minute sees more action from afar: Hannah back to circling and scooting backwards, her right hand extended out and poking at Doutzen’s face repeatedly, but Kroes’ own repeated attempts to rush forward and trap Hannah somewhere snug appears to work much later on, when both ladies are running out of breath. Ferguson gets careless with her footwork, veered one way when she should have gone the other, finds herself flung into the ropes with a nasty hook slammed into her guard, then another buried into her belly as Kroes goes to work on her foe in close quarters. Ferguson, having faced off against aggressive opponents before, clinches up repeatedly, using her own body to reverse their positions and blast Kroes to the chin, but somehow, she always ends up being pinned down or smothered by Doutzen’s size and power, and the round ends with Kroes in full control, the Lookout! girl shoving fists into the Vixen’s chest before the referee calls for a timeout.

ROUND 4:
It’s a mistake that Hannah’s sure to learn from. Here in the fourth, she keeps her distance, her back scraping the ropes whenever the other blonde appears to charge in for another knockdown attempt. Hannah’s a little wiser now, targeting Kroes’ face and cheek with her longer reach, frustrating her advance with machine-gun fire. Kroes gets the memo only later when one side of her face begins to turn a bright shade of pink, her lips growling as she stays away for the rest of the round, fighting back only when Hannah herself comes in too close to test the waters. Kroes LEAPS into action with those superwoman lunges at her slippery foe, but unfortunately, Hannah sees them coming a mile away, dodges and weaves all the way to the referee’s bell as she closes another wide round for herself.

ROUND 5:
Wild brawl in the center of the ring! Doutzen feigned an advance early, giving Hannah the impression that she was tired and ready to throw in the towel with some extra motivation. Ferguson takes the bait and rushes Kroes, jabbing at her head like last time. But Kroes suddenly reverses course, holds her ground and SWINGS for the fences - MISSES! Hannah deftly ducking under the hook at the last minute, returns fire with a fist buried into the blonde’s body, another sent up into her chin as the snap uppercuts land. But it’s gonna take more than that to fell a beast like Kroes. Doutzen quickly rallying back, paying Hannah back blow for blow as she shocks the former champion on equal footing: a hook delivered across her face before another catches her on the side of her ribs, ultimately leaving both girls red-faced and breathing hard at the bell.

ROUND 6:
Light at the end of the tunnel indeed as Kroes looks to dominate the sixth round with early action. She sallies out of her corner, both her dukes up and waving. Hannah however goes for a defensive position, jabbing back but realising it’s more important to let her foe make unforced errors here, as Doutzen takes mighty swings at her - swings she can easily avoid and then counterattack with force. Kroes doesn’t realise the beating she’s taking till it’s too late, a straight hand slammed into Hannah’s tummy but then getting her head caught in a cross-fire, with Hannah nailing her back with a hook to the cheek. Back and forth we go but it’s clear that Kroes is tired from her repeated rushes, her hand movements a little sluggish as we end the round on a close margin.

ROUND 7:
AND DOWN BIG DOUTZEN GOES!! Hannah with a shock minute one KNOCKDOWN after she took a leap of faith at the bell, quite literally flying forth to plant a glove right between Doutzen’s eyes! Follow-up blows are just window dressing as Doutzen lets out a grunt, one of her knees buckling under the the weight and pain. Hannah seals the deal with another one-two combo bashing into the arms, just to wake her up further, before a textbook right hand NAILS the big blonde clean on the chin, sending her sprawling backwards and crashing to her back! A minute one possible KO in the seventh, and Kroes is already looking like she’s struggling to get off her back, growling and gritting her teeth in pain and last minute determination, but the rest of her aching body ain’t cooperating… Hannah all calm and steady, belly pulsing in and out as she rests against neutral turnbuckle. As Doutzen rises up to her knees, then a foot, both hands gripping the top rope high, the referee’s count is still a blur in her mind, until Doutzen suddenly sees both his arms waving rapidly overhead - so close, yet so far, and there goes the final bell! Kroes sinks back down to her knees, hangs her head on the middle rope!

Official Decision: Hannah Ferguson defeats Doutzen Kroes via KO7!

AFTER:
Ladies cordial after the results, curiously enough, Hannah first approaching the fallen BBU champion, offering her a hand up to her feet, an ex-champ to an ex-champ. Kroes graciously accepts, even in defeat, allowing herself to get pulled up, where the two women exchange brief pleasantries and words of encouragement.

“I know how it feels to lose everything in a flash,” Hannah later says to reporters waiting ring-side. “She definitely has the capability to get her belt back if she wants to.”

Ferguson then turns her attention back to a more serious topic. “Myself? I’m coming off wins against Righetti, Atkinson and Decker, and I’m still ranked worse than all of them in the overall rankings. It’s maddening.”

With the recent Battle of Champions event, however, one can be hard-pressed to see how the FCBA’s current champs might be a little preoccupied in defending two belts in a single month. For now, the Vixens continue to wait on the sidelines and of course, keep on fighting.

Thank you for joining us on Valentine’s Day for VIX: Heartstoppers @ the St. John Arena. We hope you’ll get to spend the rest of the day with loved ones.

Our special thanks to Lookout! for helping with the logistics for today’s event, and for allowing Doutzen to participate. See you next time!