26 March 2021 Anya Taylor-Joy vs Sasha Pieterse

Pre-Fight: Two young fighters will be going head-to-head in this next matchup as the League of Mighty Women’s Anya Taylor-Joy takes up on the Pretty Little Punchers’ Sasha Pieterse. After a two year break from boxing, Anya picked up where she left off as she made a winning start to her time as a member of the LMW and the young prospect started to climb through the rankings. Sasha has been in the FCBA longer than her opponent and has more experience, but after a good start, she hit a rocky patch. Her activity level in the league dropped after that, but she is still a .500 fighter and capable of taking down higher ranked opponents as she proved over the years.

Anya seems to be in a good mood as she speaks first during the pre-fight press conference. “It was nice to win my first match back after a break against a very experienced fighter. However, I must say that I’m very excited to be fighting someone from my generation again as it reminds me how my journey in FCBA first started. Sasha is more experienced and she is a big girl, so she can definitely cause some issues, but considering her record, it is a fight I should be winning if I want to continue climbing the rankings.”

Sasha shakes her head with a disapproving look on her face after that last comment and then goes onto make her own statement with a confident tone. “I had my ups and downs in the recent years, but one thing is for sure that anyone who looks at my fighting record would see, I always break skinny weaklings like you! You can try to veil it with your polite manner, but I know what you’re saying. This big girl that you’re underestimating will teach you a lesson!”

Anya looks perplexed hearing this and then she goes “I don’t know why you got so worked up, but I don’t care about your name calling or scare tactics!” Sasha quickly answers back “You started it! Oh, and I’ll make you regret it by the end of the fight!” Before things could get more heated, managers from both sides escort their fighters to the backstage.

Anya makes her entrance to the arena with her coach Summer Glau besides her. She waves at the crowd that is cheering for her as she makes her way down to the ring. She blows a kiss to the fans after she enters the ring and then goes over to her corner to go over her warming up routine.

She is wearing a baby blue sports bra, matching trunks, gloves and boots, while her hair is in a ponytail.

Sasha comes out alongside her coach Nia Peeples, who will have a busy night with the stable war going on. Sasha also receives cheers from the fans as she pumps her fist walking down the aisle. She starts shadow boxing as she enters the ring and heads over to her corner.

She is wearing a gray sports bra with black trim, matching trunks, black gloves and boots, while her hair is pulled back in a battle braid.

Both fighters come to the center of the ring to listen to the referee’s instructions and then touch gloves, while staring each other down. They go back to their respective corners and we are ready for 10 rounds of bantamweight action.

Fight: Round 1: As the bell rings, they meet at the center and start to circle around each other. They both start with a cautious approach as they watch their opponent and wait for the right time to go on the attack. After they throw a few jabs, not looking to land, but to establish their range, Sasha finally steps forward to kick things off properly. She lands a jab as she approaches, but her follow up straight goes wide as Anya sidesteps and lands a double jab before continuing to circle around her opponent. Sasha is undeterred by this exchange, so she tries it one more time, but ends up with the same result.

In between the rounds, Anya is all smiles as Summer praises her work early on. At the opposite corner, Nia tells Sasha not to push forward and to wait and be ready to attack when Anya engages with her.

Round 2: Sasha seems to be heeding her coach’s advice as she starts the round with a more defensive approach, while Anya continues with her tactic of circling her opponent, but she is now forced to take more initiative in starting exchanges as Sasha waits for her. Anya tests the water as she steps in to land a single jab and then steps back. She tries it a couple more times and successfully lands her jabs without getting any reaction from Sasha. The next time Anya steps in, she tries to follow up her jab with a straight, but her extended stay draws an immediate reaction by Sasha, who scores a counter hook to her opponent’s chin. As Anya takes a step back, Sasha follows with a double jab and then goes down for a right hook to the ribs. Anya disengages and goes back to circling her opponent, but that exchange seems to bring Sasha’s confidence back as she smiles and gestures for Anya to come back in.

Anya goes back to being more careful with her approaches as she throws some tentative jabs that Sasha deals easily with. In one of these little exchanges, Sasha lands a straight that halts Anya’s movement and she follows it with a one-two combo and then goes down for a couple of big hooks targeting her opponent’s ribs again. Anya steps back and moves away before things could get dire. As the round ends, it is Sasha's turn to smile as she clearly wins it to tie things up on the scorecard.

Round 3: The start of the round sees both fighters coming out with a defensive stance, which leads to a quiet first minute with short exchanges from the outside with many of the punches being thrown just to show a bit of activity. Anya decides to take initiative again and she changes her approach. As she comes in range, she sidesteps and lands a hook to the body before going back to circling. It frustrates Sasha at first, but then she adapts and returns fire as well. They end up having a couple of longer exchanges towards the end of the round. Anya gets the better of these exchanges and wins the round, but it was a close one.

Round 4: During the break, Nia told Sasha to go back to a defensive approach, but also to cut the angles when Anya closes in on her. She seems to be listening to her coach’s advice as she waits for Anya to make the first move. Right on cue, Anya comes in and lands a hook to the body, but before she could get away, Sasha cuts her angle and drives her back towards the ropes with a one-two combo. Anya fires a double jab to keep Sasha away, but she barrels through them to get inside and start working on her opponent’s body. After smashing Anya’s abs with a double jab-straight combo, Sasha switches to hooks targeting her opponent’s ribs. Having trouble defending her body, Anya tries to clinch with Sasha, but instead gets shoved back to the ropes. Sasha fires off a big uppercut to the midsection and then lands two crunching hooks to the ribs that drop Anya to her knees! “Stay down if you don’t want me to totally destroy your skinny body, weakling!” says Sasha as she stands over her opponent and needs to be reminded by the referee to go over to the neutral corner. 1…2…3… Anya stays down on her knees with her arms crossed, clutching her ribs 4…5… still on one knee, she plants her foot, ready to push herself up, while rubbing her ribs 6…7…8… she gets up to her feet and shows that she is ready to continue.

As the referee restarts the action, Sasha quickly closes the distance to finish off her opponent. Anya winces when she gets hit on the ribs, so she backs off and keeps her elbows tight to her body to protect her hurting ribs. She ends up surviving the round, but she is starting to get pink and red patches over her abs and ribs. Sasha walks over to her corner with a confident look on her face as she gets praised for her work in this round by Nia. At the opposite corner, Summer tells Anya that she can’t get caught in these long exchanges on the inside.

Sasha stalks her prey for the majority of the round. During the short instances in which she catches her, she makes sure that she is leaving new marks on Anya’s body. In the final minute of the round, as Anya lowers her guard to protect her body, Sasha goes up top with a hook, but Anya dodges it and lands a counter straight. Before she can get away, Sasha pushes her towards the ropes. Anya lands a one-two combo, trying to fight off the ropes, but Sasha stills gets in for another barrage of punches to the midsection and ribs. Anya clinches with Sasha to survive this attack and the bell rings soon after. Sasha asks “Do you regret pissing me off yet or should I keep battering your weak body?” before pushing Anya away from her. Not in a position to talk back, Anya just stares intensely at her opponent for a second and then turns back to walk over to her corner for a much needed break between the rounds. She receives ice pack treatment as she listens to her coach.

Round 6: Sasha steps forward with confidence as she can feel the victory is close. Anya on the defense again as things are looking dire. She throws a defensive jab, but it is not really an issue at this point for Sasha, who just ducks and lands a jab of her own to the body. As Anya steps back, Sasha follows. She goes to throw another defensive jab, but turns out it is just a decoy this time as she quickly dips and goes up with an uppercut just as Sasha ducks her head down. That shot rocks Sasha, who bites down hard on her gum shield. Seeing her opponent stunned, Anya drives her back with a double jab-straight combo that lands square on the nose. Sasha is on full retreat now and she looks unsteady on her feet. Anya lands a left hook and a right straight, which causes Sasha to take two more steps back and it looks like she might be going down! Anya is taking no chances though as she steps forward and lands a massive right hook to the chin! Sasha’s gum shield flies away and she falls down on her back with a loud thud! Sasha lying sprawled out on her back, eyes closed and with no indication that she could try to get back up soon, the referee waves it off!

Official Result: Winner via KO in round 6, Anya Taylor-Joy!

Post-Fight: A look of relief can be seen on Anya’s face as she clinches victory after the punishment her body went through. She raises her fist, which causes her to wince and she quickly puts her other hand over her ribs. Summer comes over to hug and congratulate Anya. In the meantime, the medical staff is helping Sasha to slowly gain back her senses. They let her take her time and when she is ready, they help her to get to her feet and to walk over to her corner. She is clearly frustrated by the outcome and can be heard saying “She just got lucky with that one punch! I was destroying her, everyone saw it!”