2. Kelly Gale vs Ming Xi

Seed 15 - Kelly Gale:

VS

Seed 18 - Ming Xi:

Tale of the Tape:

Kelly Gale:
Age: 26
Height: 5'9 ½
13-8 (12KO's)
vs
Ming Xi:
Age: 32
Height: 5'10
8-7 (8KO's)

(Girls Friday vs Free Agent)

(Written by Girls Friday/Results by Lookout!)

Intro:
The second bout tonight in the preliminaries of the Victoria Secret's ArchAngel tournament sees two fighters looking for a breakout run in the event, Kelly Gale has flirted with being a top fighter in the BBU over the past few years, she has the added motivation of not being picked in the first ever ArchAngel tournament, Ming Xi on the other hand has slowly been building her career up after a dire start, one of her early defeats was in the last tournament at this stage, Devon Windsor coming out on top with a knockout, she won't want a repeat of that he in Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

First to walk down the walkway like aisle is Kelly wearing a silver bra and knickers set, along with two fluffy white wings on her back as she reminds everyone that she is an angel alright, stopping beside the ring as her coach Giselle Bundchen helps take off the wings and tie on her silver gloves, asked for a prefight comment, Kelly tells the interviewer “I am not here to make up the numbers or be in the shadow of Kendall, I like Ming but when that bell rings you'll see how serious I am” stepping into the ring as she does a quick lap inside the ring taking in the crowd noise.

Next here comes Ming strutting down the aisle with a grin, wearing similar attire to when she fell on the stage several years ago, this time without the long boots as she walks barefoot, a long white silk robe with a flower display behind her, her coach helps her out of her gear to reveal a white bra and knickers set to go with the gloves she puts on, Ming bows slightly to the interviewer before she tells them “I've had four years to improve for this tournament, I am not the same woman who came in to fight Devon, I am much better and Kelly better not think she is in the next round already because she will be sorely mistaken” she steps into the ring after, eyes locking with Kelly as this fight means a lot to both women.

Getting their hair tied into ponytails by their coaches and gumshields placed in first, the fighters are ushered to the middle of the ring by the referee, both women have similar lean but muscular builds, Kelly staring hard at Ming as the Chinese star holds her arms out to the side as if begging Kelly to take a swing if she has an issue with her, luckily for the referee both women behave themselves, instead thudding their gloves into their opponents set when told to touch gloves, then jogging to their corners, ready to start 10 rounds of lightweight action.

Round 1:
“Ding!” off they go to the centre of the ring, trading mostly jabs in the opening moments, eyes full of fire as neither wants to go home in the opening round of the tournament, Kelly seems to surprise Ming with a feint of a left, landing two pounding punches into the abs of Ming, who backs off as she didn't tense them as much as she hoped, leading to Kelly making the early charge of the round, bashing Ming to the body till she gets clipped across her brow with a left cross to ward her back to range.

Ming looks a little stunned by Kelly's early aggressiveness, leading to her clipping the Swedish stunner more then land flush, while Kelly is switching up her targets as she walks down her opponent, showing more of a killer instinct early on then she normally does, leading to her landing an overhand right then a left cross on the jaw of Xi to turn her head side to side, powering Ming onto the ropes where she is clinched up.

Broken apart by the referee, Ming is able to get her rhythm going better as she starts to land several combos off her back foot, Kelly's aggression working against her as her guard is too open, being popped onto her face for her troubles, making Ming's coach relax a little more, the final minute coming with a Kelly catching her again with an overhand punch after dipping under a left hook.

Pressing back Ming around the outside of the ring, Kelly looks comfortable till a right cross catches her under the eye, her guard goes up with Ming on the attack now, banging her punches square into the gloves of Gale, a left cross opens the guard up before a straight snaps back the head of the Girls Friday fighter, at the bell Kelly has got the better of Ming so far, Ming tapping her cheeks as she jogs to her corner annoyed at herself for the slow start.

Round 2:
Boxing more on the back foot, Ming is catching Kelly stepping in with short cross punches, a small mouse forming under the left eye of Kelly as she is caught with a right hook flush, that got the attention of Gale as Xi is driving her back now, with the Swede stuck behind her guard.

Trading as Kelly looks to get away from the ropes, Ming has found second gear as she is battering back Kelly each time she gets in closer, hammering the face of her opponent with a clean one-two, Ming looks loose now as she let's her fists go more, Kelly forced to shell up more as they head towards the middle of the round.

Giving Ming a nudge after ducking under a left cross, Kelly hammers in three short body shots that make Ming groan out, a shove gets Kelly back to the outside, where both let their hands go, trading stiff straight shots that has the crowd cheering for them, Ming wins the exchange though with a right cross to the side of Gale's head, a double jab smacking into the forehead of the smaller fighter as Xi is bullying her backwards.

Final moments of the round sees Kelly block a right cross as Ming loads up too much on it, a counter uppercut catches her flush on her chin before a left smacks the Chinese star across her jaw, the bell rings just as Kelly drives her opponent into a neutral corner, now it's Kelly cursing herself as she jogs to her corner, knowing she rushed her attacks too much there, Ming getting a pat on her left shoulder with a nod.

Round 3:
Things start off more evenly now both have a feel for each other, Ming landing several good clean shots to knock back Kelly's head, before she can power forwards though she misses with a right cross, taking two left hooks to her ribs then a short right to her abs as Kelly showing off her hand speed.

The first minute passes by with it hard to tell whose come out on top, Kelly though starting to find her mojo again, dipping under punches to land several counter punches that knock Ming onto her heels, an uppercut rocks back the head of the Asian beauty, who covers up as she finds herself muscled to the ropes.

Pushing back Kelly to move off the ropes, Ming landing several good one-two combos as Kelly again falls into rushing her attacks, there's a little cut now under the left eye of Kelly, giving her something to worry about now as Xi is targeting it, eyes firmly on the younger fighter as Ming wants to really make it worse.

But that becomes too one dimensional a tactic, leading to Ming missing with a straight, Kelly slips it before landing an uppercut flush into the solar plexus of the taller fighter, Ming groans out as she bends slightly, muscling Ming to the ropes, Kelly hammers in several clean body shots, ONE SLAMS SQUARE INTO THE LIVER OF MING! CAUSING HER TO GO TO HER KNEES!

Raising her arms into the air as she heads to the neutral corner, Kelly is having her name chanted, 1...2...3.. The mouthpiece comes out of Ming as she leans back against the middle rope behind her, 4...5...6....7... Tears running down her cheeks as she is too hurt to beat the count, 8...9...10 it is all over!

Winner Kelly Gale KO Round 3

After:
What a way to get your first win on American soil! Kelly bouncing on her toes whooping as she stares at the fallen Ming, big beaming smile as she raises her arms into the air, overjoyed to have gotten this win, she jogs to her corner to fist bump Gisele, who points out before Kelly can hug her about the cut, something Gisele works on as an interviewer waits for a word from the winner.

Meanwhile Ming is helped up to her feet by her coach, an ice pack is placed on her stomach as Ming looks lost for words, losing in the first round of the ArchAngel tournament for the second time in a row, she wipes tears away from her face with her left glove as she is helped over to her stool.

Once Kelly is patched up she gets her right hand raised by the referee to a loud cheer, then the microphone is put back in front of her, Kelly wiping a tear of joy away before saying "I told you all I am here to win this tournament, Ming gave me a headache in the second round but I showed I will dig in to win, this is going to be my breakout, so keep supporting me guys!" Getting a loud cheer at that last part, blowing kisses to her fans.

Getting out the ring, Kelly walks to the back with Gisele putting her left arm around the shoulders of her young fighter, that's two fighters for the Girls Friday stable still involved in the tournament, with Kelly not having any easier a fight in her next round as the tournament just goes up another gear.

Ming gets asked for a few words, she tearfully says "I will... Be back stronger" wiping her eyes before she walks away, hands on top of her head as she looks lost, helped out the ring by her coach, it's back to the drawing board for the beautiful Asian fighter, her coach trying to console her as she walks to the back.