Michelle Williams vs. Sasha Pieterse

(Hawkeye International vs. Pretty Little Punchers, Inc.)

(Michelle: 41 yo, 5’4”, 154-75-7 with 114 KOs vs. Sasha: 25 yo 5’6” 16-16, with 16 KOs)

Results: Lookout; Story: Hawkeye

BEFORE: The Punchers’ decision to throw whom the media is calling a ‘second-stringer’ into their line-up instead of Lucy Hale or Amber Benson may be their undoing. It will take a win by Sasha Pieterse against a Hall of Famer to keep PLP’s hopes alive. The same strategy didn’t work against Natalie Portman and the resulting 2-1 edge for the Consortium puts the Punchers’ on the brink.

There’s certainly room for doubt however as Sasha looked dangerous in her last two fights, particularly strong in a four-round dismantling of IBB’s Chiara Nasti. Fighting Michelle Williams is a whole other animal, but even so a look under the numbers provides hope and Pieterse shows confidence.

“Let’s face facts,” Sasha pronounces. “Mishy isn’t what she used to be. She’s a gatekeeper who’s been ushering people through the gate all year. I’m going to make sure I’m part of that club. She did beat Nessa, so there’s always a chance she’ll be on, but I’m ready. Her tactics will make her easy to find and when I bring my power to bear, she’ll be on the canvas again.”

No levity from Michelle. She knows the doubters are out in full force after losing three in a row and four of five this year, including the match prompting this stable war.

“Can I see the end of the road? Maybe. But I can guarantee you Sasha Pieterse is no ‘stop sign’. They don’t even have the respect to throw Hale at me. It’s time to show all of you I’ve got something left in the tank and if that’s against a backup, so be it.”

Perhaps showing some superstition is at play, Sasha walks the aisle in the light pink one-piece within which she’s pounded out her Fights and Frights’ foe. The swimsuit is embroidered with tiny seashells. She wears dark pink gloves and boots with light pink laces, her blonde locks in a lush ponytail.

Michelle in a zebra-stripe one piece, echoing days of yore and her infamous ‘wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen’ zebra print twist-tie top. She adds white boots and gloves Her platinum blonde pixie cut is wet.

Stare down mid-ring as instructions are relayed by the referee, Sasha’s size advantage noticeable but not anything Mishy hasn’t dealt with before. The women tap gloves and move to their corners for the bell.

ROUND 1: No surprises out of the gate, both fighters staking their claim to the middle of the ring and meeting there with a flourish of jabs from either side. Pieterse is a bit quicker with her hands and finds Michelle’s nose a couple times, putting Williams off her footwork early. Sasha fully grabs the reins with a set of searing gut shots that have Michelle’s hazel eyes bulging and her feet backpedaling. Sasha consolidates, dropping her left jab to pound away at Michelle’s rack, Williams turtling behind a raised guard when her back hits the ropes. This is not the start she planned. Mishy tries to punch her way off the cables, but Sasha has the answers, blocking incoming and landing some right-handed ordinance higher, one cross crashing into Michelle’s jaw and sending her hopping to the right from the impact. A fuming Mishy doesn’t have far to stagger back to her corner at the bell. Sasha Pieterse takes the first round wide.

ROUND 2: Her growing reputation of not being able to last down the stretch against younger fighters perhaps foremost on her mind, Williams is a woman on a mission to turn the tide immediately. When an eager Sasha misses with an early right hand, Michelle pounces with a blistering left over it, landing flush with Sasha’s right temple. Mishy finishes the combo with a blast to the plush midriff of her fellow blonde and Pieterse is doubled and gasping. It’s the dinner bell ringing now and the struggles of 2021 have made Michelle famished. She snaps Sasha’s head back with a precise uppercut to the chin. Pieterse is on her heels and Mishy takes rack, swinging heavy leather in from the sides, smashing away at the generous contents of Sasha’s top. The PLP pugilist covers up, throwing out a couple ‘don’t hurt me’ jabs to feign a potential comeback this round, but Michelle finishes tight to her foe, bullying the bigger blonde and chugging in short rights to Sasha’s liver. Michelle Williams with a wide winning response in Round 2.

ROUND 3: Sasha out of her corner slowly but with a determined set of steely blue-gray eyes focused on a fast-approaching Michelle. Sasha’s guard is up and she’s inviting offense for the first time. Mishy is more than happy to oblige, linking lefts and rights that flash toward Sasha’s cheek and jaw, but Pieterse is ready, keeping them clear of her noggin with a cage of forearms. Between the combos, Sasha sneaks a left jab into Mishy’s chin that halts the headhunting onslaught. Pieterse gives Michelle a taste of jug thuggery with some upswinging leather that elicit soft mewls from a straightened Mish. But mid-round, Sasha gets greedy for more chest and Michelle loops a right over, spinning Sasha’s head with a nasty connection to her foe’s jaw. Pieterse’s legs give a shimmy and the platinum blonde bulldog is let loose. Mishy swamps Sasha with chugging gut-churners to the bigger fighter’s belly. Sasha’s defense is faltering, her arms flailing more than offering defense and Mishy’s having a field day, Sasha left storm-tossed under a barrage that has Mishy picking and choosing and finding body and braincase in equal measure. Sasha ends the round battered to a seat on the middle ropes, the PLP corner likely happy with her survival. Michelle wins Round 3 wide.

ROUND 4: Appearing gassed, Michelle stalks Sasha slowly to start, drawing in deep breaths even as she flashes a predatory grin. A rocked Pieterse isn’t hard to track. Michelle closes in with right hand poised and twitching, the veteran looking for an opening and finally finding one to her liking. But Sasha strikes first, plunging a left into the cleft of Mishy’s bosom. The impact leaves Michelle flat-footed, arms lowering, and Sasha uses her considerable pop with a right uppercut to Mishy’s chin that’s a head-snapper. Shoe. Say hello to other foot. Sasha’s power means momentum is one swing away and the Puncher grabs it. Suddenly, Mishy is all about making space from her foe and Pieterse isn’t having it, cornering the wobbly Williams. Sasha swabs Michelle’s bruising features with blows, an occasional left sneaking in amidst the raining rights. Trapped in her own corner, Michelle hears it from Natalie, Portman demanding Michelle fight or at least push her way out. The groaning Mishy can only manage a desperate clinch to ride out the round, Sasha whispering sweet-nothings in her foe’s ear that she’s not going anywhere, Pieterse claiming round 4 wide in this see-saw affair.

ROUND 5: Both women looking shopworn as the fifth stanza opens. It’s been a war within the war, each combatant with plenty to prove and willing to stay aggressive to do it. True to form, there’s no dancing foreplay from Michelle and Sasha off their stools, Mishy seeking offense as her defense and Sasha looking to combine rounds for the first time. Williams strikes first in that effort, beating Sasha to a punch, Mishy’s right hand connecting a split-second before Sasha’s, rocking the Puncher onto her heels. Williams takes midriff! She thrusts lightning combs into abdomen of her foe, sinking leather into the tummy of Pieterse, Sasha going bug-eyed and breathless from the abuse. But she responds with a glove to Mishy’s forehead, backing Williams up a couple steps, leaving enough room to clock the platinum blonde with a blast to Michelle’s Cupid’s Arrow lips. Taking the impetus, Sasha surges into a Mishy counter she doesn’t see coming until it thwacks her between the eyes. Mishy swings a follow-up left in from the side to get Sasha’s rack jumping and goes all in with a right that finds purchase against Sasha’s jaw. Fence post holes ahoy for Pieterse. Sasha nearly spills to the canvas, but a desperate grab of the ropes keeps her upright. Thankfully for Lucy, Amber and a sunglasses-wearing Shay, the bell rings before their teammate can be rung up further by Michelle, Mishy scoring a wide win with late round dominance.

ROUND 6: Apparently wary of her additional sixteen years again showing down the stretch, Michelle is out for blood. Williams presses the bigger blonde early, barely letting Sasha off her stool. Mishy pierces Sasha’s slipshod defenses with a left/right combo to the head and the race is on to finish Pieterse, Michelle firing at will topside, trusting her body work from earlier has set the stage. Sasha hops to the right from a blow she deflects with her shoulder. She braces and cracks a right-handed clout across the jaw of a committed Mishy and Williams is staggered. Both women toss thoughts of defense to the side, alternating a couple head-snappers that has the crowd hyped. But a rough right uppercut from Sasha to the chin of a drooping Michelle puts punctuation on the volleys MICHELLE COLLAPSING LIKE A HOUSE OF CARDS to her haunches at Sasha’s feet.

Chin to her chest, arms leaden at her sides, Mishy seems situated in prayer in front of Pieterse, who tries to maintain some semblance of composure at the sight. Sasha takes a moment to follow the ref’s instructions and the count begins in earnest, reaching SIX before Michelle wearily ascends to an unsteady vertical. The official gets a nod from Mish and Sasha is on her foe like a hailstorm, blasting from every angle to chest and chin. A glassy-eyed Michelle is bullied to the ropes, her arms still heavy and offering scant protection. AND SASHA UNLEASHES, crashing rights and lefts into temple and jaw against a slumping, non-responsive Mishy until the ref jumps between, cradling Michelle to safety with one arm while waving off the match with the other for YOUR WINNER SASHA PIETERSE TKO6.

AFTER: The Consortium corner enters and take a sagging Mishy from the official, guiding the battered, broken Michelle to her stool. A jubilant Sasha finds a shot of adrenaline, leaping into the air and turning to find her cohorts. She embraces the PLP crew save a recovering, absent Danielle and a preparing Brec. It doesn’t take long for Lucy to direct Sasha to the opposite corner for her spoils. Sasha pushes through the attendants to pluck a desolate Mishy off her stool and walk her slouching, stumbling foe around the ring.

Reaching the Punchers’ corner chants of ‘TUM-ME’ from Ashley and Lucy prompt Sasha to stuff Michelle deep in the PLP corner and mount the middle ropes where Sasha gives a teary-eyed Mishy a faceful of plush abdomen. Michelle pushes ineffectually at Sasha’s hips until her arms fall to her sides. Sasha lets the spent Mish puddle at her feet, raising her arms high and wide, Michelle again a casualty to a new generation.

“I needed to show the girls they can count on me and what better way than leaving Mish Williams on the canvas,” Sasha mentions in the post-match scrum. “Can’t let Brec have all the fun. Now we’re 2-2 and Miss Brec can take us home!”

When revived, Michelle is hustled away from prying eyes and reporters’ questions, it seemingly doubtful she’ll be available at her protégé’s stable war finale.