Anya Taylor-Joy vs Troian Bellisario
(Writing: LMW / Results: Lookout!)

Anya Taylor-Joy
(25, 5’7, 14-2 FCBA, League of Mighty Women)

Troian Bellisario
(36, 5’7, 37-30 FCBA, Pretty Little Punchers)

Pre-Fight: League of Mighty Women’s rising star Anya Taylor-Joy will be looking to bounce back from the tough loss as she faces Pretty Little Punchers’ Troian Bellisario, who will be looking to make a winning start to her 2022 campaign. Even though they are still in the Top 20, they both dropped a few places in the latest rankings, so they will both want that win to climb back up in the rankings.

Anya speaks first during the pre-fight press conference as she starts by addressing her recent defeat that snapped her winning streak. “I’ll be the first to admit my mistakes. I let Priyanka (Chopra) get into my head with her mind games and suffered the consequences. I don’t appreciate Priyanka’s post-fight actions, which she will pay for by the way, but for now, it was a good reminder of what could happen if you lose in this league and why I hate losing. So, I will keep my focus on winning and won’t let my opponent’s distract me. Now, I respect Troian as a past champion, but I won’t let another old-timer keep me away from the title hunt, so she is going down!”

Troian looks calm and confident as she addresses the audience next. “If we are talking about our recent fights, I made quick work of Anya’s arrogant stablemate Natalie (Dormer), so she might want to be careful about overestimating her chances against me. Of course, Anya is a much better fighter than her stablemate. She even looked invincible with her recent performance, until we saw that she wasn’t, of course. Priyanka proved that an experienced boxer can force Anya out of her comfort zone and defeat her, just like anyone else. Unfortunately for Anya, I fit that description too!” The press conference comes to an end as they stare each other down.

In the arena, Anya makes her entrance first with her coach, Summer Glau, accompanying her. She looks focused as she bangs her gloves and beelines for the ring, not acknowledging the cheering crowd. She goes through her warmup routine as Summer gives her some final pointers.

She is wearing a black sports bra with light pink trim, matching trunks, light pink gloves and boots. Her hair is tied into space buns, which is a curious choice considering that Priyanka had her hair in the same style when she beat Anya.

Troian comes out next with her coach, Nia Peeples, beside her. She waves to the fans cheering for her as she makes her way down the aisle to the ring. As she enters the ring, she gives a nod towards Anya, who has her eyes locked on her.

She is wearing a light purple sports bra, matching trunks, dark purple gloves and boots, while she has her hair in battle braids.

Both fighters come to the center of the ring to receive final instructions by the referee and then they touch gloves with a cold stare before stepping back towards their respective corners. We are now ready for 10 rounds of bantamweight action!

Fight: Round 1: Both fighters go for the center of the ring and start trading leather right away. Anya seems unusually aggressive early on instead of settling for her counter attacking style. They are both able to defend the first few strikes either dodging or blocking, but Anya ends up finding the first opening as she lands a jab-straight combo up top followed by a couple of hooks to the ribs. Troian answers with a double jab, but Anya ducks under the straight that follows and instead lands a counter uppercut. With that, Troian steps back and switches to a defensive style as she leaves the control of the center of the ring to Anya.

Anya controls the center and the pace as she is the one to initiate exchanges throughout the first round and she finds success with her short combinations from the midrange. Troian is having trouble dealing with the unexpected aggressive style of her opponent early on. It is working wonderfully for Anya though, as she wins the opening round.

Round 2: Anya makes a quick start to the second round as she continues to be the aggressive attacker in this fight. With a jab-straight-hook combo, she forces Troian to assume the role of the defender again. The first minute of the round goes by as a carbon copy of the previous round with Anya in control of the action. However, starting with the second minute, Troian establishes a counter attacking style, which was expected from Anya, but now Troian uses it against her. She is finding success with it too as it slows down Anya’s attacks.

As we enter the last thirty seconds in the round, Troian ducks under a one-two combo from her opponent and lands a couple of hooks to the ribs followed by an uppercut to the chin, which drives Anya back for the first time in the fight. It also seals the deal for Troian as she wins the round after a close battle.

Round 3: Looks like Anya isn’t deterred by Troian’s counterpunching as she makes another aggressive start, landing a one-two combo right off the bat. Troian is sticking with what worked for her in the previous round as she starts with a defensive approach, looking for counterpunching opportunities. Anya once again finds success in the opening minute, but as the round progresses, Troian’s counterpunches start to slow down the younger fighter and shift the momentum. After a missed hook by Anya, Troian lands a one-two combo up top and then goes to the body with a couple of hooks to the ribs. As Anya tries to back away, Troian gets her into a clinch and lands a few more shots to the body before the referee can break them apart.

Anya switches to a more defensive style in the last minute as Troian gains the control of the center after that last exchange that ended in a clinch. Troian goes for the same tactic of landing a short combination and then clinching to bully her opponent around two more times before the bell rings. Another good round for the experienced fighter and with another win, she surpasses her younger opponent on the scorecards.

Round 4: During the break, Summer told Anya to keep her distance and avoid clinches, so she starts the round with a defensive approach and tries to establish her defensive jab to keep her opponent at bay. It is easier said than done though, as Troian is one the attack now and she looks for openings to exploit with short combinations both to the body and the head to keep her opponent guessing. Anya gets a few good, clean counterpunches in, but Troian is steadily increasing her work rate, overwhelming her opponent’s defenses.

As the second minute of the round comes to a close, a straight from Troian slips Anya’s guard and lands right on her nose. She ducks under the follow up big hook and lands an uppercut to the older fighter’s abs, but that doesn’t stop Troian, who finds the target on her next hook attempt. This one stuns Anya, which gives Troian the opening to land a second straight on her opponent’s nose and with that Anya goes down on her back with a bloody nose! Troian goes to the neutral corner as the referee begins the count. 1…2…3… Anya sits up, but she still has a stunned look on her face 4…5… she is still sitting, taking a moment to clear her head 6…7…8… she stands up and raises her guard to show that she is ready to continue. The referee wipes her gloves and restarts the action.

Anya keeps her guard up and defends well in the last minute of the round to survive after that knockdown, but Troian gets a commanding lead on the scorecards and is in a good place to put even more pressure on her opponent in the next round.

Round 5: Anya is on the defensive mode again as Troian tries to pressure her opponent and finish her off in this round. Anya does a good job of moving around and avoiding getting caught in long exchanges early in the round. However, as we come close to the first minute mark, Troian cuts the angle and gets inside for a barrage of body shots. Anya ends up having to clinch, but it only provides a brief relief as Troian pushes her off and goes on to attack again. The experienced fighter is really increasing her output as we go into the second minute. She is trying to overwhelm her younger opponent again and she is landing some good shots too, but Anya’s defense is still holding for the most part.

In the last minute of the round, Troian starts taking more risks as she looks for an opening to knockdown her opening once more. She tests her opponent’s guard and then goes for bigger swings. The third time she goes for that combination, Anya dodges the big hook and comes back in with a counter straight that catches Troian by surprise. She is not willing to let go of the pressure she is building though, so she comes back swinging, but this time Anya ducks and lands a big overhand that rocks Troian. Anya goes for a couple of hooks to the ribs and then comes up with an uppercut to the chin. Troian stumbles backwards and then drops on her butt! Anya slowly goes over to the neutral corner as the referee starts the count. 1…2…3… Troian looks a bit shocked by the turn of events as she sits and tries to regain her senses 4…5… she slowly gets up on one knee 6…7…8… she pushes herself up to her feet, ready to get back to fighting. After a quick check, the referee restarts the action once again.

Not much time left on the clock after the restart, so Troian survives the round without any further issue. She is still ahead on the scorecards, but Anya steals the round with that knockdown and more importantly shifts the momentum in her favor again.

Round 6: The roles are reversed in this round as Troian switches to a defensive approach and keeps her feet moving to survive another round, while Anya is the one stalking her prey now. Anya looks more composed and patient now though, as she is not rushing things and tries to avoid making the same mistakes that her opponent made in the previous round. She seems content with going in and out of range to score with short combinations for the time being. Troian answers with single punches occasionally, but they are mainly used for slowing her opponent down rather than doing damage. They only slow Anya momentarily though, as she just steps out of range and then back in quickly to land another one-two combo.

Just after the halfway point of the round, Troian starts to struggle with all the punishment she is taking. She is still keeping her guard up and defending, but she is getting more stationary, which makes her an easier target. To utilize the situation better, Anya lands a few shovel hooks that force her opponent to lower her guard and then she changes levels again and starts to put together a nice combination. Double jab, straight, hook, uppercut, hook and that does it! Troian goes down crushing on her back! Anya stands over her fallen opponent and stares down at her until the referee sends her over to the neutral corner. 1…2… Troian is still lying on her back, eyes closed 3…4…5… she opens her eyes and slowly lifts her head, looking dazed 6…7…8… she rolls over and gets on all fours 9…10! She is not making any more progress as the count passes, it is all over!

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

Post-Fight: Anya pumps her fists in celebration as she walks over to her corner and Summer enters the ring to congratulate her fighter. On the other side of the ring, Troian needs a couple of minutes to get back on her feet, but she eventually gets the thumbs up from the medical staff and leaves the ring with the help of her coach, Nia.

After getting her hand raised by the referee, Anya addresses the crowd cheering for her. “Troian put up a fight as expected from a former champion, but I said that I won’t be stopped by another old-timer and I didn’t let that happen. I’m back on track now and I will work hard to climb the rankings and get into that title picture. I might settle a score or two on my way too!” With that, she drops the mic and leaves the ring.

A great comeback victory for Anya as she showed her resilience, not only to turn things around in this fight, but also successfully bouncing back from the defeat in her previous fight. She showed a more aggressive side in the early parts of the fight and while it looked like she wasn’t as focused on her game plan during that time, adding different tactics and styles to her arsenal could be beneficial for her in the long run. As for Troian, her place in the top 20 might be in jeopardy after this loss, but she showed that she is still a dangerous opponent at the elite level, so there is no reason to think that she wouldn’t stick around the top of the rankings.