24 March 2006 Kelly Hu vs Courtney Thorne Smith

Before: Kelly smarting from defeat at the hands of rival Eliza Dushku - Amazin' Asian looking to rebound on aging Courtney Thorne Smith. "I've always fought Kelly tough," Courtney reminds press row in prefight. "I'm one of the few bantams with Kelly Hu level skills and I can box with her - that bothers her. She's not fighting with a lot of confidence right now: I've got a good chance to shock Kelly and I mean to make the most of it!" Kelly in black push up, yellow hipster trunks, slick low ponytail. Smith in white bikini top, pretty baby blue crochet bikini bottoms (matching the colour of her eyes). Small black work out gloves, Kelly: small white gloves, Court.

During R1: Hu snarling, dropping the hammer at the open: sharp, chopping right hand lead off the shoulder has Smith stomping in fence post holes early. Kelly doubling up a swatting hook, cuffing Smith in a semi circle; jabbing Smith's chest and leaning into more slicing rights. Gorgeous looking stuff, but Kelly not setting down on it - she's just marking Courtney up, keeping her hurt without really going for the stoppage. Smith makes it to the bell ramshackle, wobbly butt, but pulling herself together during the break.

R2: Courtney keeping dukes up, jabbing-with Hu to disrupt Kelly's timing - blonde looking to walk Kelly into firm, plugging right hands to paunch. Smith crafty - dueling midring with Kelly as girls pump stick, then edging in to get her body shot - Court quickly tieing up, or tugging Kelly's hipster trunks to spin the Asian off balance. Hu touched up, pre-empted, distracted by Courtney's veteran trunk tactics - blonde evens up the cards with frisky punching, heady manoeuvering in the second.

R3: Courtney not as quick or slick as Kelly, but blonde showing superb judgement and timing - jabbing Kelly to a standstill, finding the right hand in the body and tidying up inside as girls hustle-punch shoulder to shoulder hup-hup-hup. Hu in her closed stance, pointing her left shoulder at Court and looking to nip her straight right hands or counter right uppercuts off the shoulder-roll: Court doing a nice job keeping Kelly on the defensive with high output, combination punching. Tactical third goes Smith's way: she's outworking Kelly, if not doing a lot of damage.

R4: Midring boxing - girls methodically stepping clockwise, working behind the jab. Kelly's poke lifting stiff up off her hip - Hu threading it between Courtney's mitts or patting it stiff against sturdy blonde abs. Smith's jab chopping out straight from her raised guard - Court stepping in nicely with the shot, getting good pop on it. Hu keeping distance well, dropping counter-right hands onto Courtney's teeth as blonde tries to collect her right to the body: Hu outboxing her foe, out-touching her in a tactical fourth.

R5: Courtney goes back to trunk tugging - slipping her left hand into the front of Kelly's yellow waistband and spinning her off balance - blonde bullying and pushing effectively to get Hu off her game. More toe-to-toe slugging results as Kelly can't schmooze her opponent: Smith doing very well as both girls trade spank against taut waists. Court busier, outhustling Kelly inside, scoring calling-card hooks on the mouth as Kelly disengages with a perplexed frown.

R6: Courtney visibly hurts Kelly with that right to the belly - blonde following up with tight doubled up hook on the teeth to put Hu wobbly butt for the first time tonight. Court coming forward big-girl - lowering her head and moving both hands to Kelly's golden brown gut: Hu groaning, clinching behind the elbows, allowing herself to be walked to ropes. Smith turns puncher, but it's a mistake: Hu has her head together, slips and spins off the ropes, gets on her bicycle to run the clock. Courtney coming forward, looking to set down hard, but it's granting Kelly the initiative: Hu dusting Smith a flicking jab; darting intercept lead rights; cuffing hooks while pivoting clockwise. Blonde can't get her mitts on anymore meat as Hu bamboozles, runs the clock to get her legs back.

R7: Hu dominant, setting her feet a bit more, twisting and swivelling on her hips to slip Smith's shots, then answering back with snapping, deft counters. Clipping hooks, slashing right hands, rising jabs off the hip - mesmerizing upperbody moves and sleek, pivoting footwork - Hu embarrasses Courtney, shutting her out, touching her up and putting the first signs of discouragement on Courtney's face through 7.

R8: Hu stooping to get that belly jab, then straightening, hooking the ear while pivoting left: she's got Courtney confused, covering up, waiting her turn. Smith coming forward, but not getting off and not jabbing - she's walking to Kelly, letting Hu pre-empt her with those rata-tat-tat combinations as Hu lets her hands go. Minute and a half of walking into Hu's punching has Smith looking ragged - Hu's eyes narrow as she turns up the heat. Brace of hooks splatter against Court's ear and shoulder, staggering her to her left. Straight right hand busts in between Court's mitts, knocking her head back and draping her on the ropes. Bewildering hooks and jotted crosses tear through drooping defences as Kelly flurries murderously at the ropes: there goes Courtney's mouth piece; there go Courtney's knees and THE REF STEPS IN! Sudden halt as man jumps in to stop Hu's hellish bombardment: Courtney busted up, cut at the hairline snivels back tears as she's cradled to safety. TKO8, Kelly Hu.

After: Hu shiny from Courtney's accurate punching - Kelly behind going into the 8th and pivotal round when she finally solved her veteran foe. "I don't know what it is about Courtney," Kelly admits in postfight. "I never have an easy time with her. She was getting good right hands to my body and tugging my trunks - two things I wasn't expecting from her, and she managed to keep me off balance with that when I should have been closing her out. I won, I stopped her - that's the main thing - but my hat's off to her: I've got respect for Courtney Thorne Smith."