Posted by Simguy on Sunday, 12-Dec-1999 18:29:20

Before: hill making a statement in this battle of glamour-divas. Plenty of attitude to go around as Hill knows a win puts her on the map, while Carey all too eager to keep the “big hick” off it entirely. Mariah with good power and a knack for dramatic finishes--Hill less established, but has shown flashes of break-out boxing talent in the few bouts she’s had. Silver/white string bikini for Faith, Carey in her gold string bikini, blondified hair. Great sultry stare down with Carey hands on hips, head cocked, looking SO confident.

During R1: Girls circle slowly, and Mariah finds the range with wide single lefts or rights too faith’s midsection. Circle gets tighter and tighter until Carey slugging from close range, tugging with her left on Faith’s shoulder as she rams right hands in between the blonde’s elbows. Slugging shutout Carey as Hill seems distracted, tentative, and defensive.

R2: Carey walking in with hands low, Hill with gloves up, doesn’t even offer a defensive jab, simply covering up and letting Mariah get off. Carey slugging without fear of reprisal, beats Hill from corner to corner, holding and hitting, shoving Faith and walking her down. Final minute sees Mariah slugging underhanded bombs to Hill’s tight gut, breaking the blonde down, and opening her up to wide lefts and rights on the jaw that have Hill real trouble. Carey pounding away with evident glee, has Hill swooning at the bell, and clocks her an extra right hand on the mouth as the ref jumps in.

R3: Mariah walks Faith down, flashing a bully’s grin as she digs to the blonde’s gut with raw right hand power, then walks Faith to the ropes for a two-fisted beat down. Hill is doing nothing, cowering behind her gloves, leaning back against the ropes only to get clipped clean by Mariah’s wide swinging shots. Carey loves getting after faith’s bikini top with short chopping rights, and the left hand is always on Hill’s shoulder, or pulling her defense to pave the way for rights. Carey squealing with delight at the bell as the wheels  away fists in the air, beaming at the crowd while Faith slumps on the ropes.

R4: Mariah continues her absolute domination of Faith Hill. Carey just working Hill over, and Faith, showing little savvy in pulling straight back and into the wide lefts and rights. Hill’s face is a puffy wreck after soaking up good hard leather from Carey, and although Mariah’s work rate is pedestrian, she is clearly the stronger fighter, coming forward, pounding away, and walking down the wilting Hill. Carey posts an improbable 4th straight shutout, sending hill back to corner more and more beat up as the fight progresses.

R5: Hill finally trades punches with Mariah as Carey hounds her prey to the ropes once again. Nice chopping counter shots, especially with the short left hand inside bail Faith out, and she repeatedly gets the better of Mariah as Carey tries to land wide only to be beaten to the punch. Hill not getting tremendous leverage sitting on the ropes, but she has the timing down, and pastes Mariah’s wide open face while slipping or pre-empting most of Carey’s heat.

R6: Faith luring Mariah to the ropes again, targets golden bikini top with painful chopping strokes, and soon has Mariah grimacing from the hurtful chest attack. Hill backing Mariah up for the first time in the fight, works with snapping wide lefts to the jaw and body, setting up jolting straight rights, and midway through the round, slick combination punching puts Mariah on her butt. Hill takes over the rest of the way, stepping back from Mariah’s predictable right, and leaning into her own right hand onto Carey’s chin. Mariah wobbly, glassy-eyed at the bell, looks in dim wonder at Faith as the girls exchange a glare at the bell.

R7: Hammer and tongs as the girls set up on wide stances to trade hooks at center ring. Hill a little more compact, and also hooking off the jab, begins to beat Carey to the punch, Mariah stubborn to win the hookfest, gets beaten ragged in a series of nengagements all around the ring, and in the final minute, Hill has hurting Carey at her mercy. Faith showing crisp combination punching works outside Mariah’s elbow with batting left hand to the lover, opening the chin to that jolting straight right. Carey battered to the ropes-bending slowly away from the right, but hill cracks her sweet to the jaw, pounding the mouth guard off Carey’s teeth, Mariah out on her feet, lolls dreamily to the ropes and faith surges in with clubbing lefts and rights to force the stoppage, ref holds a dazed Mariah Carey close and waves it off as Hill steps back with a fierce look. TKO7 Faith Hill.

After: Hill’s version of the rope-a-dope nearly got her killed early, but Carey faded badly after giving Faith a 4 round pummeling. Stirring comeback has to be respected--Hill surprising all the experts with her ability to survive and batter the always tough Carey in grim toe-to-toe exchanges to the bitter end.

Reposted 10/5/11.