3 November 2001 Eliza Dushku vs Shannon Elizabeth


Eliza Dushku 11.jpgShannon Elizabeth 2.jpg

 

 

Posted by Simguy on 11/3/2001, 12:52 pm.

Before: Intriguing big n’ little match up--maybe the most athletic little women stepping way up to face a murderous punching lightweight in her prime. Dushku comes in a hard bantam, Shannon makes weight at 120, but there’s no question come fight night who the bigger woman’s going to be. Guest commentator Lucy Liu looks it over thusly: “It’s pretty simple for Eliza. She’s got to mover, move, move, work the body, chop that big woman down and discourage her. I know a lot of people are looking at the Demi Moore receipe as the blueprint, but Eliza can’t lay in like Demi did. I really think she’s got to steal rounds, use her legs and not get caught. Will she get cheap? Almost certainly. The ref has to watch Eliza closely in this fight as I feel she’ll be looking fir any equalizer she can find.” Eliza in pale blue string bikini, Shannon in leopard print bra and panties, smirking down and looming over her shorter opponent during instructions/

During R1: Shannon playing Corrales to Eliza’s Mayweather, and Dushku looks good early. Closed stance, Eliza stopping to back hand the jab at Shannon’s flat tummy, straightening suddenly to hook the jaw, wheeling sharply to her left to keep the big girl turning. Dushku also using a staple gun straight right hand lead--stamping it hard into Shannon’s midriff, then scooting out of danger as Elizabeth is late and loopy in response.

R2: Eliza’s got her gameplan--lots of lateral movement behind the belly jab and opportunistic hook, punctuated by darting lead rights to the sternum and breathtaking escapes as Shannon misses with angry swings. Elizabeth snarling, lands the odd glancing blow on Dushku, but shorter woman doing a good job of blunting the power. Shannon’s shaking off the hooks on the jaw--but the driving rights to her breadbasket are drawing grunts, freezing the big woman long enough for Eliza to pivot to safety.

R3: Shannon getting the better of it--shortening up her strokes, licking the ounches upward instead of missing over the top. Dushku on the run this round simply doesn’t do enough to win points, but defensively, she’s turned Elizabeth into an average puncher with brilliant footwork, timely head movement.

R4: Shannon marching forward, doing all the p0unching, but frustrated with a very low connect percentage, and skidding, partial connects when she does land. Eliza using the ring, still can’t generate any offense and coughs up the rounds--bur she has problematized this fight for Shannon, Elizabeth shaking her head at the bell--corner giving her useless platitudes like “you got ‘er champ!”, and “she’s scared of ya! Take ‘er out.”

R5: Shannon with her best round, manages to cut off the ring and have some moments with Eliza against the ropes. When trapped, Dushku cleverly uses the vertical plane, bending insanely low Sweet P Whitaker style using her shoulder against Shannon’s hips, nudging and pushing as she bobs and weaves against the strands. Shannon lands some splattering leather to the flanks of her foe, but still can’t find the head, At the bell--Eliza’s lost the round, but she’s getting under her girl’s skin--bodying up tough on Shannon and pushing her onto her heels as the ref jumps in.


R6: Eliza leads with the gutting right, steps lefts, stamps in the right again, sateps left and drills another right to finally buckle Shannon’s long legs. Shannon backing away, straightening up with a pained grimace--Eliza lifts her mitts, licks her lips and smiles I triumph at the hurt. Shannon allowing herself to be goaded, starts to wing wide and high again--Eliza slipping underneath and depositing good leather into the taller girl’s ribcage. Dushku circling, darting in and out--she owns Elizabeth’s torso, and increasingly, can find the chi anytime she wants with that biting left hook.

R7: Dushku reaches a jab into gut, steps left and gets clocked a rising right hand from the hip that sends her sputtering to the ropes. Key moment in the fight--Shannon finally has her pesky opponent hurt--Elizabeth steps in to finish. Eliza nothing short of brilliant as she rallies her scattered senses, puts on a dazzling defensive clinic at the ropes--staying low, bouncing back into ropes, swaying in to crowd Elizabeth--nothing but glancing, ineffectual connects as Shannon can’t get Eliza gone. Elizabeth smoldering with frustration at the bell--she can see Dushku’s legs trembling en route to her corner, but the little brunette makes it to the 8th.

R8: Eliza Dushku starting to polish up Shannon Elizabeth. Darting lead rights to the solar plexus, pesky belly jabs, biting hooks on the teeth--Shannon soaks up shots that would have a flyweight stumbling, but she can’t track the brunette down long enough to light her up. Eliza quaffs another round--this fight’s even after 8.

R9: Dushku running, hopping, and evading--Shannon waliing her down but again, poor quality connects as Eliza won’t cooperate. Still, you can’t wind rounds if you don’t punch--Dushku surviving, defiant, but not touching Shannon enough this round.

R10: More of the same--Dushku’s legs tirelessly propelling her around the ring, but this time, Shannon’s paying for missing. Eliza countering well to the body with straight right hands, coming up out of her crouch to bounce left hands hard off Elizabeth’s jaw, then pivoting away as the tall brunette in amazement. Final few seconds, Eliza seals it with a driving series of straight rights to the breadbasket, finally stampeding a shocked Shannon Elizabeth to the ropes. Bell sounds, Eliza drifts her last right hand low between the hips and all hell breaks loose as Elizabeth shrieks in protest. Order restored--lengthy delay  as the cards are tallied--and this fight’s a DRAW!

After: Dushku bellowing in triumph, getting into Shannon trash talking with finger and head gestures. Elizabeth stunned, on her heels as Eliza jabbers at her--Shannon clearly not coming to grips with what’s just been done to her. One of the finest ring bamboozlings in a long time--Dushku getting touches, staying out of trouble, and making her gut check on the one occasion Elizabeth had to win this fight outright. “Am I satisfied with a draw?” an agitated Dushku says in post fight, “Hello0 no! YOU may be impressed. YOU may think this was the greatest performance of the decade--that’s fine, but for me, for ME, this was a flat outing. don’t ever make me an underdog again.” Chinks appear in Elizabeth’s armour as once again she appear overly reliant on the KO to win fights. Unable to find Dushku, Elizabeth had a hard time winning minutes that weren’t forfeited. “She never hurt me,” Shannon whines, as if that were all that mattered.

Reposted by Archer 12/6/11.