The Lioness Club Bantamweight Invitational kicks off with Lioness Club's own Pilar Rubio taking on Girls Friday's Kelly Reilly. Both girls were absent from BBU action for a lenghty period, Rubio last entered the ring in November when Imogen Thomas literally broke her nose in a vicious fight while Reilly returns after almost a full year on the sidelines, having lost her two opening bouts in her short career to date

Kelly Reilly has promised the Lioness Club executives she's worthy of the invitation and has been training extremely hard during the last twelve months to earn herself a chance of reviving her career. Pilar Rubio's response to this challenge has been loud and abusive, the Spanish firecracker still dwells on her sole win over Australian Natalie Bassingthwaighte and looks to shrug off the one-hit wonder label, she's been getting within the Lioness oragnisation lately. The fight is scheduled for ten rounds in the bantamweight division.

Pilar Rubio wearing a scarlet red bikini and black gloves. Her long brown hair tied in a pony-tail with a red scarf. Kelly Reilly wearing a green bikini, composing well with red hair and pale skin and black gloves.

Round 1:
Pilar steps up on the redhead, tries to stamp an authority early, but misses a low combination to the stomach, as Kelly sidestepped away to the ropes. Pilar increases the intensity of her jabbing, but Kelly keeps her at bay, always a step ahead before countering to the chest with quick hooks. She's too far behind to make a serious impact though and only grazes the brunette's flesh. Pilar with couple of big hooks to the head, but she's chasing shadows for most of the round as Kelly keeps bunny hopping lively around the ring and refuses the close the distance. Frantic leaps from Rubio, she catches the redhead with single jabs to the midsection before Reilly always manages to escape and it's the English redhead who lands the biggest shot of the round, rocking Pilar's head with a single left hook right at the bell, the Spanish girl was frustrated with her rival's performance and failed to notice yet another counter coming her way. It's merely a warning sign for Pilar and Kelly looks equally surprised by landing that hook then most of the crowd gathered in the arena.

Round 2:
More aggression from Rubio, the pony-tail flies back and forth now as the brunette tries to outmanouver Reilly across the ring, still sending low jabs from mid-distance. But Reilly's in top shape, dances around her shots and counters with solid jabs which land more often on Pilar's midsection. Crisp hook from right and Rubio's head snaps back! Kelly leaps forward and unloads a vicious combo to the stomach. Rubio winces in pain and gets thrown onto the ropes by a brutal hook to the breasts. Reilly steps in on her and attacks furiously from both flanks, peppering Pilar's aching body, lacing her in the head and she literally tries to break her guard. Crowd gets silenced as they watch this onslaught in disbelief, but Rubio jumps to the side as Reilly dropped the intensity for a moment, looking too much for that one perfect haymaker. However the brunette's breather is short-lived, English girl hassles her around the ropes and lands more vicious jabs to the body. Rubio retreats back and forth, looking to stay out of the redhead's reach and she's breathing very hard at the bell, having escaped further punishment. Reilly throws her a deathstare and walks confidently to her stool after her best round of boxing in BBU to date.

Round 3:
Pilar bides her time along the ropes, still feeling the effects of the previous round, but Kelly's on her immediately and sends more nasty jabs to the midsection. Rubio's response is below-par, just some single jabs which make no impression on the redhead. After brief period of fake punches, Kelly leaps up to the Spanish girl and pins her in the corner as Pilar lost her footing, almost scared of the redhead's onslaught. Bah! Wild right hook catches the brunette in the eye and there's a follow-up to the guts from the left as Reilly unloads another furious attack. Pilar covers her face, but gets pounded in the ribcage with tremendous force and sinks further down on her knees. Series of vicious jabs redden Rubio's stomach in no time and she crumbles down on her backside with a loud scream of pain. Kelly gloats in joy as the ref starts teh count and Pilar scrambles herself back upright at seven with visible difficulty. She holds her ribs and looks in some discomfort, but the ref doesn't wave it off! Reilly wants to finish her for good, but misses a straight-forward jab to the head and a follow-up only grazes the brunette under the elbow as Pilar leans on her and clinches along the ropes. Reilly's missed the boat and moans in anger as she tries to shrug the Spanish off. Pilar winces in pain herself, but catches the redhead in the back with some low jabs and shoves her to the opposite corner. Kelly's unable to break the clinch and the ref shows little intentions of doing likewise. There's the bell and the English girl's furious, begins a heated discussion with the man in charge as the relieved Pilar slides down on her stool.

Round 4:
Rubio still on the back foot at the start of the fourth, ducks and weaves around the ropes, as Kelly tries to close her down, but with little effect. There's a visible anger on the redhead's face as she looks for the ultimate finish, but Pilar keeps her at distance with some wayward jabs. Couple of faked leaps from the Spanish girl, but Reilly stands firm and whacks a big hook that catches the leather before an equally wild response also goes wide of the mark. Chaotic shots in the middle of the ring as Pilar looks to stop the rout any which way possible, even without hurting her opponent too much. Kelly dances around her and throws a series to the stomach, but Rubio squares up to her and clinches as Reilly tries to reatreat but gets shoved onto the ropes and takes few low jabs in the ribcage. Pilar leans on her, turns on the ugly mode and Kelly just can't shrug her off. Finally the ref steps in after a lenghty stalemate and Reilly throws a hook immediately after the command, but only grazes the brunette in the ear and gets pinned to the ropes with a massive gutwrencher! That took her breath away for a second and Pilar lands a right hook follow-up to the face and Kelly's head snaps backwards much to the crowd's delight. Pilar with a series of jabs to the stomach further sinks the redhead on the ropes, but her charge is stopped by the bell as the crowd begin to whistle. Rubio had something going there late in the round!

Round 5:
Tentative circles from both women, looks like the redhead's momentum has evaporated for good but she keeps jabbing intensively, still trying to land that haymaker. Pilar with more energetic approach, leaps forward couple of times but misses some hooks and retreats as Reilly lands some weak shots to the midsection in response. Extended weaving and fake punching make little impression on the audience and the bouth has definitely hit a lean period, with both women seemingly working out a new game plan. Pilar drops her arms and continues to dance around the ropes, Kelly rooted to the spot in the middle of the ring, just glances over at her, but ignores the teasing. Some strong words in Spanish are heard as Pilar's regained her cocky pre-fight attitude and there's that evil look in Reilly's eyes again! She jumps up to the brunette and throws a big hook from the right that misses, but follows-up with a left to the breasts and Rubio couldn't cover for that one, taking it with full-force. But she responds with a big left and that goes all the way around the gloves and catches the English girl in the cheek! That's gotta hurt and Kelly stumbles backwards, rolling down the windows in the proccess, but Pilar can't punish her more as she leans on the ropes and breaths heavily, still feeling that shot to the jugs! Both girls are hurting now and it's getting physically tough out there as they await the bell. At half-distance the fatigue starts to creep in and it's easily to be spotted.

Round 6:
Kelly's face turned purple red within seconds during the interval; nasty shot to the cheek she's taken, but Pilar hardly looks better in the opposite corner. More tentative weaving at the start of the sixth but the brunette gets encouraged from her corner by coach Gina Wild to attack more and swing the momentum fully into her favor. Pilar starts to be more aggressive, throws a fancy combo, fakes a shot to the guts and counters with a big left hook to the face before a low jab to the stomach from the right. Kelly gets laced both times, failed to raise her arm in time for the proper attack and wastefully covered the belly section. Rubio with single jabs peppering the readhead's face and Kelly gets backed against the ropes, covering up in despair. Not much behind those shots, but Pilar just throws them in quick succession, landing some low ones to the midsection and Reilly gets pinned along the ropes, unable to break free. She tries to sidestep out of range, bends on the ropes, loops a hooking response, but misses by a mile and gets nailed in the jugs a couple of times before a half-uppercut almost cleans her in the jaw! Pilar closes the distance, rains in with more jabs to the arms and body which keep wearing the English redhead out. Crowd gets more excited, the pony-tailed local favorite enjoys a good round but eventually runs out of steam and clinches with her rival, throwing some jabs to the ribcage as Kelly moans in pain with her eyes closed. Ref doesn't bother to separate them and lets the bell do the job for him.

Round 7:
It's a new territory for both girls as neither of them went seven rounds before and despite Pilar coming quicker off the stool, it's Kelly who leaps up to her with more means intensions and laces her in the nose a couple of times with some wild hooks. Pilar looked as surprised as anyone, but Kelly can't mount a serious follow-up and gets nailed in the exposed tummy twice before Rubio whacks her in the face right between the gloves. It's free-for-all punchfest suddenly unfolding as both girls drop the defensive mindset and just lay into each other with great deal of envy. Even Gina Wild can't watch this, but the crowd is on their feet as Pilar sends a cracking hook across the redhead's face and follows up with a left-handed smash on the nose. Kelly gets stopped in her tracks, throws wayward hooks, but tries to jump away as Pilar nails her in the breasts again. Reilly with a heavy touch, grazes her rival in the ribs and misses an uppercut to the jaw and Pilar literally shoves her to the ropes with a huge stiff jab to the nose. Kelly doesn't cover up, tries to land another jab, but she fails miserably as Rubio pauses briefly and postpones the awaited charge for a second. Reilly loses balance, she was expecting that hook to be stopped by the brunette's face at the very least and Pilar pours in on her just that moment later and nails her in the face again, couple of big hooks to the nose mess up the redhead's face for good and she's bleeding badly now, hard punches from the Spanish girl have finally broken her resilence. Pilar with more single jabs to the face and allthough Kelly covers up, she's hurting big time, soaks up all the punishment and sinks on her knees under the barrage. Rubio's ruthless in execution but she can't send the aching redhead down before the bell! Massive uproar when the signal is head and Pilar just continues with the onslaught, forcing the ref to drag her away. That one bordered on madness, Rubio was in red-mist mode as she shouts more abusive words in Spanish, pretending not to understand English all of the sudden. There's a major scuffle in the Lioness corner with the ref threatening to disqualify the brunette for breach of rules and while all that is going on, Kelly slides down on the ropes and crawls back to her stool. Incredible scenes, no one has witnessed that before and Reilly has truly taken her limits beyond the Grey zone. How come she's remained upright, it's puzzling to everyone ringside.. well, technically she hasn't, but the Lioness corner is still dealling with the ref while all this is happening! Outrageous stuff!!

Round 8:
Referee has deducted Pilar Rubio one point for not stopping the bout at the bell, but it makes little difference. Kelly has to help herself with the ropes to get up, she looks totally devastated now, tampons in both nostrils, face literally matching her hair colour and eyes blurry as a November sky. Rubio with a couple of teasing hooks, snaps her head with ease and there's another stiff jab just cleaning her jaw. Reilly falls to the ropes, covers up without much consciousness and the brunette pours in with a series to jabs to the face and stomach. Kelly bends down but gets rocked from side to side and shows no signs of resistance. Ref checks up on her; after the entire fracas with Rubio during the interval, one suspects he overlooked the physical state of her opponent and definitely missed the crawling part. His hesitance is resolved by the pony-tailed brunette though as she just tears Kelly's guard into pieces with couple of hooks and cleans the redhead in the face one too many times. Blood starts to pour from Reilly's nose again as she drops her arms and crumbles on her knees before crashing down face-first on the canvas in slow-mo fashion. Forget the count!!! KO R8 Pilar Rubio in destructive fashion!!!

Post-fight:
Rubio strikes a winning pose, places her gloves on her hips and enjoys the crowd's reaction, but she survived a massive scare early in the going after Reilly's initial charge decked her and put on the verge of a knockout. She's not a one-hit wonder anymore, but still some way off challenging for the bantamweight hardware. She definitely requires bouts on a more frequent basis and the Lioness Club executives are well aware of that.

Meanwhile the medics attend the fallen Reilly and despite a messy end to her comeback, she nearly upset the local resident by knocking her down in the third and grenerally looking in control for most of the opening rounds. Whatever caused her downfall after that, it's up for a scrutiny, the lack of pure killer instinct, physical fatigue or just shortage of skill and talent? Regardless of the answer, she sold herself well tonight; definitely provided a lot of excitement and should be rewarded with more regular challenges. Despite leaving the KO Club ring on a stretcher with a badly busted up face, one suspects that Kelly Reilly won't have to wait another twelve months before appearing in her green bikini and black gloves again.

Final result: Pilar Rubio def. Kelly Reilly KO8.