After Nadine Coyle's loss earlier on the card, it's up to Christine Bleakley to save the Ulster pride in the penultimate bout of the Spring Sessions. The Black Irish has enjoyed some personal success in the past days, her fiancee Frank Lampard became Chelsea London's all-time leading scorer and then went on to win the Europa League wit his team. A very tall order to repeat for the County Down native especially right here in Birmingham where Lampard scored those history making goals against local favorites Aston Villa.

Bleakley most recently fought in February when she was punched out by fellow TV presenter Kristy Hinze and looks to break the losing streak against the Italian model Elisabetta Canalis who makes her season debut after last being active on Boxing Day where she was stopped by Berenice Marlohe. The firey Italian is a demanding rival though and after five months out she seems eager to get back in the ring; she refuses to touch gloves with Christine and gives her a proper death stare but the Irish girl holds her ground and doesn't even blink in response. The fight is scheduled for ten rounds in the lightweight division.

Christine Bleakley wearing a blue bikini set and white gloves. Raven black hair in loose curls. Elisabetta Canalis wearing a beige bikini set, nicely exposing her tanned skin and black gloves. Brown hair in loose curls.

Round 1:
Elisabetta was making all the impressions she won't hang around here and indeed that's the case straight from the bell as she pours into Christine's guts, jabbing with ferocious intensity and clearly catching her off guard. The Irish girl tries to respond but just can't handle the high-tempo from Canalis and gets thumped in the navel; bends down and exposes her right temple as Elisabetta whacks her there and wobbles in the middle of the ring. Crowd is truly shocked and there's more Meditternean temper on hand as Canalis pummels between the arms and bounces off the rack, pushes the stunned rival to the ropes and continues to clean out her tummy with some worrying yelps coming from Christine's mouth. Final minute and it's all Canalis again, just clubbing the Irish girl's midriff before Bleakley can force a clinch.. but not quite as Elisabetta leans on her and lands more vicious leather on the ribs, Christine closes her eyes and just soaks up punishment, fails to fully embrace the Italian opponent and eats a nasty shot on the jaw right at the bell and it's a very confident Canalis walking back to her corner after the bell while Christine looks totally blown away by what just happened and so is the Birmingham crowd.

Round 2:
Bleakley took a heavy beating in that opening rounds and bides her time against the ropes already; Canalis has other ideas and closes her down quickly, single strikes to the body but can't slice the mitts yet. She keeps hassling the Irish girl around the ring and Bleakley realizes she won't get too far just trying to avoid punches, slows down in the second minute and teases Elisabetta into more attacks. Indeed, on comes the Italian thumping leather on the midriff again, nails Christine on the ribs but eats a left hook on the jaw as the TV presenter mounts a response; both women keep lashing at each other in the middle of the ring with Canalis ripping into the guts again but Bleakley slams her against the nose and nails on the temple with a right hook that rocks the Italian on her feet and causes to drop the aggressive style. Christine switches low, thumps Elisabetta on the navel and uppercuts the rack, leans on the Italian and goes around the elbows, weaves away from a hooking attempt and as Canalis leans forward, she gets whacked on the rack again, yelps in pain but eats another overhand on the nose and only then jumps back to the ropes as Christine decides to let her off the hook and catch some breath herself. Both women circle around each other thereafter but this has the making of one vicious contest already!

Round 3:
Elisabetta's visibly upset over that previous round and jumps after the raven-haired presenter, immediately targets the head and nails Bleakley on the cheeks but eats a low jabbing combo on the ribcage and winces in pain as Christine refuses to yield real estate and leans on her, keeps ounding away at the midriff herself and outworks the Italian in close range. Canalis struggles to stretch her elbows with Bleakley keen to destroy her guts and has to jump back. This time the Irish girl goes after her and catches with a quick hook on the chest, follows up with a big uppercut on the rack again and has Canalis bouncing off the ropes. Wide left counter from the Italian misses Bleakley's head though while an overhand response crashes off her jaw moments later and the Italian girl's rocked on the spot, drops her head and looks dazed at best as Christine pours in with the rack assault, clips her foe's chin and snaps the head back, whacks another right on the eye and that has caused a nasty shiner on the Italian's face much to her obvious dismay. She covers up along the ropes but offers little to no footwork and Bleakley ravages her tummy in the final minute, seemingly eager to break her in half but despite a vicious ribcage pummelling, the clock is up and Elisabetta looks relived, doesn't throw any death stare at the Irish girl anymore; just sinks on her stool while Bleakley looks strictly business despite a reddish face. But that's due to effort and exhaustion rather than physical damage.

Round 4:
Canalis rapidly loses the upper-hand but despite a rough previous round, she has no intentions of dropping her aggression and leaps after the Irish girl straight from the bell again. Perhaps a lack of managerial guide there but it still catches Christine off guard as Elisabetta whacks her on the chin with a straight jab and pounds away at the stomach from there on, goes around the elbows and has the raven-haired foe backing away quickly. Christine's footwork allows her to stay away from striking distance and Canalis' menacing tactics give her something to think about as she reels back to the ropes but avoids getting trapped and allthough the Italian model make a lot of effort herself, she's hardly grazing the flesh and just wastes some energy in a fruitless chase with Bleakley settling down for a mid-range single striking. A low-key round compared to the previous three and allthough Christine made Elisabetta look rather desperate and sluggish, she really let her back in the groove instead of punching her lights out as coach Gina Wild is keen to explain during the interval.

Round 5:
Stupid or crazy; Canalis goes at her opponnet again and this time Bleakley answers the call, immediate leather trade-off in the middle of the ring with both heads snapping back in the proccess and these two really want to destroy each other as Christine nails the Italian on the temple but eats a quick uppercut on the chin and a follow up on the rack too. Canalis leans on her, whips more jabs on the midriff and forces the Irish girl to clinch her. Brief struggle ensues before Elisabetta shows some core strenght and just shoves Christine away, clips her jaw with a quick cross-hook, bangs a low hand on the navel and stuns the presenter on the spot, sends overhand leather on the cheeks again and oh, she's gave Bleakley a couple of nasty cuts there. Christine tries to respond, slices the mitts and connects with the chest again but Canalis just keeps coming at her, pummels to the tummy and backs the tiring Irish girl to the ropes, cleans out her stomach and allthough Bleakley clinches her late in the going, she can do nothing about Elisabetta punching her tummy into a mush at the bell. Christine looks in some pain as she walks to her corner and the war of attrition is set to reach another level.

Round 6:
Elisabetta now matches her opponent's footwork and the Mediterrnean temper forces another stand-off. The Lioness corner has it all figured out though and as Canalis targets making more jelly out of Christine's stomach, the Irish girl whips an immediate cross-hooking combo, clips the previously damaged left eye and further enhances the shiner, in fact she lands more single hands there before Elisabetta can raise her arm; she leaves an opening on the right and Bleakley snaps her quickly, reverts into a proper body assault as Canalis tries to retreat, still bothered by her eye and allows Christine to spike her around the elbows. Overhand response misses the TV presenter's head again and Bleakley rips into the midriff herself, has Elisabetta moaning before a quick uppercut on the jaw silences her for a while. Christine seemingly found a second breath or perhaps was lucky to damage her rival's eye even more than before but Elisabetta keeps covering up and gets backed against the ropes, has her gloves almost shoved into her mouth with more head attacks from the Irish girl but even she runs out of steam in the dying seconds and settles into a clinch as Canalis sags back on the ropes and looks to be in some discomfort.

Round 7:
Nasty swelling around Elisabetta's left eye confirms the extent of the damage as Christine really lumped her up with that early barrage in the sixth. That takes some effort from the cutmen and Bleakley's all over that wound after the bell, works the single hand around it, has the Italian aware of her trouble but dropping her right arm at the same time and after a brief back and forth exchange, Christine switches targets; whacks a left hook on the ribs and pours on the rack as Elisabetta gets pushes to the ropes, eats an overhand on the temple with the Irish girl simply quickier in execution now and sinks on her knees, drops the left arm for a moment and gets nailed on the eye with Bleakley catching her cold... DOWN GOES CANALIS ON ALL FOURS as she simply lost her balance and went crashing to the canvas... Crowd errupts in joy as the Irish girl adjusts her hair with Elisabetta trying to shake that knockdown off and getting back upright at seven. Ugh! More swelling around the left eye and her sight must be really bothered now but she vows to continue this bout and rightfully so with Christine looking quite reddish on her face but still in a better shape it seems. Elisabetta jumps after the raven-haired foe, almost like the knockdown brought her back to life rather than anything else and she peppers the rack in fine style, but Christine doesn't allow herself to get upstaged after so much hard work, she goes for a body attack herself and pounds away at the ribcage, slows her foe's charge and spikes her around the liver area with Elisabetta's arms all over the place, back to the ropes she goes and bends forward as Christine clips her jaw, slices between the arms and pummels the jugs with great force with the proud Italian sagging on her knees and moaning in pain. Bleakley's keen to finish her rival off right here and right now but the bell sounds and halts her charge and she's visibly upset as her raven locks fly back and forth as she shakes her head in disgust. Canalis' swollen eye doesn't get any better, quite the opposite, it's almost completely shut now and there's more work for the cutmen during the interval.

Round 8:
On comes Bleakley, pounces on the slow moving rival and Canalis remains concerned about the eye injury, leaves an opening under her left elbow and gets spiked on the liver area seconds into the eight and bends to the side as Christine slams a left hook from the other side, nails the aching Italian on the temple and spins her back to the ropes. Elisabetta moans in pain and covers her head but Bleakley slices her arms and goes for the rack assault, bounces off the cleavage, looks to simply pound it to shreds and Canalis endures a heavy barrage, just unable to fight back now as Christine forces her arms to drop a bit and cross-hooks the nose, snaps the head back, lands a right hook on the already swollen shut eye and the onslaught just keeps going with Canalis firmly pinned on the ropes, left/right combo on each temple, another series on the chest, right hook on the eye that sends the Italian crashing against the turnbuckles. She doesn't have the strenght to even moan anymore as Bleakley is battering her senseless... AND THE REF STEPS IN... saves the Italian from a very nasty knockout that was almost imminient... TKO R8 Christine Bleakley!!!

Post-fight:
Another vicious finish in Birmingham with the Irish presenter pounding the living daylights out of her Italian foe there at the end and the crowd enjoyed every second of that! Christine sports huge smile as her arm is raised during the verdict announcement and one can only guess Frank Lampard was all over the BBU TV cheering for her. Indeed, Christine made up for the hapless showing against Kristy Hinze and some rumours indicate she wants to have another crack at the much-maligned arch rival Denise van Outen next.

Meanwhile it was a rough end to Elisabetta Canalis' night who rolled over Christine at first but was truly beaten out of her senses come the end. She shows improved punch resistance than in some of her previous bouts but suffered a nasty eye gash during the bout and was subsequently punched out in brutal fashion. Still, the word on the street is, she's willing to have a piece of Jennifer Hawkins with the Aussie girls looking for a dress rehearsal before the upcoming Ashes this summer. Someone of Elisabetta's presence is always a good fit in the ring against any lanky opponent and her eye injury should be all healed by the time the former Miss Universe arrives in Europe.

Final result: Christine Bleakley def. Elisabetta Canalis TKO8.