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4 May 2014 Emmanuelle Chriqui vs Katie Cassidy

Page history last edited by Archer844 9 years, 11 months ago

Emmanuelle Chriqui 02.jpg Katie Cassidy 02.jpg

Celebrity Boxing After Dark: "Better Late Than Never"

Posted by simguy & Vassago on May 4, 2014, 9:05 am

{{OOC: Back then Cassidy was still sporting the dyed blonde look, nothing like she's done for Arrow lately. I've decided to leave Cassidy with the fake hair color like I originally wrote}}.

BEFORE: Emmanuelle Chriqui looks to continue her new found confidence after signing for IFFI, now aged 35, she started her career against Natalie Portman nearly seven years ago, but only managed to accumulate six fights in total since then and four of them on the spin until she stopped Sara Jean Underwood and then upset Kat Graham.

Her rival has slightly more to write home about; Katie Cassidy scored six wins in 16 fights but only two KOs, inclding one over Miss Glass Jaw herself, Zoe Saldana indicate shortage of a noteworthy punch. Cassidy's last win was a grindfest over heavily backed Troian Bellisario, quite a shocker given the Pretty Little Punchers support, but more honestly leaning into a classic flash in the pan and nowhere near good enough to keep her within bantamweight's elite.

Odds evenly shared before the contest, Cassidy clearly lacks that killer punch and Chriqui can grind well in the ring herself; could be one for the purists rathen than a quick afternoon snack. Cassidy is four inches taller and nine years younger though which could play a vital part regardless of the actual skills.

Emmanuelle Chriqui wearing a white one-piece swimsuit with red stripes and black gloves. Curly black hair loose. Katie Cassidy wearing a pink one-piece swimsuit with grey stripes and black gloves. Long, dyed blonde hair loose.

Round 1:
Chriqui takes is easy, perhaps understandably so given her lenghty lay-off period, leaps back and forth, throws single jabs but looks just to blend in with the ring enviroment. Cassidy strictly business instead, throws wide hooks, grazes the ribcage nicely, but can't land anything really solid inside the first minute before a cross-hook opens the brunette's guard and a right follow-up nails her on the guts moments later. Chriqui not looking all that fast across the canvas, allows Katie to work the straight jab with little punishment, almos too easy for the blonde to score her shots and Chriqui truly looks pedestrian in the early going, still not at the races and couple of big jabs to the mouth snap her head back as the guard fails to stay in tact as well. Age difference playing a big part already, Katie dominates the proceedings with the single striking; Emmanuelle just leaps around in avoidance until the bell.

Round 2:
Cassidy contines her forward bite, lands more early jabs to the head, single striking perhaps not good enough to cause immediate problems for her rival, but very effective on the long haul. Emmanuelle holds her ground despite more blows reaching her flesh, responds with some low jabs and nails the blonde on the ribs, but misses her efforts up high as Katie's speed and agility enables her to avoid those punches. Chriqui tries some more aggression, but is kept at bay with blonde's longer reach. Katie works the right jab to perfection, but the smaller brunette can't counter her properly and gets shoved back easily and circles back in rather downbeat fashion as the round progresses. Chriqui lands more shots to the ribcage, but couple of big hooks prevent her more making any further inroads and Cassidy bangs more straight jabs to the head just before the bell to keep the strangle hold on this bout.

Round 3:
Emmanuelle tries to focus on that ribcage jabs which brought her some success and Katie gets caught out, seemingly too certain of her own jabbing skills. Chriqui with some wide slaps to the ribcage followed by a nice uppercut and blonde hair fly back as Katie gets nailed on the chin! Chriqui muscles her way through in close distance, lashes out at the ribcage and Cassidy fails to drop her arms properly, takes more punishent to the ribs and winces in pain as the brunette goes after her even harder and pushes back to the ropes. Blonde tries to clinch, but moans under the ribcage pounding, can't stretch her elbows enough and only wraps her arms around Ems' neck instead. Ref shoves the brunette away but not before she lands another series to the blonde's ribcage and Cassidy is slow after the command, obviously affected by that barrage. Chriqui tries to close her down again, but Katie weathers the storm with some chaotic hooks that fail to connect but keep the brunette hot on her toes. Chriqui leaps back and forth, keeps the blonde on the back foot, but can't inflict further damage before the bell.

Round 4:
Katie's visibly mad after that poor third round and she storms out of her stool; if Ems hoped to somewhat tame her aggression, it hasn't worked at all as Cassidy throws leather at her straight from the bell and quickly has her dancing around in avoidance. Reach and speed are on the blonde's side though and the brunette's efforts are futile, she keeps getting hit with those straight jabs even from mid-range and can't respond back herself at all. Chriqui quickly realizes she needs to hang around here as long as possible and wait for the blonde to wear out, but it's a difficult task with her younger opponent still at high-energy so early in this bout. Katie scores unanswered combos to the body and Chriqui offers nothing back, relinquishes the round almost on purpose, the mindset all over the shop for the veteran. Cassidy regains the confidence without trouble; one must question her rival's fighting spirit here.

Round 5:
Katie on the front foot, well in the groove, works those straight jabs at will, offers some variety with combos to the head, keeps the brunette under relentless pressure while Emmanuelle just can't find an answer to the blonde's reach advantage. She's perhaps thinking about that one big haymaker already as Cassidy bullies her around the ring, teases with dropping her arms but the outstretched veteran can only land some single strikes to the midsecton and nothing up high. Katie with another mitts splitting combo, bangs a hook on the mouth moments later and Ems' head snaps back, all to frequent sight in this bout as the brunette seeks cover along the ropes, but fails to match her foe's speed and gets trapped late in the going, takes more punishment on the breasts as Katie pierced through her arms and another left hook around the gloves wobbles the brunette to the side before bell prevents the menacing blonde from more success. Cassidy lacks that killer punch, but she's doing a fine job of slowly but surely dismantling her opponent.

Round 6:
If only Katie had that big punch, she'd be long gone in the locker room! Another series of jabs expose Emmanuelle's below par defence, around and between the arms follow by a nice uppercut to the chin. Chriqui eats lather left, right and center but hasn't been close to even take a knee; Katie makes a solid statement on the night, but the opposition won't be much impressed with creampuff-like punching skills. Making the flyweight limits relieved her of any core strenght behind her shots, still the intensity of the onslaught is too much for the veteran brunette to handle. Chriqui spends another round dancing around on her feet, just avoiding the shots thrown at her and failing to do so more often than not. Katie methodical in approach, seems happy to grind this one out as she doesn't looks upset over the fact Ems sporting very little bruising on her face. The all important damage is done elsewhere, on the judges' cards.

Round 7:
Cassidy hangs back for the first time in a while and Ems catches her with some ribcage pummelling, flicks a rare uppercut to the chin and the blonde's head snaps back but the charge is short-lived as she turns on the heat and puches herself back into dominant position, the reach advantage comes to the fore again and Chriqui cannot do anything about it. Couple of jabs over the top smash her on the nose and she's rooted to the spot before getting nailed on the stomach and forced to cover up as Katie opens up and bangs several wide slaps on the ribcage. Ems moves back but tries a piercing hook as Katie was rushing in and it scores! Cassidy wobbles to the side, gets laced with a left hook on the chest but clinches soon afterwards, literally pushing her smaller rival to the ropes. Chriqui bangs some low jabs to the ribs, but the blonde responds likewise and both women struggle along the ropes, ref has some difficulties with separating them. Another low jab to the guts forces Katie to bend down but she laces the brunette on the jugs and keeps her pinned to the ropes. Ems seemingly out of breath, allows the blonde to score more chaotic but menacing hooks to the head as she's leaned on the ropes and unable to get away from trouble. Katie loses her forcus briefly, too chaotic in execution and the bell comes to the brunette's rescue, but the blonde really failed to make the most of that situation albeit still scoring the round in her favor.

Round 8:
Cassidy knows her foe was having real fitness issues in the last minute of the seventh and she's after her straight from the bell, peppers her ribcage, easily going around the elbows, flicks some cross-hooks, shatters the wonky guard and scores jabs to the nose. Ems in more trouble now, avoids blonde's questionable punching power only to get undone by own stamina. Katie with single strikes to the head, pushes the aching brunette back to the ropes where she unloads more jabs between the arms and right on the navel. Chriqui leans forward, moans in pain but gets another big hook on the temple. Katie tries her best to send the veteran down, but she can't! Series of hooks on the ribs make little difference and despite all her advantage, she's fruitless in execution, drops her aggression and leans on the brunette but Ems notices the change of approach and hits a right over the top, cleans out the blonde's temple, left from the other side and Katie's knees crumble all of the sudden! Right hook on the cheek, Katie's arm was too slow to raise and DOWN SHE GOES ON HER KNEES!!! Quite a shocker, Katie got caught out by a seemingly weaponless opponent and couldn't handle that series. She shakes her head but beats the count at seven, lapse of concentration must be to blame for this knockdown but is perpahs Chriqui staging a late comeback after all? She tries to push through with more hooks to the head, but Katie keeps her guard well and leaps back away from danger. Ems tries to chase her but can't match the speed across the ring and settles for what she's done earlier.

Round 9:
Cassidy changes her approach, thinks she's safe on the cards and that knockdown woke her up a bit too. She doesn't close the distance anymore and keeps the mid-range, still enough to prevent the smaller brunette from any more surprising blows. Ems works some high-tempo jabbing, somewhat new feeling as the blonde lets the pressure off her but the reach inferiority cannot be made up with anything else. Katie scores the single strikes from mid-range, not a chance for the brunette to do likewise and it's the bigger girl landing all the shots. Nothing too fancy or vicious but enough to tame any sort of a comeback from Emmanuelle who is made look pedestrian once again. She grits her teeth but cuts harmlessly through the air as Cassidy whips straight jabs from distance to dwarf her spirit as the time is running out for Ems to make an impression.

Round 10:
Almost anti-climatic finish as that knockdown failed to spur Emmanuelle into any sort of a comeback. Katie saved too much energy to literally gift this fight away and she keeps whipping the brunette from mid-distance, goes around the elbows to score on the ribs, flicks some between the arms and allthough Chriqui leaps after her with more mean intentions, it's all little too late for her. Katie takes some single jabs to the ribs, avoids any up high and answers back with head-snapping combo as Ems loses the last glimmer of hope. She circles back and shakes her head as Katie hassles her inside the final minute, tries to make one final move if she even needs to but she doesn't. At the bell Emmanuelle drops her head, avoids eye contact with the joyful blonde. Knockdown made no difference in the end, comes back unanimous on all cards 98-92 for your winner... KATIE CASSIDY!!!

AFTER: Big smile for the blonde as her hand is raised, she wasn't really troubled apart from that surprising knockdown in the eight but totally dominated the other rounds with one exception. However Chriqui proved to be an inferior opponent and unable to follow up on the Graham upset. The size difference played a major role in her downfall and quite frankly she could be treated as a moral winner by some. Cassidy's lack of punch strenght was visible, any younger and more sizeable opponent should have little trouble with exposing this issue.

So, it's all smiles for the blonde for now, but the future still looks bleak. Katie hasn't exactly taken the world by storm; beating Chriqui might not be as meaningless as beating Winona Ryder or Kirsten Dunst, but none of the elite girls will take serious notice of Cassidy given the nature of this win. Dealing with the second tier will be the name of the game for the time being no matter whether Katie likes it or not.

Final result: Katie Cassidy def. Emmanuelle Chriqui UD10.