The Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy still chants Lea Seydoux's name after her epic knockout of Cheryl Cole but the Main Event of the Bastille Day is just minutes away and the attention switches to Malika Menard and Berenice Marlohe who are about to settle the internal French feud of just who's the best lightweight in the country. Back in May Berenice was just one fight away from securing herself a shot at the BBU title but was decisioned by Helena Mattsson and now wants to derail Malika's title challenge to follow suit on last year's Bastille Day punchout of Marion Cotillard.

However many pundits and fans believe Malika Menard is a much better fighter than Cotillard and very capable of punching Berenice's lights out tonight to follow up on her recent magnificent Boxing on the Beach showing where she simply wrecked Elisabetta Canalis in a brutal fashion to underline her will of mounting another challenge at the lightweight title herself.

Berenice Marlohe wears a black basque top, red knickers and red gloves. Malika Menard wears a navy blue one-piece swimsuit with black trim and red gloves.

Round 1:
A slow start to this fight, both women are fully aware of each other's potential and spend the opening minute in a fruitless single hand jabbing before Malika makes the first committed approach and sends a low combo around the elbows to get her opponent moving. Berenice responds up high but misses the temple and falls into more midriff assault. Heavy slaps from Menard drive the actress backwards but she manages to slice the guard and bounce off her jaw; rapid fire on the head follows and allthough Berenice wobbles back, she's able to follow up on the cheeks and escape from the striking range. Malika fails to trap her on the ropes and loses her footing as she leans on the older woman, eats a quick hook right at the bell and staggers back almost taking down the referee in the proccess.

Round 2:
Marlohe commits herself to an aggressive jabbing but fails to break the pageant's guard and eats a jabbing series on the ribcage instead. Malika tries to spike her liver area to regain the upperhand but gets clinched and shoved away after a brief struggle. Berenice shows superior strenght and closes down on the younger girl, lacks precision to punish her though and gets clobbered on the ribcage again as Menard sticks to her plan and slows the actress down before pumping leather into her chest thereafter. Berenice must jump away in avoidance; manages to avoid more punishment and bides her time along the ropes as Malika can't reach for the head anymore.

Round 3:
Both women bounce off each other in the middle of the ring and Marlohe finds the temples, snaps Malika's head back before pummelling through on the cleavage. The beauty pageant sends another series on the ribs but loses the exchange and yelps in discomfort when Berenice tags her on the jaw and reels back onto the ropes. This time Malika loses her footing and fails to escape as Marlohe catches her on the fly, buries a massive hook on the chest and sinks her down on her knees on the spot. Menard seeks a clinch but eats a double uppercut assault instead and falls into a spirited punching from the older brunette; Marlohe fires away on the body and keeps the pageant trapped in difficult position for remainder of the round, fails to really punish her though as Malika bumps into her after the bell and indicates she's still capable of beating her up!

Round 4:
Berenice looked annoyed by that little skirmish after the bell and jumps at the younger brunette with a furious barrage, skims off the cheeks though as Malika slipped by on the fly and countered with an overhand hook on the nose. Berenice's head snaps back and before she can regain her position, Menard clubs her on the chest with an uppercut assault, bats away at the liver area and makes the Bond girl moan. Riffling left hook lands on Marlohe's eye and spins her onto the turnbuckle, Menard pounces on her thereafter and finds more uppercuts on the cheek to leave the first lumps on otherwise pretty face. Berenice covers up but gets trapped butt-in-ropes and sinks down on her knees when the younger brunette scythes her on the ribcage and leaves shrieking in pain at the bell.

Round 5:
A furious leather exchange brings the Bercy crowd on their feet; Berenice was so keen to make up for that previous round and found Malika's jaw but then got hammered by a piercing hook on the lover area and wobbled forward. Menard shows some impressive agility; bumps into Marlohe's rack with more uppercuts and beats her for a clubbing hook on the temple. Berenice squeals in pain and fails to find a response, gets whacked across the mouth to drop her arms and enable Malika to bash her on the brow ridge and send spinning onto the ropes again. Malika pours with more midriff leather in the final minute, keeps her foe trapped on the ropes again and gives her a solid belly trashing to leave her shrieking even louder than before. Another death stare from Menard before she turns away to her corner while Berenice doesn't look so imposing anymore.

Round 6:
Furious leather assault from the beauty pageant who dwarfs Marlohe's movement and traps her with a series on the cheeks in the middle of the ring, switches low and clubs the ribcage again fending off a weak clinching attempt. Another left hook over the top cleans out Berenice's temple and wobbles her to the side; before she can raise her arms there's Malika slicing through with yet more damage and pounding away facial leather in close range and pushing the visibly weakening actress against the turnbuckle. Berenice only skims off the forearms in response and eats a real piledriver on the mouth to go shimmy shake along the ropes; Malika jumps at her and clatters into her guts, just bashes away in real anger and cleans out the stomach to leave Marlohe gasping for air and squealling in real pain now; a very timely bell prevents the looming knockdown.

Round 7:
Malika switches into high gear and easily traps a visibly aching opponent with another jabbing series on the cheeks before switching low on the guts and punishing Berenice's navel. The older girl just can't shrug her nemesis off and gets clobbered back to the ropes in no time, soaks up more belly punishment and as she tries to unwind a hooking response in a desperate manner, Menard blasts a left hook on the jaw followed by a swift right on the nose AND SENDS THE BOND GIRL DOWN ON HER SIDE... That's the breakthrough the whole of Bercy was looking for since a while and Berenice's fortunate to escape any kind of bleeding. She gets up at six but looks battle weary and unable to mount any meaningful comeback. Malika rips into her after the command and pounds the navel like she wants to chop the older brunette in half, whips her back onto the ropes and finds the jaw to unleash a lethal uppercut inside the last ten seconds; Marlohe's all wobbly butt as she sags onto the turnbuckle and eats a left/right combo to bounce into almost complete numbness but the bell comes to the rescue and forces Malika into postponing her finish.

Round 8:
Berenice's very slow to get up for the eight and looks like she's really had enough but Malika romps into her guts with more jabbing and switches to uppercuts to punish the boobs and make the Bond girl moan in all kinds of bother. Menard pummels the aching rival back to the ropes, slips by a weak hook on the head and finds Marlohe's solar plexus to bend her forward and follow up with a crisp half-uppercut on the nose... DOWN GOES BERENICE AGAIN... just gets flattened on her bums and takes an almighty long look at her gloves before getting up at eight and trying not to tremble into pieces... ref checks her up but allows more action, one-sided beatdown according to the Bercy audience now and Malika responds to the chants and loops overhands on the older brunette's face, pushes her back to the ropes and cleans out her guts, rains leather on the body before slamming a slicing series on the mouth and whipping Berenice back upright and almost over the ropes alltogether... Another right hook followed by a left on the eye tears the skin on Marlohe's face and drops her arms to enable another crushing hook to catch the jaw AND SEND THE BOND GIRL DOWN ON HER BACKSIDE for the third time tonight... just eight seconds left on the clock and Malika thinks she's got it won as Berenice bursts into spasms but escapes another looming disaster and is saved by the bell... Menard's furious and questions whether her opponent is in any shape to continue the fight... and she's right... Berenice just sits on the canvas and doesn't respond to her entourage and misses the call for the next round... slumps on her back after a failed attempt to just crawl to her corner and indicates she can't find her breath anymore... TKO8 Malika Menard!!!

AFTER: Another case of strictly overwhelming ammount of punches just breaking one girl down and it's a particulary painful defeat for Berenice Marlohe who's title hopes look to have evaporated for a while whereas Malika Menard continues her impressive summer display even though she took her time in finally dismantling the fellow brunette to pieces. There was every sign that Berenice would be a much harder nut to crack for the beauty pegeant than Elisabetta Canalis few weeks before and more importantly Malika herself was a much harder nut for Berenice than Marion Cotillard last year. The Bastille Day has a new champion and the whole Bercy shares the joy with Malika Menard who actually celebrates her 27th birthday tonight and as an act of good will spares the battered actress any further humiliation, the fact she thumped her into submission was impressive enough to warrant the cover stories for tomorrow's Le Figaro and Le Monde editions alone!

Final result: Malika Menard def. Berenice Marlohe TKO8.