Claire Holt vs. Anna Silk

Odds & Ends Studio vs I.F.F.I.
(Bantamweight Championship)
(Words: Front Street / Results: Lookout!)

BEFORE:
Silk plenty confident heading into the fight, despite the fact that she's a solid underdog against the champion. And, why shouldn't she be? She fought Holt before and it was a very near thing. "I had her last time," Anna says with a shake of the head. "And, I let her off the hook. Who knows how different things could have been for both of us if I'd finished her when I had the chance. Well, tonight, I get another chance. I WILL bring the pain, and she will NOT get off the hook."

Silk, however, isn't the only one who's confident. "The first time was two years ago, my fourth fight," the Aussie says with a smile. "All I've done is get better since then. All SHE'S done is get older."

ROUND ONE:
Anna's corner crew wearing gear that says "Bring The Pain." Silk's robe says "Bring the pain. Claire, however, actually  BRINGS the pain. The blonde clearly remembers their first fight just as well as Silk does, and Holt wastes no time establishing her bona fides. She fires the heavy guns right off the bell, quickly ranging in on Anna, catching her several good shots, backing her up, forcing her onto the defensive, and then going to work. Silk's on the back foot and can't get off it. Holt's not suppressing with volume but with power. She's stepping into everything, snapping Silk's head back, buzzing her. Anna's landing some solid counters in spots, but that's all she can manage. Holt's just locked in, everything working, everything landing, showing everyone why she's won 16 of 19 fights and got her first title shot less than a year after her debut. By the final bell, Silk a  bit unsteady and Holt all smiles with a 10-9 lead.

ROUND TWO:
ANNA brings the pain. Holt wants to pick up where she left off, but Silk having none of it. She gets the guard high and the head moving, she's bobbing forward now, passing Claire's glove, getting in tight, going to work with her thudding power. It's body Silk is after, ribcage, belly, flanks. Thump. Thump. Thump. Holt bangs back, of course, but now it's Silk in rhythm, bringing winces of pain to the Aussie's face with her body shots, shouldering Claire off balance, opening her up, then backing her up with uppercuts, buzzing the champ with a couple of them. It's now the brunette in rhythm and the blonde on her back foot, and Silk piles up the punishment, thumping every inch of Claire below the bust line and above the waist, tenderizing, pinking, abusing, right to the bell. And it's Anna smiling on the way back to the corner, having evened things at 19.

ROUND THREE:
Holt makes an adjustment. She gets to work with the jab, settles things down a bit. She wants to keep Anna off, work at range, where she can still bring her power to bear,  but she won't have to deal with Anna's body work. It's effective, because Holt is accurate. She finds Silk with the jab, works it steadily, double and triple pops, does whatever it takes to keep the brunette at range. Then, when she has her where she wants her, she drops the right hands in. It's far more tactical stuff than we saw in either of the first two rounds, but, again, it's effective. Claire moves the feet, moves the hands, gets the leather on target. Anna has her moments, too. She can box from the outside, and she scores, both when she can grab the lead and in counter, but these are the terms Holt wants, and she uses them to get the lead back, 29-28.

ROUND FOUR:
Silk isn't playing by Holt's rules. Anna wants to bring the pain, and, to do that, she's got to close. So, she closes in that high guard with the head bob. Oh, she's taking fire, because Claire's got the range, but she's willing to take it to get where she wants to be and begin working that blonde body. Silk gets stopped at times, picked up at others, but she's resolute. She will not be held outside. She damns the proverbial torpedoes and comes full speed ahead. And, when she gets in close, things get very, very nasty. This is body work of Campbellian proportions. And, on both ends. Because Holt works body, too. She thumps. She bangs. She piles up the hurt. Grim is the word. Vicious is the word. Nasty, though. That's the best term. And there's plenty of nasty right up to the final bell. It's Holt's round close, the outside work added to the inside giving her the points. But, Silk's gotten what she wanted. At what cost, we'll soon find out. 39-37, Claire.

ROUND FIVE:
Anna again determined to close, willing to take heavy fire to do that. But. There's a risk involved with that strategy against Holt, and the risk is embodied in a screaming right hand that catches Silk on the way in about a minute into the round. Anna's knees buckle and she nearly goes down. And Claire Holt calls in artillery strikes from every unit in range. Leather buzzes at Silk from all angles and the brunette is quickly in full retreat, and, not long after, trapped on the ropes and taking a hammering from the champion. Claire's getting off lusty, shaking Silk again and again. The brunette can only cover up, weather the storm, counter in the odd spot, hope the referee doesn't put a stop to things. He could. But he doesn't. Anna survives the round, bloodied, literally, but not bowed. Holt, however, has extended her lead to 49-46 at the halfway point.

ROUND SIX:
Claire cleaning up now. Silk still unsteady, looking somewhat reduced. The corner managed to stop the nose bleed, but their fighter's looking much worse for the wear of that last round, and the younger blonde sees and seizes the opportunity. She's creating space with the left hand now, stopping Silk, setting her up for hard rights, shaking the brunette again and again. Claire's moving in for the kill, slowly setting Anna up for it. And then. BOOM. A booming right hand from SILK and BLONDE GIRL DOWN! Anna times a counter and sits the Aussie on her rump. The champ gobsmacked, staring as the referee counts. She comes to her senses in time, gets to her feet at eight, survives the mandatory, but ON COMES ANNA. And. Now. The. Pain. Is. Brought. Not in buckets. In trucks. Lots and lots of big trucks. Anna drives Claire into a corner and absolutely ravages the blonde beauty, pummeling her viciously, working a little body but winging bomb after bomb at her head. Again, the referee could stop things, as Claire's legs are shaken several times. Again, he does not. And Holt survives. She's looking shell shocked, but she's on her feet, and, despite the knockdown, still leading 57-56.

ROUND SEVEN:

Bring. The. Pain. Silk all about inflicting agony on the still-buzzed Aussie champ. Claire giving ground in a fighting retreat, landing gloves as Anna pushes forward. Not a lot behind them, though, because she's on her back foot, backing up, looking to manage Silk's aggression and play for time. Anna will not be managed. She is on a mission now, a mission to finish what she started, to make this fight end differently, to relive that ninth round of their first fight and, by sheer force of will and the power in her fists, make it turn out differently. She's putting everything she has into this offensive, just as she did back then...risking exactly what happened then...gassing herself and allowing the younger fighter to take the fight away late. It's a chance Anna Silk is willing to take on this day. So she pours in the reserves, fires her ammo dumps flat, throws bomb after bomb at Claire, who, though shaken a few times, stands up under the assault well. Until she doesn't. It's another BOOMING right hand that swivels the blonde's head and sends the champion ragdolling to her back! Claire unmoving as Silk hurries to a neutral corner and waits. It's been a long wait. Two years. Two years to think about that ninth round and what could have been. What's ten more seconds? An ETERNITY. An ETERNITY for the Canadian, who can only stand and watch as the numbers get higher and higher and then leap in the air in celebration when the count reaches TEN! In the words of Jim Lampley, "It HAPPENED! It HAPPENED!" Claire Holt is OUT, still on her back and unmoving and your winner by KO7 and the NEW Undisputed Bantamweight Champion Of The World is ANNA SILK!"

AFTER:

Silk absolutely BEAMING in the post fight. She had a plan. She stuck to it. And it worked. "Nobody believed in me. They all said the same thing, that she was just starting out in that first fight and that she was way too good for me now. But, I knew I could beat her. I knew how to do it. And I went out and did it, just like I told everyone I would. She's not superwoman. She's who I thought she was. Consider the pain brought!"