BRIDGET REGAN versus AMANDA RIGHETTI

(Bazz Fight Club vs Floydian)
(Words: Bonzo / Results: Lookout!)

Before: A true welterweight classic – in its fourth installment: after defending the title against Cassidy freeman, Bridget Regan takes on the next big name challenger, going for full domination of the division, at least momentarily. Regan resolute in her respect for opponent, but making clear she thinks she has Righetti figured out, the woman she has taken her first two titles from. “I’ve always said welterweight was the hardest division to dominate, but right now, I’m just on a roll. I know I’ve been through some rough patches in the past, but I’ve adjusted to those problems, and reached a point where I can say that I’ve never been a better fighter than now. As for Amanda, our fights have always been special occasions, so I’m extremely happy for this to happen again, but let me say this: I think I’m the only fighter Amanda actually fears. I’m the woman who’s always stood between her and total dominance of the division, back when we fought in 2010 and 2011, and I think that has crept into her head and stayed there. I’ll prove her fears right tonight.” – Righetti responds with equal respect, but knows the stakes are high. “Well, Bridget’s been putting together a very impressive string of victories, but this is the time when she needs to be stopped. Everybody who knows me knows that the notorious ‘two name division’ moniker has really only ever mattered to me in the sense that I’m out to prove that only one “R” belongs there, and it’s not Regan.” – Regan black-haired, black-clothed, all built up to her “Legend of the Seeker” physique: busty, strong and muscular, not the skinnier specimen displayed on “Agent Carter”; Righetti broad/athletic in white bikini bottoms, red bikini top, hair auburn-red in “Mentalist” mode.

Fight: R1: Girls off to a slow start: lots of respect on both sides – both in circling mode, exchanging jabs but mainly keeping a distance. After first minute, Amanda breaks up the calm: doubles jabs in intensity/weight, exploding into one-two combinations to force ground from foe, slowly driving back Regan to ropes. Righetti in usual stance: using activity and shot intensity to repress Bridget’s offenses; brunette in tight earmuff against redhead siege – Amanda really laying it on thick to Regan with piercing jabs, mixing it up with rights to Bridget’s torso/arms. Regan attempting to escape at times: girls wrestling for ground, but Amanda’s punishing body-jabs are drubbing Regs back to ropes with authority.

R2: Early, Regan’s under increasing pressure against sensational jab-machine: forms a sturdy front against the Righetti offense, elbows tight/hands at cheeks in defense. Amanda mostly throwing right hands heavily to ribs, slamming away on Regan's sturdy torso/brawny arms – one-sided drumbeats penetrate Regan, cage her at ropes almost all round. Later: Regan’s grimacing, all throbbing from those rights against flanks, pushed hard to ropes, occasionally staggering away in baby-steps from impact. Righetti measuring her range calmly, always staying in control – Bridget not finding any formula against the steady one-two, one-two push-and-squeeze Amanda’s forcing on her. Punches like rifle shots: Righetti’s just banging away here, turning Regan all-groggy/mumbly late in the round, Bridget’s grunting in pain, stooping forward in earmuff, legs buckled, knees flimsy. Pressure mounts up until the bell, but Regan’s stubborn: touched up, yet refusing to allow a knockdown, though clearly and widely outfought/damaged after two.

R3: Regan carefully adjusts her game to prevent Amanda’s jab dominance – successfully crouching up and down, weaving closer, then trying to turn Amanda’s set piece delivery into more exchanges – landing hard hooks to skull for good measure. Righetti finding it more difficult to deal with that: fought off her stance repeatedly, firmly punched on her mouth, she spends most of the round in reverse gear, trying to hold Bridget at bay with wide, burning jabs, but unable to switch into forward mode while tripping/dancing on her toes sideways-and-backwards to avoid Regan. Bridget manages the ring fine, cutting ground off, stepping into Righetti’s way big – breaking up the rhythm of the first two rounds, but for now satisfied with the occasional hook bound for redhead face, jump-starting into furious little attacks on arms/breasts – Bridget wins a close tactical round this way.

R4: Righetti’s turn to re-adjust: ups the tempo, hits harder, willing to engage in toe-to-toe exchanges – slowly achieving the sort of masterful ring generalship she is known for. Regan forced to dig deep in first minute, lean left and right to avoid those hammers, but trying to work her way back into the action, catching Amanda on the chin at one point with a whopping right out of nowhere: Righetti’s head’s slightly rattled to the side, but Amanda finds her balance and hastily jabs off Bridget’s attacks – Regan’s prowling forward, but she’s stopped by Amanda’s ferocious counter-punches. Righetti targeting body in payback mode: hips, pecs, arms – the jabs keep coming and Regan’s subsequently driven to ropes. There, Righetti goes to work: these are shots aiming to drain/deplete/use up Regan, but the brunette won’t allow her foe to trap her at ropes constantly, defending cleverly with spooking hooks to escape, before Amanda jabs herself into good position again, staying there until the bell.

R5: Regan realizing more aggression is needed: ramps up combinations, going body to stack up Amanda heavily at her own turnbuckles early, pumping rights into firm tummy. Redhead strong-armed here – glutes shuddering, desperately trying to embrace Bridget in clinches, but Regan extricates herself: catching Amanda with a crashing right mid-round upside the head that violently yanks Righetti’s head back, has her tumbling backwards to turnbuckle, then has her getting jostled away/bullied by Regan’s shoulders/arms as Amanda just sags back and stares. Brunette perpetrating evil body blows throughout last minute: dominating ground and action, cleanly shutting out Righetti’s jab all round long through sheer power and assault strategy.

R6: Regan coming into her own – not looking for the methodical dominance Righetti’s known for, but using a power puncher’s overwhelming approach: hitting harder than the other girl. Righetti getting to grips with the power after a while: employing supreme leg work to manage ring more efficiently, cleverly coaxing Bridget into painful exchanges, not afraid to step into foe – girls both suffering as a result. Regan stubborn-strong, using drumming jabs herself during last minute to gain control, then bashing Amanda up at the turnbuckle, trapping her with her full body, just ramming ‘em rights and lefts into redhead foe – has Amanda all gaspin’ and huffin’ at the bell, whiplashed to and fro ropes at Regan’s mercy.

R7: Girls trading uppercuts mid-ring, letting rip: Regan’s forced backwards, then interchanges momentum with a bashing right on jaw that jerks Righetti to the side, has her back-pedalling on humbled legs. Redhead marches into clinch desperate, head all dazed and confused on Bridget’s shoulders, trying to find her legs back. Regan restless: pumping lefts to gut, chuck-chuck-chuck, pushing and shoving her foe. Amanda driven backwards, then suddenly counters with a combination: left catches Regan clean on jaw – brunette stumbles into clinch, then picked up by a Righetti right hook on other cheek, sagging into ropes in pain – Righetti’s all big-girl there, keeping Bridget in tight defensive earmuff, rendered helpless at redhead’s intensity, groaning in pain, but hoping to trust her legs, as Amanda grinds out the lead after seven.


R8: Increasing combat at close quarters: buttocks shivering from aching body shots, more sluggish reactions, more sweat, more moaning – the barriers are falling down, and the girls aren’t saving any pains. All round a game of back and forth, varying images of both girls at ropes, mumbling in pain, stomaching huge punches, staring in disbelief until everything gets reversed, and reversed, and reversed. Shocking display of stamina – no girl able to drop the other or stretch out long-term dominance, but the damage is visible: bodies numbed by constant wear and tear, a wasteful battle of attrition with no woman pulling away, as Amanda and Bridget fight each other to a thudding standstill throughout the entire eighth round.

R9: Early: Righetti brutalizes Bridget with her jab, firing rapid shots in steady succession, taking over ground inch by inch from brunette rival. Regan staggered by the increased intensity/weight-of-shot after last round’s standstill – slowly reduced to a tight defense at the ropes. Amanda really bending/leaning her whole body shoulders-first into these punches, trying to burst the Bridget defenses, while Regan just stares on blankly and gets rocked back and forth, hoping her legs can withstand the charge. After first minute, Regan adjusts a bit to the power, finds back her confidence and starts to trust her body: no longer allowing Amanda to dominate all the space, brunette prances forward into redhead, rubbing shoulders, chest to chest: violent-hot tussle ensues, as girls mindlessly shell each other lefts and rights straight to the body – a prideful battle for physical supremacy no less. Righetti’s punches prove firmer here: steadily she marches forward, going for agonizing shots to shoulder blades, trying to destruct Bridget’s power – Regan’s losing ground again, driven violently back to ropes, noticeably falling off the pace. Righetti looking in control, but still not finding the hoped-for opening to drop Bridget: brunette very durable/hard-wearing tonight, obviously taking a lot of damage, but doing her best to keep the machines running. Regan frazzled by all the power shots, sometimes just locked up at ropes, but she’s biting through the punches with grim determination, then sneaking in some counters to prove her mettle. Righetti’s just a little bit spooked by the off-rope counters: still very eager to keep her good position, but forced to manage her defenses more carefully. Regan senses a change, relieved by the all-out pressure loosening up a bit, throwing gentle jabs, tik-tok, tik-tok, just testing the water, to Amanda’s face, then mixing it up with an uppercut that Amanda’s juuust able to evade with a stark head turn. Righetti starts bending backwards to deflect Regan’s punches but loses firm prop as a price in return: redhead hastening back/to the side when Regan suddenly moves out of the corner to attack – Amanda’s foot is slightly off ground during the backwards movement, her body’s center of ground faltered – when Bridget’s thick jab tags Amanda’s open left cheek once, and tags her again – RIGHETTI IS DOWN! Probably not a power punch, but a greatly timed one, finding the perfect target in a perfect second, as Amanda sits down on her butt, woozily shaking her head in part disbelief, part frustration. Righetti gets up quickly – standing at four – as Regan moves in to take the initiative: redhead resilient, though, daunting Bridget not to go all-in with furious uppercuts from the pocket, but when moments later the bell sounds, it’s Bridget who is now sporting a triumphant smirk on her face, while Righetti drifts back to her corner, mouth pinched/moping. Pundits ringside during break: debating whether Bridget’s won that round by two points because of the knockdown, or whether she was only able to subvert a round Righetti was winning into a 10-9: either way, neither girl can take anything for granted during last round.

R10: Early minute: Girls trade body to body, but Righetti’s getting scuffed, buffeted side to side by Bridget’s aggression game. Curiously though, Bridget’s content with exploding into those little point-delivering pinholes, then falls into heavy/ponderous/sweaty wrestling clinches, in which she tries to move Amanda backwards with her hips, trying to wrap her up neatly, walking her around the ring, all the while pumping chunky punches into Righetti’s gut/flanks/arms. Righetti would prefer to turn this round into a jab set-piece, hoping to use her textbook delivery there to take ground from her opponent: Bridget doesn’t. Righetti allowing Regan to dictate rhythm here, not really finding an answer to Bridget’s attack n’ clinch game, those hurting body blows – she’s bytching with the ref instead of trying to counter Bridget. All the while, Regan’s setting the terms: she’s not using these clinches to prevent an actual trade-off: she’s enhancing her strategy with them, always getting off with nasty hooks to jaw, gut-checks, little touch-ups to face, being just a little more precise/sharper in these moments – before falling in to secure the points she’s just punched out. Amanda – like Bridget still looking surprisingly fresh on sturdy legs – is using wide hooks from the side to do her own damage, but she’s too careful to avoid Regan’s snappy strokes to really get significant punches in during this time, ends up getting the worse of these exchanges. Righetti’s valiantly setting her hips/torso against Bridget’s body to stand ground, trying to use her shoulders to drive Regan backwards, but even when she breaks/powers free, she gets continually rocked by Regan’s piercing sledges, not succeeding in settling into her regular stance, as Regan always wants to close the distance. It’s an unexpected tactical set-up: everybody’s expecting Regan to go for something decisive, including perhaps Amanda, and the result is totally overwhelming by being underwhelming. Last thirty seconds: Righetti increasingly worn down by the constant grinding activity, as welterweight queens’s bodies crunch against each other in close contact. Regan not running away with it, but so hungry, so heartless: she’s extracting the necessary points and pulling out the rug from under Amanda’s title hopes. Righetti depressively sluggish, just a bit grumpy there at the end: she’s not giving herself up, but she’s unable to find her rhythm. Ten seconds to go: Amanda mounts a last attack, falling onto Regan like a terrier, teeth clenched, eyes wide, as punches bounce off Bridget’s body, graze her face….but it’s too late. Girls await the decision: that slugged-out last round plus the sole knockdown secure the victory, the winner – and STILL welterweight champion – by an extremely close UD10 Bridget Regan!

After: Girls classy of course, as no hard feelings persist after the bell rings – knowing they’ve just added another installment to what may be the most exciting rivalry at welterweight right now. A heartbreaking loss for Amanda: unlike the last two times she’s fought her, she was able to evade Bridget’s knockout power tonight, but in the end that late R9 knockdown ruined her dreams of returning to the title throne all the same – proud redhead utterly devastated by failing to secure a decision in the tenth. “I’m angry at myself. I feel like in a lot of ways my plans for tonight were right and worked, but then I just fell short there at the end. Congrats to Bridget, of course, who was really marvelous tonight. But in the long run, I’m not worried about our rivalry: I feel like I’ve made huge steps in finding out how to manage Bridget tonight, and I’ll find that switch next time.” – Bridget jubilant, she’s all-out exhilarant after a third win over one of her biggest rivals: “When we fought in 2010, there was a total number of five knockdowns between us, but of course, not every fight can be a KO fest. To be honest, I would have loved to have ended this with a bang, but I’m happy all the same. I’m really proud to have won this by a decision, because Amanda always likes to claim that you have to knock her out to defeat her, and I’ve proved her wrong tonight.”