Kira Kosarin versus Priyanka Chopra (Bantamweight Title)

Priyanka Chopra vs. Kira Kosarin
(Hawkeye International vs Bonzo’s Gym)
Priyanka: 41 yo, 5’6 1/2”, 38-22-0 with 37 KOs; vs Kira (c): 25 yo, 5’8”, 51-17-0 with 50 KOs
Results: Lookout. Story: Hawkeye

PRIYANKA CHOPRA


KIRA KOSARIN


BEFORE: The challenger’s aware of the enormity of the stakes involved. Kira’s been frighteningly good, riding an 11-match winning streak that includes a knockout of Big Choppy. Priyanka’s been almost as hot, having lost only once since tasting canvas against Kosarin, namely Selena Gomez stealing the keys to the Ice Hotel from her. Since becoming the Consortium’s bantam bell cow, Chopra’s upped her game and while having celebrated her 41st birthday earlier in the month, it’s a deceiving number since she didn’t start her FCBA career until 33. While Mishy and Portman seem to be slowing at fly, Choppy is still punishing people one division up. 2022 not only included a 1-1 split with Kira and an Ice Hotel victory but, on the downside, a bantam title fight lost to Lili Reinhart some thought might be Chopra’s last shot. Not so to Kira and her management’s credit. A loss tonight however…

“She’s the best,” Priyanka opines on the champ pre-match. “There’s a reason Kira’s on top of the strongest division in boxing. She doesn’t have a weakness. I’m convinced she could make trouble at lightweight if she wanted. But I’m glad she’s here because she makes the rest of us get better. And I have. And I’m going to show her. I can not only claim my first bantam title but even my record against a woman who has few peers. I’m not sure which is more important.”

You’ll pardon some of the media if they’re not quite buying that one. Chopra has to be tired of being the bridesmaid, a perpetual Top Ten but losing her previous two shots at the belts has to be gnawing (loss in 2019 to Demi Lovato included).

Choppy’s in black sports bra and trunks for tonight’s battle, though she’s forsaken the Consortium’s yellow-gold for red trim, red gloves and boots. Her long ebony locks are pinned in a loose sweeping bun, red streaks added as highlights. The titleholder is supremely confident.

And why not. She blasted Minka Kelly to take the titles and is undefeated on the year, defending successfully with pugilistic aplomb. Already crossing the 50-win barrier in 68 fights in the ultra-competitive bantam scene is impressive and she’s showing no fear by putting the belts on the line against a foe that may know her better than anyone. Kira’s known loss as a challenger in title fights more times than she’d like and she’s also lost the titles once before, but this reign figures to be longer and more memorable. She’s slayed Bella, a literal Thorne in her side in championship bouts and she’s just reaching her peak.

“A fight with Choppy is money. I can’t blame Bonzo for making the deal. And sure, she knows what I’m about. But she knows I can leave her a steaming wreck, which is what will happen tonight. I know it’s her dream to breakthrough after 40 and she has a lot of fans hoping the same, but I’m prime and I’m riding out the year with this gold around my waist. Some dreams don’t come true. This one isn’t and, deep down, I think she knows it.”

Kira’s long sinewy frame is also adorned with red-and-black sports bra and tight spandex trunks, though the champ has much more of the former hue than the challenger, her gear trimmed in black. Kosarin’s gloves pads and boots are also a rich deep purple color, perhaps reflecting her status as bantam royalty. Her dark locks are swept from her face in long waves.

R1: There’s no feeling out necessary for this bantam battle for gold. These ladies know and respect each other. But one is fifteen years junior to the other and it’s Kira who applies the pressure out of the gate, not worrying about gassing herself early. Not that Big Choppy is hiding, but if she wanted to, there would be nowhere to do it. Kosarin’s peppering Priyanka relentlessly, getting Chopra’s chest humming with heavy mugging. Priyanka’s face shows she’s not liking Kira’s confidence and the pummeling it brings. Chopra’s defensive under the onslaught and the younger woman is finding openings, clouting a right cross to the chin that brings the crowd into the match with a loud bleat. Priyanka’s legs give an almost imperceptible shimmy, but she almost instantaneously steadies. Kosarin isn’t shoving chips this early, but she’s beating Choppy to the punch consistently, Priyanka landing the occasional glancing blow while Kira takes golden-brown body by the fistful. It’s a comprehensive show of superiority by a champ at her pinnacle of performance and Chopra’s shoulders already slump as she heads to her stool with the toll of the bell, Kosarin taking the initial round wide while barely breaking a sweat.

R2: Kira’s somehow more confident coming out for number two, but she’s enough of a veteran to not fling leather wildly. The champ steels for Choppy to start tossing to get her mojo back and the Indian is indeed more aggressive. Priyanka is parrying but returning fire more frequently with her counterpart. There’s no just soaking up shots from Kira, looking for one reply. Kosarin might batter her to a pulp before it happens. An active Choppy is a more effective one and Kira’s leaving herself open for body work. Chopra’s not afraid to put in the heavy lifting down low, sinking fists into flanks and ribs and pale abdomen. But Priyanka is paying for her points. Kira’s working her girl plenty, again scrubbing jugs and popping Priyanka in the beak a time or two to keep the feisty challenger aware she doesn’t have free reign. Some rounds are close because of dual defensive postures. This one is matching offense with the same and the crowd loves it! Priyanka twists Kira’s noggin with a sweeping right connection that Kosarin matches almost immediately, neither fighter wanting to give a hint of retreat while they batter each other silly. The second ends with both women ready for a break, fumes filling the last few seconds with Chopra maintaining a tight win on the cards.

R3: Both women show the after-effects of a wild slugfest during the previous stanza. Kira’s relying more on a probing jab, as the combatants dance around the squared circle. Each taking turns poking at the tip of the other’s nose while keeping the powder dry on their lethal right hands. Unable to maintain the pace, Chopra and Kosarin are content to plug away for a few points, flashing leather from distance. In this Kira’s showing herself more accomplished. Her targeting is heavier for volume and accuracy. The champ’s making Big Choppy’s features scrunch with pestering prods. When Priyanka’s finding purchase, she’s lumping some left hooks to flesh above her foe’s right hip, occasionally making Kira fold in that direction. But where the last round was a pair of gunslingers keeping it close, this is more a chess match and it’s the younger fighter working the angles better, keeping patient, and creating some welts on Priyanka’s jaw instead of Chopra’s on the champ’s ribs. It’s enough to give Kira a rebound win, if a close one, to extend her lead.



R4: Champ and challenger seem rejuvenated as they meet in the middle. Priyanka takes little time in busting out the big guns for which Choppy’s well-known. Chopra’s dipping and ducking under Kira’s fire and steps into a beautiful right uppercut to the chin of the titleholder. Kosarin’s defenses fly wide after the wicked wallop and Priyanka lays waste to the reeling Kira, landing blistering combos without reprisal. Kosarin’s offering ‘don’t hurt me’ replies Chopra brushes aside and the cool Kira is being turned to a hot mess in a hurry. The champ’s in full retreat, blasted into a corner where she tries to bundle behind raised forearms. With defenses high, Big Choppy takes ivory tummy, digging fists in with meaty ‘thwaps’ that are followed by breathless groans from a nauseated Kosarin. Kira’s absorbing heaps of punishment to the body, but she’s keeping disciplined under the onslaught. She wraps both gloves around the back of Chopra’s neck and pulls her into a clinch, forcing a break in the action and eventually one from the official. As Priyanka is pulled off her prey, Kira lands a wily left over the man’s shoulder and Chopra is furious. Once released, Chopra is all over Kosarin once more, but the anger seems to bring sloppiness with it. Her big shots are glancing or finding nothing but air down the stretch. Kira’s looking for counters, but the bell rings before she’s able to take advantage. It’s Chopra wide, but Big Choppy’s fans are left feeling it could’ve, should’ve been more.

R5: The crowd is roaring, sensing both women have had enough of the other. Chopra and Kosarin seem willing to play their part. There’s no dancing or circling. They meet in the middle, ready to throw down. It’s what Priyanka wants and she’s quickly mugging Kira’s gurls brutishly, chugging bruising blasts to her foe’s bosom, putting Kosarin on the back foot. Kira’s throwing back but ceding ground. Chopra lifts her sights as they move toward the ropes. Choppy finds chin with a right cross and Kira’s legs give a shimmy. Priyanka delivers a gut-churning left to the alabaster abs of the champ then sends righthanded thunder over the top that Kira ducks under. Kosarin slips past and, when Chopra turns to find her, Kira UNLEAHES a right-left that threatens to unhinge Priyanka’s jaw! Chopra’s dark eyes go glassy and legs rubbery. She awkwardly throws her arms at Kosarin but Kira splits them with a head snapper of a left and whistling right to the cheek finishes the job, PRIYANKA NOSEDIVES TO THE CANVAS. The frenzied crowd is on their feet. Kira, looking all ‘knew it all the time’, steps over her fallen counterpart and makes room for the official to count out the pretender. A sluggish Chopra push-ups to all fours but seems stuck there. Only at ‘EIGHT’ does the Indian fighter finish the trip to her feet. She offers her gloves to the ref and nods her head. Kira’s on her challenger, chewing Chopra up with unremitting firepower few at bantam can match. The Consortium corner screams at their girl to cover up. It’s easier said than done, Kira lambasting poor Choppy to the bell, leaving Priyanka a lumbering ruin to trudge drunkenly to her corner, Kira taking the fifth wide with a knockdown.

R6: Kira’s focused out of her corner, chomping at the bit. Chopra’s on her feet with gloves raised. She’s moving, though perfunctorily, as Kosarin wades in to finish the game against the outgunned challenger. Kira measures with jabs to find her mark, then has field day number two, bathing Chopra’s bosom in leather as payback, then pushing punches through lifted forearms with regularity, Priyanka looking the part of wide-eyed gazelle to Kosarin’s stalking lioness. Choppy’s footwork’s active enough to keep Kira from running riot but not enough for Kosarin to not run roughshod. Priyanka’s in survival mode as an unbridled Kira is having fun. Chopra returns a timid jab when prompted by her corner, but she seems spooked and it’s showing. Kosarin tracks Priyanka into a corner and headhunts. Chopra’s got enough duck-n-dodge to make it arduous, but Kira’s got so much talent, Choppy’s losing this game. She grabs for a clinch and pays for it with a gut shot that has Priyanka gurgling, but then manages to pull the champ close. The round rides out with a couple more break-and-clinch sessions, Kira stacking another wide ‘W’.

R7: A workman-like Kira cuts angles on Chopra, Priyanka regaining enough wind to make chasing her a chore. Big Choppy jabs and side-stepping returns. It’s not the powerful bantam’s most dangerous look but any new strategy seems worth a try after the ‘Kira Train’ ran her over the last couple rounds. Kosarin’s arms look leaden in comparison to the previous six minutes, her punches lacking the same speed and pop, but Chopra seems uninterested in testing whether this is a ruse, keeping her distance. Big Choppy shows she can throw ‘little’ well, bopping the champ’s chin when Kosarin steps in range, Priyanka shifting and moving after, seemingly confusing Kira. Kosarin’s not expecting the actions of a small bantam from the challenger and it appears to have her thinking on her throws too much to connect cleanly. Chopra’s staying high with her jabs, keeping Kira’s vision filled with red leather as much as she’s able. As ploys go, it’s enough for Priyanka to take an uneventful seventh with a close win on points.

R8: The home stretch is entered with as even a playing field as there’s been in a while, Chopra looking considerably more chipper, even if she remains significantly down on the cards. Business needs to be done by the challenger. She takes to it early, meeting Kosarin in the middle. Neither fighter seems interested in foreplay and they’re at it hammer and tongs. With Priyanka’s initial cannon-shot deflected by a keen defensive parry, KIRA SCORCHES CHOPPY with a right-hand that swivels Priyanka’s noggin. The champ steps in for a left hook follow-up when BIG CHOPPY CRASHES DOWN THE DOOR with an overhand right that plows into Kira’s jaw. Chopra jumps into a left uppercut that lifts Kosarin to her heels and another right, this a hook to the temple, puts the icing on a three-layer cake that sends KIRA COLLAPSING TO THE CANVAS, the brunette landing on her left hip and shoulder. As the gobsmacked Kosarin absently flops to her back, staring blankly at the lights above, Priyanka skips to a neutral corner. There she shifts on the balls of her feet, watching the official count toward her dream. Kira’s flinching, but there’s no thought behind her movements and it’s a ten-count with precious little drama as PRIYANKA CHOPRA BECOMES THE NEW BANTAM CHAMPION WITH A KO8.

AFTER: Choppy’s pop is no joke as the smelling salts are brought to wake a sleepy Kosarin. A few strides away former champions from the Consortium surround a teary-eyed Priyanka in a group hug. A beaming Mishy and jubilant Natty P welcome their fellow forty-something to the Champions Club. Natty AL and Dove wait their turn to take part in the celebration, the blondes giving each other a high-five.

“Go take your girl,” Michelle says. “There’s no tummying like title-tummying.”

“But she…”

“No but,” Portman intercedes, smile from ear to ear. “You’ll regret it if you don’t.”

A grinning Chopra nods. “You’re right.”

Priyanka breaks free of the scrum and pushes through Kira’s seconds, directing the gold to be delivered to her crew. Chopra pulls a spent Kira off her stool and presses her deep into the corner before climbing to the middle strands and STUFFING golden-brown abs into the smooshed face of one of the best.

Choppy can’t deny a shiver down her spine at the display of utter dominance and the feels it provides. They only increase as Kira weakly pushes at her hips, unable to dislodge the new champ from smearing her features with tawny tummy. Slowly, the smother takes not only the air, but Kosarin’s consciousness as she slides down Priyanka’s triumphant frame to puddle at her feet.

Choppy looks down at the defeated slurry Kira’s become, then spreads her arms high and wide.

“Best. Day. Ever. Sorry Nick.”