Avril Lavigne versus Ariel Winter (II) (Flyweight Title)

BEFORE:
"I want to first thank the Dollhouse and Avril for giving me this shot at the title tonight," Ariel says first during the press conference. "I've been pretty vocal about wanting a shot and I’ve waited patiently for a LONG time.” The Front Street star laments with a chuckle. “Tonight's huge for me. So what I'm not going to do is let this opportunity go to waste. I've already beaten Avril last year and I'm more than ready to do it again tonight. I know HOW to do it. That's all I care about and that's all I'm here to do - Beat the stuffing out of Avril and finally win my first title. I deserve it and I'll prove it tonight. She'll need a miracle to stop me."

There's that creeping eye roll from the champ, as Avril sits quite calmly on the other side of the press table, listening to the challenger's bold words, before smirking and leaning forward to the hot mic.

"Chill b*tch. You hit a lucky shot last time after I knocked you down first," Avril says shaking her head. "You're not that scary and you're definitely not beating me again tonight. Not when I'm defending my amazing belt." Lavigne makes a point by clutching the title belt close to her chest, before snarling again: "You're not getting this anytime soon, Ariel. But you ARE getting your ass kicked tonight and I'm getting me some much needed revenge!." Avril turns her attention to the assembled crowd and reporters, before flashing another smirk. "b*tch is NOT ready for what's coming to her."

The stare down on stage is tense and filled with bitter memories of their last encounter, where Ariel knocked Avril out in the 6th round, right after suffering a knockdown herself in one of the most shocking fight endings in recent memory. That fight certainly derailed Avril's then path to the championship. Yet, persevere the Canadian singer did, and here she is, holding the belt firmly over one shoulder, before thrusting it in Ariel's face at every opportunity. Winter of course not taking the bait, merely rolling her own eyes and maintaining a stoic pose with both hands planted on her hips. And the two fighters separate, acknowledging the cheers of the crowd with a wave on their ways back to their backstage locker rooms.

Fight night rolls around and both ladies are geared up in their respective corners! As per tradition, Ariel Winter, the challenger, is announced first, the Front Street darling dressed in a navy blue sports bra, short white trunks and blue gloves, her long dyed red hair tied in a bun. In the other corner, the champion has waited TOO long before seizing the gold to relinquish it now, bunching together her black and pink gloves and clad in her signature black and pink sports bra and short tights, her blonde hair in a high ponytail as she leans back against the corner post, casually awaiting the bell and throwing the occasional smile towards her fans.

With a wave of the referee's hand, HERE WE GO with ten rounds of Flyweight action! This here's for the Unified Flyweight Title!

ROUND 1:
Avril's acting cocky in this rematch, adopting a half-raised stance as she comes out of her corner. She knows Ariel is very dangerous and packs one hell of a wallop. This could be the reason she's not rushing straight in and shooting punches, like she usually does. Cautious jabs are sent towards Ariel's head, testing the waters for the second time, wanting to see if Ariel's strategy has changed or not. Apparently, it hasn't. Winter leads with her left hand before throwing that right cross into Avril's arms, hoping to spear her to the chin or body. But Lavigne is ready and waiting, deftly backing away and using her own jabs to peck away at the challenger's face, scoring more often than not due to Winter's own aggression. The first round ends with the champion in a comfortable, wide lead. But of course, this title fight is just getting started…

ROUND 2:
Winter realizes she must adapt quickly and efficiently - a mark of a potential champ indeed, who can meet the threat head-on. As such, the first round proceeds slowly, with both girls circling from a distance and jabbing at each other's arms. It's a test of who wants to wade in first. However, Avril doesn't anticipate the counter-cross that sails in, aimed straight for her face, just as she launches another one-two combo at Winter's guard. BAM! Winter showcases her counterpunching skills, having timed that return cross exceedingly accurately, snapping the champ's head back and drawing a grunt from her lips. Yet Winter remains patient, closing in on her wounded prey. She unleashes a barrage on Avril's arms and then under, striking Avril's tummy multiple times. Consequently, Lavigne is forced to concede this round, for now, nodding and waving the doctor off after returning to the neutral corner.

ROUND 3:
But here comes Avril, showing surprising aggression as the fight progresses! After luring Winter into a false sense of security, she delivers a left-right combo straight into Winter's face early on, earning a hesitant grunt from the challenger. Winter fights back with all her might, but those counter hooks miss their mark, flying inches from Lavigne’s face. The champ looks to end the night early, landing more punches on the arms and targeting the belly underneath, the damage to Winter’s face starting to accumulate. Ariel finally drives Avril away with a series of swings aimed at her head, but it’s too little, too late. Avril smirks at her from across the ring, confident in her chances of securing this round by a wide margin. Meanwhile, the challenger is left panting near the ropes, perhaps wondering if this is the same fighter she’d faced a year ago.

ROUND 4:
Lavigne’s new strategy of slowly ratcheting up the pressure is beginning to bear fruit, using her more agile figure to run circles around the challenger, before plugging her fists into every crevice and angle that presents itself. Winter is having a tough time containing the champ’s energy, which is building and building now that Avril has found herself in the driver’s seat, a firm chance at securing a lead in this championship fight too hard to pass up. Winter does respond with stoic shocks to the arms whenever she can land them, absorbing a quick flurry and barrage to the arms and body before immediately rocking that cross hand inwards, hoping to get lucky. Lavigne anticipates the move by the third minute, however, easily dodging or backing out of the way of danger before resuming her assault on the challenger’s defenses. ANOTHER wide, dominant round for the Dollhouse Queen at the sound of the bell, with Avril herself letting out a “Hell yeah!” roar while raising her arms to the fans, strutting back to her corner in what looks to be a well-deserved comeback performance!

ROUND 5:
AND WINTER WITH A RIGHT HOOK which sends the champ reeling!! OUCH! The fifth began like the previous two, both fighters taking things tentative before Lavigne began to score her multitude of punches again! Firm lead made firmer as the champ pushed inwards, peppering Winter’s arms with shots and then mixing her attacks with hooks that thud thud thud off the redhead’s sides! A little TOO cocky, perhaps, as Winter found herself falling back to the ropes before immediately rebounding to meet the champ face-first with a face full of leather, torching that smug expression right off her face!! Avril’s fortunes suddenly turned around in a flash, now getting beaten backwards as she struggles to dodge and evade Winter’s power attacks, Ariel sensing her opportunity to strike, and TAKING it! Front Street corner banging on the apron, their rare chance at securing the Flyweight belt here for the taking, right before their eyes, as Winter batters away at Avril’s arms, throwing her left, then right, before a rocking overhand LANDS BETWEEN THE EYES! DOWWWWWN SHE GOES! The champ barely has time to let out a grunt before she’s thrown to her back to the canvas, arms and legs spread out in four directions! WOW! LAVIGNE IS DOWN and possibly OUT! COULD THIS BE IT, FOLKS?! It’s a big KNOCKDOWN for the challenger and the fans are going wild!

Ariel Winter certainly thinks so, pumping her fists by her sides, already parading her victory around the four corners of the ring! She’s completely ignoring the champ as the referee herds her to the neutral corner and goes back to the fallen singer to start the count! Lavigne giving her team and fans around the arena a huge scare when she spends the first four seconds looking all but done, flat on her back and barely moving….but slowly… the champion begins to stir, as though recovering from a deep, guttural slumber. Her eyes glazed over as she peels herself off the canvas, limbs looking loose and head lolling from side to side, but rise bit by bit she does, with the commentators later saying perhaps the Dollhouse Queen is on autopilot, her inner spirit and that fascinating mind of hers just refusing to quit.

Back up she comes by the count of 9, nodding to the referee with a foggy look on her face. All those rounds won prior ain’t gonna matter for sh*t if Lavigne throws it away so easily… Thankfully, there’s barely any time left on the clock for the remainder of this round, and the champ gets a well-needed breather and talking to after she stumbles back to her corner and collapses onto her wooden stool.

ROUND 6:
And here comes Winter, looking to mop up what she’s started… A strong burst of energy from the challenger, who sees a wounded animal and tries to pounce in with big lunges for Avril’s chin. Early on, she sees some success, as Avril still looks a little too dazed to get out of the way in time. She’s taking unnecessary shots to her body but thankfully, still manages to block those that are aimed high for her chin. Her arms are at least up and locked, each of Winter’s hooks swiveling her entire upper torso to the side with a grunt, but then, a follow-up swing misses, or gets dodged, with Lavigne still employing flexible head movement to stay alive in the pocket. Winter ain’t faring too well by the third minute, allowing the champion to outpace her in terms of jabs sent poking into her face back, Lavigne strategically shoving that right hand in right before Ariel lets a hook or overhand loose, cunningly scoring points before the challenger can even unleash her own tired attacks. Bell rings and despite that last round’s knockdown attempt, Lavigne has earned herself a close victory here, keeping her chances in this fight alive.

ROUND 7:
Winter surges, however, at the start of the second minute, spending the first holding back and cautious, before getting tired of Lavigne’s relentless jabbing spree and saying ‘f*ck it’. She barrels towards the champ, first stunning her with an overhand to the arms, before practically leaping in to hammer more hooks into her undercarriage. We’re seeing a repeat performance from that earlier knockdown attempt, with the champ in danger of getting pushed to the ropes once more before being sent down to the canvas! Avril’s holding on by hook or crooked overhand, doing her best to weave and focus on those big, incoming attacks, successfully planting her own leather back on Winter’s face on the return swing, moving her body to the side before that right hook is primed and ready to exert vengeance! Winter herself grunting at the end of the round, her face getting rocked to the side by that nasty series of hooks! They’re not enough to win Avril the round, but it’s better than nothing!

ROUND 8:
And Winter is looking gassed! She’s pushed her darndest to earn this win, and it shows on her reddened face, beaded with sweat, mouth open, shoulders heaved forward. She can tell that the champ is ready to go down if she can just land another series of power blows. But Avril’s not giving her that, not so easily at least. Lavigne looking almost as spent herself, the 38 year old champ would rather not test her luck going the distance with a 25 year old super-talent like Ariel. Avril still keeping her distance and shoving firm hands into the redhead’s face, that lead jab making life difficult for the challenger, who keeps trying to rush in to brawl, only to get lit up by a barrage of attacks. Ariel is BLEEDING points in this way, focusing too much on offense, and not so much on the latter, perhaps underestimating Avril after comfortably beating her last time. Winter does get a couple of licks in to the body, but they don’t trouble the Doll as much as last time, with Lavigne still hoisting her hand high in the sky at the conclusion of the eight. So far, it looks like this championship match is more than evenly scored, with both fighters heading into the last quarter!

ROUND 9:
Winter is wilting fast, barely moving out of her corner now. If we were part of her corner team, we’d probably be advising her to conserve energy and push through to the tenth round, which she appears to be doing, locking arms and protecting her extremities from Avril’s jab attacks. But Avril, the Dollhouse champ, says to hell with it, suddenly fired up and deciding it’s time for her to push instead! Here she comes, with a sudden hook to the head that dazzles Winter, showcasing the power behind her hips and torso! Winter backs away, still breathing hard, quickly reforming her arms but then eats another hook to the side of the head, which sends her reeling towards the ropes! Lavigne is on the warpath, eyes set on reclaiming her dignity (not that she had as much previously) now that she’s the champ, damnit, and refusing to lose to the same girl twice in a row. Punches keep landing on Winter, left-right thumping to the body before Lavigne goes high to BLAST her across the arms, aiming for the vulnerable chin. Winter shows a CRACK in her armor at the end of the second minute, when one of Avril’s hook SAILS through the air and SLAMS into her weakened guard, hitting the side of the challenger’s jaw in the process and STUNS her! OUCH! WINTER LOOKS WOBBLY for a sec, stumbling a couple of paces before BAM!!! Another huge hook from Lavigne catches her right on the cheek this time and DOWN SHE GOES!!! Ariel Winter collapsing to her side, looking absolutely shellshocked with disbelief! KNOCKDOWN for the champion, who lets out a roar and a short leap into the air! Could this be it?!

The referee has already started the count overhead, digits puncturing the air as he tries to convey the gravity of the situation to Winter. Meanwhile, Avril has slowly made her way to the neutral corner, panting as she leans against the ropes in exhaustion, a thin smirk playing on her lips as she watches the challenger’s attempt to rise... Winter stirs only at the count of 5, a dangerous and tightly contested match so far, with her fans and corner team banging on the apron to add to the noise. Winter pries herself off the ground, but she’s still barely on her hands and knees when the referee reaches the end of the count …8… 9…she can’t do it…she’s too disoriented and the body won’t comply! 10!! THAT’S IT! Ref’s waving his arms overhead, declaring this rematch OVER!

Official Result: Avril Lavigne defeats Ariel Winter via KO9! Avril Lavigne is STILL the Flyweight Champion!

AFTER:
HUGE win for Lavigne tonight, making her 4th successful title defense and avenging her previous defeat while beating a top star in Ariel Winter, all in one night!

The champion stumbles towards her own corner with a big smile of relief on her face, but looks too spent to even raise her arms to the fans. Lavigne getting hugged by everyone on her team before slumping down in her stool for a much needed breather, wiping off the gallons of sweat from her forehead, chest and midsection.

The Front Street team on the opposite corner of the ring busy themselves with helping their fallen fighter back to her stool. Ariel seems to have regained most of her faculties by now and is able to stand, although still wobbly and helped back to her corner by two FS personnel eliciting a standing ovation from her many fans in attendance tonight!

Ariel was very close to her first title tonight, delivering the first knockdown of the evening that almost had the champion finished for good, but unfortunately for her Lavigne did not want to go out like that, and Ariel failed to finish the job when she had the chance to.

Lavigne soon takes center stage as she poses in the center of the ring after 5 full minutes of rest. Having survived Winter’s onslaught this time around as opposed to last year and living to win the fight, 9 rounds of fighting one of the best young fighters in the division has clearly taken its toll on the 38 year old singer who looks fatigued and still panting as she grabs a microphone.

“Hell yeah bitches!” the blonde roars. “Another challenger gets her ass kicked!” Avril smirks, getting huge cheers from the fans. She then turns towards the FS corner, speaking directly to Ariel.

“It was a nice try Ariel…but like, did you seriously expect to beat me?! Pffft.” The champion taunts.

Shaking her head, the Front Street superstar responds calmly. “I already did beat you….pretty badly. I almost did it again tonight in the 5th.”

Lavigne clearly not liking what she’s hearing one bit judging by that scowl on her face. “You’re lucky you’re a Front Street girl. I don’t f*ck with FS girls out of respect.” The singer shoots back, earning herself a chuckle and an eyeroll from Winter.

The champ then turns to face the fans and speak directly to them: “She called me a “Glass Canon” last time…..” Avril rolls her eyes. “Who’s the glass canon now, b*tch!?” the champ shouts directly at Ariel, giggling smugly before placing her title belt on her left shoulder as she takes a few steps towards the FS corner, now standing right in front of Ariel and slowly caressing her championship belt’s shiny metal plates, teasing her opponent with that ever elusive piece of leather and metal just to get into the young actress' head. The champ gets plenty of cheers from all around but a hefty amount of boos can also be heard among the cacophony - Knowing Avril though, the Canadian does not mind gaining a few new haters here and there. Winter on the other hand is looking devastated but defiant as she remains on her stool, staring directly at the champion when teased, but chooses to stay silent throughout.

Ariel might be already thinking about her next title fight, or perhaps even her rubber match with Lavigne herself (which may or may not happen at all), showing her maturity by refusing to get into a bickering contest with the champ, instead choosing to let Lavigne have her moment. She did win fair and square tonight, and she too is a (former) FS girl after all.

Shortly after, the champion makes her way out of the ring, refusing to speak to any of the several reporters that pester her on the way. “I really need a bath….sorry not sorry!” Lavigne squeals and giggles as she makes her way past the media and quickly disappears out of sight.

“Who’s your next challenger…?!” is the question thrown at the champion from all directions. A question that will remain unanswered for at least another week because Queen Lavigne needed a bath.

Lots of interesting options on the table to choose from for the Punk Princess who will be making her 5th title defense next month. We can’t wait!