Valentina Fradegrada vs. Taylor Swift (MotBs #2)

BEFORE:

"Look," says the blonde with a smile, "I beat this girl last month and it wasn't that hard. I'm better at everything than she is. So, don't expect anything different tonight."

"She," says a hard-eyed Valentina, "Got lucky. And, tonight, I'm going to make her PAY for that."

ROUND ONE:

Valentina tall and rangy, so she's not used to giving away reach, but that's exactly what she's doing against Taylor, and Swift makes very good use of that reach in the first round. She settles in at gunnery range and begins working the jab, following on with right hands, and, in general, making life miserable for the Italian. Valentina's looking to counter, but it's not happening often, because Taylor's seen this play before, and she's not going to sit through it again. She's setting everything up, getting the hands out and back, narrowing the brunette's window for rejoinders down to almost nothing. By the final minute, Swift's pouring suppressive fire on her rival. Fradegrada can do little more than grimace and bear it to the bell. When it rings, Taylor's taken it wide and taken the 10-9 lead.

ROUND TWO:

Valentina adjusts. She's not going to stay at range and counter now. Instead, she's moving the head and feet, angling, working past Taylor's jab to get to spots to get off. When the Italian beauty can do that, she's able to land in combination and pile up points. When the blonde can keep Fradegrada at range, though, Taylor's in control, just as she was in the previous round. With both girls getting some, but not nearly enough of what she wants, the result is a two-way round with plenty of action. Neither fighter can gain any sort of control and neither can create any kind of space on the cards, either. Things are in doubt right into the final thirty seconds, and both women turn up the heat in an effort to steal the points. When the bell rings, it's cat's whisker stuff, but Valentina's taken the points and evened things at 19.

ROUND THREE:

More two-way stuff. Taylor at range, Fradegrada working the angles and playing the geometry. Both fighters getting into nice rhythms, plenty of action as heads are snapped back and tummies punished with short hooks. But, nobody's hurt and nobody can take control of this thing. Instead, it's back and forth all the way, with first Swift and then Valentina having the better of things and it all adds up to a lot, but not much at the same time. Again, nobody's creating any space and everybody's scoring and playing some excellent defense. Again, final thirty seconds sees an effort by both blonde and brunette to steal the points, and neither manages to do it. At the bell, it's once again as close as possible without being even. But, this time it's Taylor with the tiny edge, pushing her into 29-28 lead.

ROUND FOUR:

Swift gets rolling. Taylor's putting punches together off that long left early, and she's quickly suppressing Valentina. Brunette trying to get off square, get to spots where she can punch, but she can't do it. Instead, the blonde is moving her around the ring, keeping her at range, dropping hard right hands on her. Italian manages to counter here and there, but that's about all she can do, as the American is in the zone now. Everything is working and everything is flowing from everything else. By the final thirty seconds, Fradegrada's found herself trapped on the ropes with Swift letting the hands go. The brunette's not hurt, but she's taking a ton of punishment, especially right before the bell when Taylor grabs some rack, pounding hooks into Valentina's jugs. At the bell, it's Swift wide and Taylor's edge is now 39-37.

ROUND FIVE:

Taylor has gotten Valentina's attention and she doesn't want it. Fradegrada coming hot out of the corner after Swift, chasing Taylor out of her stance and driving her backward with flurry after flurry of heavy stuff. Now, the Italian is in the blonde's grill, banging away with both hands, working body, then DIGGING THAT RACK! Taylor all of a sudden taking a POUNDING as this thing has gone from boxing to brawling and Fradegrada is proving, for the moment at least, much more adept at the latter than her blonde opponent. Taylor trying to bang back in kind, managing to land a few solid punches, but she's mostly being backed up and beaten ups the Italian takes the fight to her. Taylor clinching and grimacing late as the brunette digs even more rack, then lands a solid right that snaps back Swift's head at the bell. There's no doubt about this one. It's Fradegrada wide and Taylor's lead has been reduced to a single point, 48-47 at the half.

ROUND SIX:

Fradegrada all OVER Taylor. She jumps on the blonde right off the bell, backing her up with heavy fire to both head and body. Swift again being chased out of her stance, forced to back and cover. Valentina's taking some chances here, and she takes some sharp counters from the blonde as a result, but she's determined to force the pace, determined to take the fight to Swift. BOOM! A right hook to the jug freezes Taylor! Valentina doubles down, going all hup-hup to the rack and the blonde drops the guard. BOOM! Right hand, Valentina and DOWN GOES SWIFT! Taylor dropped to her back by a BLISTERING straight right. Valentina to a neutral corner. Taylor rolling over. Hands and knees, crawling for the ropes, grabbing, crumpling back to the canvas, face down. Can't get up. It's OVER! It's OVER! And Valentina Fradegrada has evening this thing up at 1-1 with a vicious KO6 over Taylor Swift!