Elodie Frege vs. Briana Evigan

BEFORE:

Interesting bantam match up with French beauty Elodie, whose career has been marked by plenty of disappointment and some huge, surprising wins, against a girl in Briana who's still looking to live up to the golden expectations her career started with nearly a decade ago. And, as always, the lovely Ms. Frege comes into the fight with plenty of confidence. "Yes," says Elodie, "she's a good fighter. But. I've beaten better fighters than her."

"I don't KNOW who she's beaten," says a defiant Briana, "And, I don't care. What I DO know is that she's never beaten ME, and that's not going to change tonight."

ROUND ONE:

Evigan aggressive early. She wants to take the fight to Frege, and that makes Elodie's tactical decision an easy one. French beauty right to the pocket, forcing Evigan to begin the siege, much to the dismay of her corner, which clearly wanted a war of movement. Instead, the younger fighter finds herself playing Frege's game. She plays it well, though. She's not getting too aggressive, mindful of her rival's ability in counter. But, as much as Evigan is able to limit opportunities for Frege to counter, the Frenchwoman's so good at it that she cashes a high number of those chances, high enough to offset what Evigan's doing on the offensive and a little bit more, meaning that, despite Briana's effectiveness, Frege's getting the better of things, and, when the bell rings ending the first stanza, Elodie's grabbed the points and the 10-9 lead.

ROUND TWO:

Evigan gets an EARFUL in the corner. "Keep her off the f***ing ropes, Bri!" Brianna listens. Now, she's moving, jabbing, keeping the foot off the gas pedal, staying mid-ring, not allowing Frege to set up in the pocket. Works, after a fashion. Because, remember, Elodie can play this two ways. She can box and move, too, and she does it well. So, while Evigan gets the terms her corner wants, what she doesn't do is control the fight on them. Instead, we get a good, two-way round with plenty of excellent boxing, plenty of movement of head, shoulders, feet, and hands, and an all-around excellent exhibition of boxing ability. It's nip and tuck the entire way, with neither fighter able to put any distance between herself and her rival. Final seconds see Briana put together a couple of flurries that turn out to be the difference. It's Evigan, close. And we're even at 19.

ROUND THREE:

Evigan turns up the heat. And Elodie goes right into the pocket. Evigan's corner about to have any number of cows. This is exactly what they do NOT want...BOOM! Right hand counter from Frege and Briana's STEPPIN' IN FENCE POST HOLES! Frenchwoman explodes off the ropes, hammering away at a reeling Evigan. Holloway corner beside itself as Elodie pours hard, accurate fire at her younger rival. Eventually, the listing SS Evigan washes up along the ropes, a reverse of the early moments of the round. But, there's no dip and duck, counter-punching spider-fly stuff going on on Briana's part. She's hanging on in a high guard trying to survive this thing, and not looking much like doing it. Instead, Frege's getting closer and closer to forcing the stoppage as the referee looks in closely. Final seconds see a blistering right from Elodie that almost does the trick, but the referee holds off and Evigan holds on. At the bell, it's Frege wide and back in the lead 29-28.

ROUND FOUR:

Evigan getting ice on the neck and the lecture of a lifetime between rounds. Neither seem to have done much good early, as Evigan, still unsteady, takes the worst of things against an effectively aggressive Elodie. Before the end of the first minute, though, Briana's got her legs under her, and she's firing back hard. BIG exchanges in the middle of the ring result and a BIG RIGHT HAND FROM EVIGAN turns everything around! Elodie's hurt, covering up as Briana goes all in, battering her back into the ropes. And then going body in a BIG way, thumping away at the midsection and flanks before landing a HARD right hook that sends Frege stumbling along the ropes. Referee looking in again, ready to leap between the fighters at the next provocation, but Frege keeps the guard high, slips, dips, rolls with, hangs on to the bell. Briana's grabbed it wide and evened the fight at 38, but Elodie's dodged a bullet.

ROUND FIVE:

Evigan back to work. She's tempering the aggression, keeping Frege in the middle of the ring. She's working the jab, dropping in hard right hands. Frege still wobbly, playing for time on the defensive. Briana patient, listening to the admonitions she heard in the corner between rounds. She's piling up points and hurt, consolidating if not finishing...BOOM! RIGHT HAND, EVIGAN! And, DOWN GOES FREGE! A beautiful straight right from Briana blows the Frenchwoman to her back. American wastes no time getting to a neutral corner to stand and watch as the referee counts over her downed rival. Frege rolls to her belly at five. Pushes up to hands and knees at seven...and then collapses face down to the canvas! Despite her best efforts, the Frenchwoman can't beat the count and it's OVER, making your winner by KO5 Briana Evigan!

AFTER:

Evigan shaking her head post-fight. "You know, she's really slick. She just sucks you in to that stuff along the ropes, and, when she does, she causes you problems with it. We worked on it, staying in the center, not letting her set up that pocket, but, there we were, playing her game. Fortunately, though, we got back to playing MINE. And, when that happened, well. You saw. You saw."