Hilary Rhoda versus Sophie Howard

Vs


(Written by Girls Friday/Results by Lookout!)

(Girls Friday vs Lioness Club)

Intro:
A battle of America vs England here as Hilary Rhoda takes on Sophie Howard, with both big girls wanting to prove themselves worthy of title contention.

Hilary is 31 years old; she stands 5'11 and holds a record of 18 wins, all by knockout and 6 defeats, she is a former FCBA welterweight champion.

Sophie is 35 years old; she stands 5'8 and holds a record of 8 wins, all by knockout, with 18 defeats to her name.

The fighters were interviewed by Lucy Liu on the FCBA network studio set, Hilary was first up as she sat down with an air of confidence to her.

When asked what she thought of Sophie, she replies "this is just a tune up in me and my managements eyes, I haven't been able to build steam up this year, so I hope beating Michelle (Ryan) and Sophie will get my head straight for bigger fights"

Lucy mentions that Sophie has a big right hand, with Hilary chuckling and replying "who doesn't in the welterweight division? I have been in the ring with women like Kate Upton, I took her punches and came out on top, Sophie hasn't the skills to beat me"

Hilary continues "I want my welterweight title back, that is all my focus is on, so any woman who wants to step in my way will find out why I am the Queen slayer"

Sophie smirks as she sits down to do her interview; when asked of her opinion of Hilary, she laughs as she says "we all at the Lioness gym call her the biggest stick figure walking, I can't wait to test her body out as I think she'll wilt within 5 rounds"

When she is asked about being dubbed just a JMD fighter, Sophie answers "what's wrong with that? The only people who call JMD style fights are those who don't qualify for them, but I can go with the best of them in the welterweights, Hilary will find that out soon"

Fight night; out comes Hilary with her coach Melanie Sykes and cut woman Eva Carneiro, she is smiling as she heads down to the ring.

She is wearing a black sports bra with her queen slayer badge on the left bra cup, black trunks with white trim, black gloves with white thumbs and black shoes, her hair is up in a ponytail.

Stepping into the ring; Hilary waves to the fans as she jogs over to her corner, Melanie yelling at her to get focused and tear apart Sophie.

Who now comes out with her coach Mel B by her side, Sophie playing to the crowd as she waves for them to stand, then blows kisses to the fans.

She is wearing a navy blue sports bra, matching trunks, shoes and gloves, while her hair is in a double braid for this fight.

Climbing into the ring; Sophie mockingly blows a kiss to Hilary and says "that's the only love you are going to get tonight!" Laughing as she heads to her corner.

After both women have a moment to warm up, they are brought to the ring center, both looking confident as they stare into each others eyes.

They are asked to touch gloves; where they thump their gloves together and jogs over to their corners, the bell is rung to start 10 rounds of welterweight action.

Round 1:
As the fight begins; Hilary moves around Sophie with a confident look on her face as she throws her jab and looks to keep Sophie at range.
But Sophie isn't interested in staying on the outside, so instead she slips under a jab early on and goes to work on the body.
Hilary steps back and looks to land a straight that Sophie moves her head out the way of, the English fighter getting in tight to work away.
The confident smirk on Hilary's face goes away as she is forced to fight on the inside, something she isn't as comfortable clearly as the more compact Sophie is.
Sophie landing an overhand right across the chin of Hilary to know her back behind her guard, the famous page 3 model keeps the pressure on her opponent.
When Hilary's back touches the ropes, she brings her arms to her sides as Sophie tries to work the sides of her body, making Sophie switch up her attack with overhand punches coming in.
Hilary having to pull Sophie into a clinch, with the referee separating the fighters and allowing the lanky model space to work in.
Which as the round is coming to a close; Hilary uses to get rhythm going as she catches her opponent coming in with straight punches to the top of her head.
The round ends with Sophie blowing a kiss to Hilary before she turns and heads to her corner, Mel B even smiles as they are confident after a great first round for them.
Round 2:
Sophie looks to keep in close to Hilary, nullifying her opponent's reach advantage as she dips under a straight and goes to work to the body.
She takes the ring center and has Hilary herded around the ring, the intensity of Sophie seems to have caught out Hilary as she is stuck on the defensive.
When Sophie goes to get tight to Hilary; the American lands a straight to the top of her head and sidesteps her to move into space.
Hilary gets her punches going; ramming her punches into the top of Sophie's head to keep her to the outside, giving her coach something to smile about.
Sophie feints though and as she sees Hilary react, she moves in with a jab up top and a right to the ribs to get in close.
Where the girls slug it out; Sophie again looking happy as she begins to work Hilary back towards the ropes with her punches testing the abs out of her opponent.
Hilary takes a big step back and as Sophie looks to plug the gap, Hilary lands a jab of her own to the nose, followed by a left and right cross after Sophie misses with an overhand right.
The last few seconds of the round seeing Hilary controlling the action as she keeps Sophie at bay, piston like punches thudding into the face of Sophie.
The round ends with both women staring through each other, then head off to their corners with both knowing the other isn't going to go down so easily.
Sophie getting told off Mel "you're two rounds up in my book, so you are doing things great but you need to keep getting inside her reach and the knockout will come"
While across the ring; Melanie points out to Hilary "I hope you realise you are in a fight, don't underestimate this girl, Sophie can bang and judging by the marks on your body you see that now" Hilary nodding before she gets up ready for the next round.
Round 3:
It looks like Hilary has found another gear, she is moving more up on her toes, while she drills her punches between the mitts of her opponent to keep her on the outside.
Sophie hunting down Hilary, getting caught too easily for Mel's liking as her face is starting to look marked up by Hilary's punches.
But Sophie manages to slip under a left and slams a right into the body of her opponent, then an overhand left as she puts Hilary back behind her guard.
Hilary finds herself driven towards the ropes by Sophie's body shots, groans coming from the American as she covers up.
A shove to Sophie's face from Hilary's left allows the taller woman to move off the ropes, an angry look on Sophie's face as she comes quickly onto attacking Hilary.
The girls going toe to toe in the centre of the ring, slamming vicious punches into the others body and head, chants for both ring out around the arena.
Till Hilary steps out the way of a right aimed at her body, countering with a double jab on the nose of Sophie to make her cry out.
A right hook cracks Sophie across her cheek just as the bell rings to knock Sophie back a few steps, Hilary smirks as she flexes her right to try to get in Sophie's head.
Both women return to their corners with marks over them, Mel B not looking happy with Sophie, telling her to keep her gloves up till she can get in close to work.
The Girls Friday corner looking more relaxed after a slow start, Hilary and Melanie talking about tactics now they've had some success.
Round 4:
Hilary again starts off quickly; keeping Sophie on the outside as she rams her punches into the gloves of the Brit, Sophie blocking most of the punches as she has heeded her coaches words to keep her guard tight.
Which allows Sophie to parry a straight and get in close to work, where Sophie forces Hilary to work in tight.
But when Sophie goes for an uppercut that Hilary leans out the way of, Sophie gets caught across the side of her head by a hard left hook.
Sophie stumbles a few steps to the side; with Hilary's eyes lighting up as she comes on the attack with pounding her opponent to the face.
That forces Sophie around the outside of the ring towards the ropes, with punches either smacking into her gloves or face to keep her away from Hilary.
When Sophie tries to come back at Hilary, she gets hit straight onto her face to knock her back towards the ropes.
The bell rings with Hilary getting her smile back as she heads back to her corner, getting her coaching team smiling too as that's the type of round they want from her.
Across the ring is a different matter; Sophie getting her face cleaned up and shouted at by Mel, who is telling her to get control back of the fight before she loses it completely.
Round 5:
Back out the fighters come with Sophie looking to get more aggressive, hunting down Hilary around the ring, with the taller fighter working off her back foot.
Both women landing stiff single punches, till Sophie tries to land an overhand right after throwing a feint left.
But it misses as Hilary leans out the way, then uses her left to nudge Sophie back and lands a right hook that turns Sophie's head.
That seems to trigger Hilary as she sees an opening, with Hilary throwing a barrage of punches straight into the face of Sophie, snapping her head back and knocking her towards a corner.
Sophie tries to cover up but the onslaught she is receiving is stopping her from being able to tightly guard, a right across her brow opens up a cut to make things start to look gruesome for the Brit.
Hilary starts to hammer her jab into the face of Sophie, THEN THROWS AN UPPERCUT THAT CATCHES SOPHIE AND KNOCKS SOPHIE'S HEAD BACK, SOPHIE FALLS TO HER KNEES AND ALL FOURS!
The referee stands over Sophie and begins to count, 1...2...3...4 Sophie looks to grab the ropes to pull herself up, 5...6 but she is badly rocked as she misses the ropes and falls onto her face, 7...8...9...10 ending up being counted out!

Winner Hilary Rhoda KO Round 5

After:
A merciless finish from Hilary, who raises her fists in the air with blood covering her right glove from that cut on Sophie's face.

Hilary marches over to Sophie and poses with her right arm flexed as she stares down at her, telling Sophie "tell Brooklyn (Decker) I'm coming for her" smirking as she hears Sophie groaning.

Mel B scowls at Hilary as she goes to check on her fighter, safely turning her to her side so she can check her over, blood running from Sophie's cut brow onto the canvas.

Hilary heads back to her corner and bumps her fist with Melanie and Eva, before she gets her gloves taken off and washed down.

While across the ring; Sophie is helped to her stool and is being patched up, Sophie looking down at the canvas as Mel tries to console her, telling her she hurt the bytch early.

As soon as both women are ready, they come to the ring centre for the final result to be announced, Hilary beaming as her hand is raised and her fans roar.

Sophie is quick to head out the ring; looking brutally disappointed with herself as she heads down the aisle to the lockers.

But she stops as Brooklyn Decker comes out from the back, checking on Sophie first, who looks surprised and nods her thanks for the concern.

Then Brooklyn heads to the ring; clearly wanting to hear from her future opponent as Hilary hasn't even noticed her yet.

She does when as going for a lap inside the ring celebrating, she sees Brooklyn and before Melanie can stop her, Hilary is out the ring and meeting Brooklyn face to face outside the ring.

Cameras surround them as they go nose to nose, chatting about how things are going to go when they fight on the next Fight Night Live card, trading insults as things look to be getting heated.

Melanie manages to get between them to the disappointment of people around, till Brooklyn sees an opportunity for some fun, shoving Melanie into Hilary and sending both to the mats.

"That's a preview of our fight bytch!" Yells Brooklyn as she grins and turns to head to the locker rooms again, proud that she has scored points before the actual fight between these two.

While after getting untangled from her coach; Hilary looks furious as she sits up, eyes burning as she watches Brooklyn head away.

Before she pushes herself up and storms off to the back, with Melanie and Eva chasing after her, trying to calm her down.