Behati Prinsloo versus Hilary Rhoda

Vs


(Written by Girls Friday/Results by Lookout!)

(Fate's Boxing vs Girls Friday)

Intro:
A battle of former stablemates; Behati Prinsloo takes on her former stable tonight as she fights Hilary Rhoda, so plenty of pride on the line in this fight.

Behati is 29 years old; she stands 5'10 ½ and holds a record of 6 wins, all by knockout and 4 defeats.

Hilary is 31 years old; she stands 5'11 and holds a record of 20 wins, all by knockout and 7 defeats, she is a former FCBA welterweight champion.

Both fighters were interviewed at their gyms by the press in the build up to this contest, with a lot of buzz around how both will talk about the other.

Behati was up first; she finished working on a treadmill and after toweling herself down went over to the press to discuss the fight.

When asked how it feels to fight her former stablemate, Behati smiles as she replies "it should be a lot of fun, I have a lot of respect for Hilary and I know that she is a great fighter, you don't win a title if you aren't right?"

Her mood does change a little as she continues "but while I like her, I had to get out of her shadow, as long as I stayed there I was going to be playing second fiddle, hell maybe third when Joan Smalls is the BBU champion"

Finishing up by saying "now I am in a place that appreciates me, Fates believes in me and I plan on repaying them by showing I am championship worthy, that means crushing my old friend in the ring then so be it"

While Hilary is finishing up sparring with Joan Smalls, both girls hug after the session and once Hilary is rehydrated, she steps out the ring to talk to the press.

She is asked about Behati and her thoughts on her, she answers "I like Behati a lot, though we haven't spoken much since she got picked up by Fates, which before you guys claim we are feuding, she tells me it's because she is training harder then she ever has, so I am glad to hear that"

She is asked if she felt Behati was marginalised in the stable because of her, Hilary replies "I don't want to be cruel but she just wasn't good enough with us, whether the competition for places was too much for her, I don't know because I have seen her do well since she left, all I know is that she isn't using me to get into a title shot off my back"

Fight night; Behati is out with her coach by her side, she looks confident as she jogs down the aisle with a big smile on her face.

She is wearing a violet coloured sports bra, matching trunks, gloves and shoes, while her blonde hair is up in a ponytail.

Getting into the ring; Behati bows to each side of the ring and blows kisses to the crowd, she looks to be buzzing to get started as she gets to her corner and bounces on her toes.

Hilary steps out onto the aisle with Melanie Sykes and Eva Carneiro beside her, she looks more business like as she stands and stares down at the ring before she begins her ring walk.

She is wearing a black sports bra, matching trunks with her Queenslayer badge on the left leg, black shoes and white gloves, her brunette hair is braided.

Stepping into the ring; Hilary waves to the fans as she heads to her corner, once there she begins limbering up as Melanie tells her to keep this strictly business tonight.

But when the fighters come to the ring center, they share a smile as the referee goes through their instructions, while both shake their arms to keep them loose.

When asked to touch gloves they do it straight away, a respectful touch before they turn and head back to their corners looking a lot more serious, with the bell ringing to start 10 rounds of welterweight action.

Round 1:
Both women come out looking ready to test each other with stiff single shots, Hilary it looks is after taking the center of the ring early as she lands a clean double jab to the face of her opponent, just missing with a right though as Behati dances back.
Behati looks to be happy to sit back of the two, moving more on her toes and looking to counter punch it seems as she catches Hilary out with several good clean shots to her face after dodging.
But Hilary soon catches her with a left across her face, opening up Behati to straight right that knocks her head back and allows the American to start catching her more.
Hilary is controlling the action as she herds her former stablemate around the ring, though Behati is showing a great defence to keep herself mostly unmarked.
With Behati again showing her quickness late in the round to dip under a straight and make Hilary pay with two body shots that make her groan out.
The round ends with a good back and forth exchange between the two women, who smile at each other as they pass by to go to their corners, maybe the last good feelings exchanged though as things get serious now.
Round 2:
Again both women start off exchanging single punches, maybe showing the other too much respect as they look for openings to work from.
As Hilary looks to be the first to up the tempo, she misses with a left/right combo as Behati dodges with her superior flexibility and counters.
The former champion is soon looking frustrated as she can't pin down Behati, instead she is the one getting clocked by shots from the Namibian fighter, who is smiling as she looks confident.
Behati's defensive skills are impressive, something her Fates coaching team have clearly worked on as Hilary can't seem to land many clean shots.
While Prinsloo is able to throw two or three punches to score points and keep Rhoda looking like she is fighting a ghost.
Late in the round Hilary finally lands a good punch, a straight catches Behati to her nose, followed by a left across her face that allows Hilary to back her opponent up towards the ropes.
The bell rings before she can do much more and Hilary shakes her head in disbelief as she heads to her corner, Melanie reminding her to stay calm and be patient with her punches.
Across the ring Behati is all smiles, her coaches praising her movement as she might be the most mobile welterweight in the organization, they tell her to prove it.
Round 3:
Hilary looks a little more reluctant to throw at the moment, which pleases her opponent; who simply moves in close to work before slipping back to the outside at will.
Both are landing some good shots to knock the others head back, but it is Behati whose doing it more and dodging more punches as she glides around the ring.
She even starts doubling up more on her jabs as she looks supremely confident, Rhoda clearly wasn't expecting this from her friend and she is getting outworked because of it.
But she decides it seems to up her own volume of punches, she can't stay back and be passive, so after drilling a jab into the face of the dipped down Behati, she follows with a left/right cross combo to start driving her back.
Behati covers up and retreats as Hilary throws punches off her gloves, with the blonde soon slipping under a straight and getting back into a safe space.
Hilary looks like she is ready to explode, trying to keep herself calm as she stalks her opponent around the ring.
The round ends with Behati continuing to simply outbox the former champion, any doubters for Behati might be eating humble pie if this keeps up.
While Hilary punches the top turnbuckle pad in frustration, Melanie sitting her down and tells her to breath, before she goes through what she needs to change up to adapt to the situation.
Round 4:
The blonde continues to look slick as the round begins, dancing around Hilary and jabbing into her cheeks as they are starting to look a little puffy.
All the while Behati is still dodging most of the punches coming towards her head, she starts working the body of her opponent as she moves in close, only taking a few shots in return.
The crowd looks to be loving the guile of Behati, a chant starts for her as she continues to control the action, though Hilary is getting more precise with her punches as she is starting to read the movement of the Namibian.
With Hilary waiting for her chance and then surprising Behati with a best described as a left shoulder barge, Behati definitely looks surprised as her back hits the ropes and Hilary bangs several punches through to the face of Prinsloo.
Hilary looks to be getting her frustration out now as she is winning the exchange now with Behati stuck on the ropes, till Behati forces a clinch to get the referee to break them apart.
Behati looks upset at Hilary for the shoulder bump, she continues to dance around her opponent but is looking more cautious in case she gets another from Hilary.
The round ends though with Behati getting a great lead on the scorecards, her coaching team looking proud of her so far, as she smiles back as she is her bubbly self.
The Girls Friday corner sees Hilary shutting her eyes and focusing on anything right now other then Behati, Melanie is wiping her body down as Eva works on reducing the swelling around her cheeks, also stopping her lip bleeding as even judging on looks Hilary is losing now.
Round 5:
This time Hilary comes out like a rocket, she is looking to keep Behati stuck on the ropes, with the blonde still mostly dodging punches but Hilary is definitely starting to press her more.
Till Hilary feints with her left and as Behati moves to the right to dodge, the real punch comes around to smack Prinsloo across her cheek.
Leading to the American forcing Behati into a brawl, something she didn't want to be in as Hilary is using bullying tactics now, using her left to shove her opponent off balance, then landing punches straight between the mitts.
Behati starting to look a little worried; Hilary knocks her onto the ropes with a three punch combination knocking the head back of the blonde, who clinches up again with her opponent.
The referee pries them apart and Behati is able to get back to ducking and dodging, she seems to have stepped up another gear as she surprises Hilary with an overhand left.
The momentum has swung back to Behati's hands as the crowd again begins chanting for her, the supposed underdog is taking the fight to Hilary, who is covering up as she finds herself under a flurry of punches.
The bell rings and Behati while probably losing the round still looks uber confident as she jogs back to her corner, Hilary watches her and must be wonder where all this has come from.
But as she heads back to her corner; Melanie tells her "you started to get at her this round, now show her why you are the better woman!" With Hilary regaining her focus and banging her gloves together to psyche herself up.
Round 6:
Both women come out strong, Behati looking to keep on the move is finding Hilary stalking her around the ring, each is landing with clean punches through the others mitts as the Fates corner is telling Behati to stick to counter punching.
But as Behati looks to do that; Hilary feints her again and as Behati looks to counter her, the real uppercut comes and smashes the blondes head back.
Behati looks stunned as Hilary starts pounding her back across the ring, blood is flowing from a cut lip on Prinsloo now as she is beaten backwards by a very keen Rhoda.
When Behati looks to clinch up; Hilary just shoves her back with her left and lands a stiff straight punch that knocks Behati back a step.
It's clear momentum has changed completely as Behati is looking slower, when she tries to dip down Hilary is now catching her clean.
So Behati tries to slug it out with Hilary; bad move as her team shout for her to clinch and she ends up taking another stiff right across her face, followed by a left straight onto her lips.
Soon Behati is stuck on the ropes, covering up as Hilary starts bashing the sides of her opponent, the bell rings to end a complete shut out for Rhoda.
Who yells "come on!" As she jogs back to her corner, happy that she has finally battered Behati, who is shaking her head and still looks stunned as she heads back to her corner.
Both women are now marked up as their coaches work on cleaning them up and getting them ready for the next round.
Round 7:
As the fighters come out; Behati is struggling to move with the same quickness as before, allowing Hilary to catch her more often now as the fighters trade.
Soon enough Hilary steps in close with a jab landing straight through the mitts of Behati, A RIGHT HOOK FOLLOWS THAT CRACKS BEHATI ACROSS HER CHIN TO WOBBLE HER, WITH A BARRAGE LANDING TO SEND BEHATI SPRAWLING TO HER BACK!
Some of the crowd boo but most look impressed at Hilary's resilience, 1...2...3 Behati is blinking her eyes as she lays spread eagle, 4...5.. She turns slowly to her front, 6...7..8 with Hilary looking worried that Behati will get up, 9... But Behati falls back to her face and... 10 is counted out!

Winner Hilary Rhoda KO Round 7

After:
Hilary needed to come back from well behind, it is very rare to say she is outboxed but she definitely was tonight and it shows as she is too sore to celebrate more then a roar to her fans.

The Fates coaching team with the ringside doctor rush in to check on Behati, the blonde is helped to her stool where after a few moments she tells them that she is feeling better.

After Hilary has her gloves taken off, has had a drink and been cleaned up, her, Melanie and Eva head over to the opposition corner to talk to them.

Hilary kneeling down to talk to Behati, both women touch foreheads as Hilary tells Behati "you are truly unreal in here now" as Behati laughs and says her thanks.

Melanie meanwhile admits to the Fates staff "we didn't bring out the best in Behati as she deserved, she looked like a champion in here and you've only been training her a few months, I can't wait to see how good she and the others in your stable look with more of your coaching.

More pleasantries are exchanged as both stables and fighters show great respect for each other, Hilary even surprises them all by helping up Behati and raising her hand up to a loud cheer from the fans.

"You'll be a champion babe I know it" says a teary Hilary, as Behati sheds a few tears too and the old friends embrace as if there were any issues before the fight, it seems they are gone.

Behati soon leaves the ring as her Fates coaching crew shaking hands with their Girls Friday counter parts, maybe money should be put on Behati to be the welterweight breakout star next year if tonights performance and her win over Karlie Kloss are anything to go by.

Inside the ring; Hilary thanks the crowd as she fights back tears, admitting to Melanie she was wrong to disrespect Behati in the build up to the fight, with Melanie nodding and the Girls Friday crew leave the ring together.

Hilary still has someway to go it seems to be in a position to claim the title back, but she is certainly giving it a good go judging by her talk with Melanie on getting into the gym after New Years day and getting big fights straight away.