BEFORE: It doesn't get any more exotic than this as former Miss World Priyanka Chopra and Hawaii's very own Nicole Scherzinger are ready to duke it out in the ring next. Priyanka's arrival at the elite Hawkeye gym must be regarded as an upset signing of the year and unfortunately for the Indian stunner, the results just are not there to justify the head-scratching move from one of the most successful stables in the FCBA history.
Meanwhile Nicole has a point to prove herself, following her extended tenure at Front Street she played second fiddle to Minka Kelly on the Lookout bantamweight corps and jumped ship to Lioness Club of America full of confidence she can muscle the divisional Alpha status from Eva Mendes (who once smoked her inside the opening round though). However the very same Minka Kelly then followed suit on a free trade and won the stable's maiden bantamweight championship which killed any hopes Scherzinger had of becoming that Alpha woman. She has to settle for the unofficial Queen Of The Beach title she won against Laura Vandervoort in June 2015 but that's not good enough to put her Lioness future in perennial jeopardy.
Priyanka Chopra wears a golden one-piece swimsuit with black trim and white gloves. Long dark brown hair tied in a curly ponytail. Nicole Scherzinger wears a white bikini set with red trim and red gloves. Long raven-black hair tied in a sleek ponytail. The fight is scheduled for ten rounds in the bantamweight division.
Round 1:
Mind over matter stuff from both women early on; you could argue these are two 19 year olds in their flyweight debut but the pressure to score that all important victory seems to get the better of them at this stage. Priyanka's scattered attacks fail to break the Hawaiian guard and Nicole thumps her foe with a vicious jabbing delivery instead; as the intensity of this contest grows, the singer finds more success with her high-octane jabbing and outworks the actress to the point Chopra simply has to yield real estate in order to avoid facial damage. Scherzinger keeps firing upstairs most of the time and lands a late double on the cheeks that finally stumbles an aching Indian to the ropes but the clock expires before the Lioness fighter can dish out more leather.
Round 2:
Priyanka's woeful execution keeps handing the American a clear advantage as the seconds tick away; there's just no way through for the Indian woman and Nicole's high guard withstands everything being thrown at her before another head hunting assault snaps Chopra back to the ropes and this time Scherzinger's right on the money whipping her otherwise sluggish foe into an earmuffed standstill. Since Priyanka's all covered up upstairs, the singer finally switches to the body and harpoons that toned breadbasket which raises the moaning volume from her foe, a swift left hook then pierces the mitts and snaps Chopra's head one more time so the late rally to the guts almost comes as a bonus since the singer stays on top of the action all the way through here. This is anything but a trademark Hawkeye success story and the decision to sign Chopra looms as a massive bust at this stage.
Round 3:
One has to give credit to Chopra for trying, she swarms all over the Hawaiian brunette in the third again and prevents further damage upstairs but the body assault bounces off the forearms and only triggers a lenghty wrestling struggle that admittedly halts Scherzinger's charge but doesn't really win the judges' approval. However Priyanka just refuses to let go of the clinch and gets warned by the ref a couple of times until a visibly annoyed singer smacks her with a left hook to the nose and follows up with more midriff-checking efforts that reel the former Miss World to the corner. It's a familiar sight here in MSG when the clock expires, Chopra's trapped butt-in-ropes and just soaking up more Hawaiian heat.
Round 4:
Nicole continues to read the whitewash script; it's like a throwback to her Asylum days but nobody calls a Hawkeye fighter 'tomato can' around the place even though the punches just stack up on Priyanka's face and render her into a mobile punchbag at the very least. Nicole's always up for a brief dancing routine and easily tracks down the Indian's effort to escape to the back row before slicing her high guard up with more jabbing menace. She has the actress right where she wants her but she needs that one big punch to really rattle Chopra off her comfort zone. Despite adding more Hawaiian juice in the final minute, Priyanka does well to survive the onslaught and actually rips a left/right cross spot on the bell that finds the singer's mouth and wobbles her into a thunder uppercut on the jaw! That landed long after the bell but Chopra escapes the late blow with a mere warning, it's better to be lucky than good but the HISC crew needs more than just a single punch to turn things around here. It's 40-36 Nicole on the cards, a rare scoreline according to the record books.
Round 5:
Scherzinger gestures towards the crowd and vows to end this one quickly now; well, despite all the scorecards blues, Priyanka's mental attitude has hardly been cracked and the windmill like execution finally brings her some joy early in the fifth. She beats the flamboyant singer for the initial punch and whacks her on the nose before driving an uppercut to the solar plexus that stacks the older brunette breathless for a moment... suddenly a flurry of belting harpoons tackle the midsection and reel Nicole on her heels, she gets bumped further back when Priyanka applies a classic jug-to-jug contact and whips another perfect hook that tags the ear and sends the Hawaiian girl into a tailspin. All changed at the bell now; it's Chopra ripping through the other woman's guts and LCA head trainer Claudia Schiffer gets vocal for the first time tonight as she tries to somehow distract the HISC brunette but Priyanka goes all-in on her foe's midriff and has to be pulled off by the ref at the bell. Scherzinger is livid with that treatment and vows to avenge her troubles as soon as the bell rings again.
Round 6:
Here we go! The unneccessary Hawaiian comeback is on! Nicole's ego was damaged by that pillar-to-post beating in the fifth and instead of sitting on the wide points lead, the singer tries to take the Indian's head off... with catastrophical conseqences... she loops a hooking combo that cuts thin air as Chopra channels her past modelling days moves and BLASTS a screamer on the counter drill... she almost shove her glove into Nicole's mouth and half-spins her into a stumble.... next thing the older brunette notices when she looks up is Priyanka's right hook tearing a huge cut over her left eye AND SENDING HER CRASHING FACE DOWN ON THE CANVAS!!! What in the world? Nicole's butt sticks up in the air as she tries to keep her lips from sucking the boards but she eventually sits down at around seven and makes a desperate lunge to beat the suspiciously quick count... She's up at nine... ooof, that was close but wait a minute... the blood is streaming down from that deep cut over the left eye and the ref orders a quick fix... by the time Nicole gets patched up, a significant swelling develops around the right eye too and the ref wants to have another look at this one... Nicole claims she's good to go but gives the wrong anwers upon seeing four fingers instead of two... Oh dear, the ref must be a Chicago Cubs fan still nursing a hangover because HE CALLS IT OFF!!! The Hawaiian is deemed unable to continue this fight despite still leading on the cards! Controversial TKO6 Priyanka Chopra in come-from-behind fashion!!!
AFTER: "F#### robbery in broad daylight! Hawkeye bribed the damn ref!", LCA coach Claudia Schiffer loses her temper and tries to get physical with the officials but it's a lost cause. Priyanka doesn't mind getting lucky to stop her losing skid and claims "she would have blasted Scherzinger all the way back to Hawaii anyway" in wake of that knockdown that turned the fight on it's head and neglected one of the biggest possible scorecards leads. The Indian stunner lost four of the first five rounds yet somehow got the win in what must be described as a solid contender for 'Comeback Of The Year' fight awards regardless of the controversy that was attached to it.
The Hawkeye entourage takes extra pleasure from the anguished efforts by the Schiffer & Scherzinger tandem to reverse the original call. It's so obvious the verdict will stand but perhaps the almighty Consortium finds enough respect to the community to offer the otherwise distraught singer a rematch down the line. The Chopra/Scherzinger match-up looks like a special evening treat under any place in the sun and the Lioness front office vows to salvage whatever's left from the Hawaiian pride to make the rematch happen sooner rather than later.
Final result: Priyanka Chopra def. Nicole Scherzinger TKO6.
