Romee Strjid versus Hilary Rhoda

Vs


(Written by Girls Friday/Results by Lookout!)

(Girls Friday vs Lioness Club)

Intro:
Hilary Rhoda looks to get back on the winners podium after losing her last two fights, in her way is Romee Strijd, the up and coming fighter getting in the ring for the first time this year.

Hilary is 33 years old; she stands 5'11, holding a record of 31 wins, all coming by knockout, with 11 defeats, she is a former FCBA welterweight champion.

Romee is 24 years old; she also stands 5'11, her record is 8 wins, all coming by way of knockout, with 5 defeats.

This is seen as understandably a hard test for Romee, whose biggest test in the past was Amanda Righetti, who she kept up will till she got knocked out by the legend.

But in her favour is Hilary is on a bad run, after a strong run last year that got her back into the title picture this year, Hilary has lost to Righetti and the now former champion Adrianne Palicki, with Romee nearly being ten years younger.

Both women were interviewed by Alicia Atout in the interview area, first up in front of the FCBA badge on the wall was Hilary looking relaxed as she wears a black leather jacket, black shirt and blue jeans.

Asked about her view on Romee, Hilary says "me and Romee are natural rivals, I mean I'm a Sports Illustrated girl and she is a Victoria Angel, so we have competed for the last few years, I know she has wanted to fight me for a while"

Lifting her top up a little to show her abs, Hilary adds "it's always nice to prove to my rivals why they are not in my class, Romee can go back to the amateurs after I am done with her" Alicia wishes her luck before Hilary heads off.

Romee is up now wearing a red dress, she has her hands on her hips looking ready for the catwalk, she tells Alicia "they say you need that big break fight, well this is my chance to show what I am made of, the fact it is that arrogant nobody Hilary that I am going to knockout is the cherry on top"

Asked about the rivalry between them, Romee replies "all us Angels are sick of those Sports Illustrated girls, I know Hilary has Alessandra (Ambrosio) as her stablemate, Alessandra won't say anything but I know she doesn't care for Hilary one bit, those SI girls are wannabes" grinning Romee twirls to show herself off before she heads off.

Fighting time; Hilary heads out down the aisle wearing white with black trim, matching trunks with her surname on the waistband and a gold star next to her name, black shoes and gloves, while her brunette hair is tied up into a braid.

Climbing through the ropes into her corner, Hilary flexing her arms as she shows off her toned body, stretching as she warms up with her coach Rebecca Romijn and cut woman Eva Carneiro looking relaxed as they talk on the apron.

Now out comes Romee with Mel B beside her, she is wearing an orange sports bra with black trim, matching trunks, black shoes and gloves, while her blonde hair is in a ponytail.

Getting into the ring with a sneer aimed at Hilary, Romee blows kisses to her fans cheering her, before she warms up with her equally toned body on show.

Heading to the center of the ring, both women look evenly matched looking at their bodies, very similar physically, they look ready to strike each other with fists clenched in their gloves.

Told to touch gloves up, they do so with a slap of leather, turning back to their corners with the crowd chanting for them, the bell rings to start 10 rounds of welterweight action.

Round 1:
Off we go! Both fighters circling with a jabbing exchange to kick off the action, eyes burning with determination as they move up on their toes, Romee looking the slghtly faster with her feet and fists.

Slipping a straight punch, Hilary lands a counter left to the cheek of the Dutch fighter, a right to the mouth follows as she makes Strijd be the first to back up, a let's say confidence grin forming on Hilary's face.

Especially as in the opening minute she seems to be putting her punches together better between them, keeping her foe from between able to land more then single punches.

Till Romee feints with her jab, Hilary goes to slip a punch that doesn't come, taking a right cross to her jaw to give her a taste of Romee's power in her lithe toned body.

A double jab comes from Strijd in the next exchange, backing up Hilary to the outside of the ring, with Romee ducking a left cross to bury in two rights to the ribs.

Now it is Romee controlling things, Hilary uncharacteristically letting go with some wilder punches then normal, maybe flustered by Romee showing her up after a strong star.

At the bell Romee heads back to her corner with her right hand in the air, showing the crowd that round was firmly hers by the end, Melanie giving her praise for giving Hilary a taste of what she can do.

Round 2:
Back out comes Hilary looking more determined, not wanting a repeat of the last round as both start off nearly a mirror image to each other, doubling up their jabs as they box around the other.

Leaning out the way of a straight, Hilary moves backwards towards the ropes, Romee chasing after her finds out why Hilary has suddenly become a coward, ducking under a jab Hilary pounds in a left to the body, followed by an overhand right to the cheek.

Moving away from the ropes, Hilary has slowed the pace of the fight by boxing more on the back foot, stinging the face of Strijd with straight punches more then she is getting hit.

Banging her gloves together in frustration, Romee tells Hilary to come and fight, with Hilary catching her to the mouth with a straight as she grins.

Heading towards the end of the round, Hilary gets caught with a jab to her and when she tried to dive in, a right follows up across the cheek of the brunette, with Romee pushing back Hilary to the outside part of the ring.

At the bell as Hilary gets hit with a right hook to her jaw, she still grins at Romee, knowing she most likely has won the round, though Rebecca doesn't look too pleased by the lack of focus at the end there.

Round 3:
Circling again as they looking for a better angle to strike, they trade single punches in the opening moments of the round, Romee moving her upper body more to create openings and dodge.

Dipping under a jab, Romee drills in a right to the toned abs of Hilary, she follows up with a left cross to the ribs of her fellow model, looking to back up her in a show of force.

Hilary moves back two steps, catching Romee across the top of her head with a double jab, with both settling into midrange to trade flurries of punches, getting the crowd even more excited.

With the half way point coming, Romee lands an overhand right to the cheek of her rival, adding two cross punches to mark up the cheeks of Rhoda, who finds herself driven onto the ropes.

Keeping Hilary on the ropes by pressing up to her, Romee forcing hard fought exchanges, winning them as she can load up her punches better of the two.

The bell rings to end the round, Hilary giving Romee a shove as the Dutch model smirks at her, returning to their corners, both get washed down as they stand on their feet, ready to get back at each other.

Round 4:
Coming together at the center of the ring; trading headhunting combos, some sweat flying off the head of both women, their equal reach making it hard for them to gain control at range.

Romee again slips a straight, stepping in with a left cross to that reddened cheek of Hilary, landing another two punches to the face of the brunette to drive her backwards.

Herded around the outside of the ring, Hilary is finding her head getting knocked back by stiff straight punches through her gloves, Rebecca yelling at her to clinch or parry.

Past the half way point of the round, Hilary finally deflects a straight and steps in with an uppercut, that puts Romee onto her heels as she is pushed back by Hilary.

Who drills a crisp jab/straight into the blondes face, sidestepping a right cross from Romee, Hilary adds a double jab to the jaw of Strijd to make her groan out.

Heading into the final moments of the round with Romee now in a corner, both women trading but it is Hilary now landing the heavier artillery, sending back the head of Strijd to the delight of her corner team.

The round comes to a close with Hilary nodding over to Rebecca, though both corners know that was a tight round to call, telling them to step it up.

Round 5:
Throwing more leather into bodies to mix things up, Romee looks to be getting read more by Hilary, she gets caught with a right to her jaw when she steps in with a straight that misses.

Romee manages to land a straight but gets caught with an uppercut when she loads up the left, her head snaps back as a straight follows to knock her backwards.

The accuracy of Strijd is going down, she is getting smacked into her face more as Hilary looks to be rocking her backwards, A LEFT HOOK SMACKS ROMEE TO HER CHIN, A RIGHT HOOK SENDS HER TO HER BACK!

Raising her arms into the air, Hilary looking confident she has won, 1...2...3... Romee shakes her head as she turns to her front, 4...5...6.. She grabs the bottom rope in front of her, using start pulling herself up, 7...8...9.. Romee beats the count, the referee checks her and deems her OK to continue.

Hilary looks in disbelief at first, then her expression turns dark as she goes straight for Romee, who looks to catch Hilary with a right hook, it is deflected though and a straight smacks into her nose.

Clearly still hurt and with just under two minutes to go, Romee is finding herself being knocked into her own corner, TWO UPPERCUTS ROCK HER AGAINST THE TURNBUCKLES, SHE IS GETTING POUNDED AND BEFORE THE REFEREE CAN STEP IN, MEL B THROWS IN THE TOWEL TO SAVE HER FIGHTER!

Winner Hilary Rhoda TKO Round 5

After:
A dominant finish there for Hilary, who turns her back on Romee to yell "come on!" Heading back to her corner with Rebecca ready to give her a pat on her back, Eva hugging her as they celebrate together.

While Mel helps Romee sit on her stool, Romee holding her jaw as she is dazed, Mel wiping her down and helping to clear her head.

Melanie telling Romee that she did a good job, pundits at ringside would agree as it was a competitive fight, Romee still looks disappointed as one basic mistake cost her this bout.

With both fighters cleaned up, they head to the center of the ring, neither looks at the other as they clearly don't like each other still, Hilary getting her hand raised as Romee shakes her head.

Leaving the ring with her coach, Romee heads up the aisle looking up at the ceiling, wondering where it went wrong for her, probably going to be looking at the tape of this fight after this.

Inside the ring Hilary poses for the cameras with her kissing her right fist, while she has a towel in her left hand, a dig at Romee as clear as day, Rebecca chuckling at the sight.

They soon leave the ring together, the Girls Friday crew all smiles as they head up the aisle, Hilary back on the winning path, though she will need to wait for Brooklyn Decker to be dethroned before she has any hope of a title shot, now is time for her to build herself back up