Ursula Andress vs Anita Ekberg from Paris, France (Ca 1963)

Vs


(Ca. 1963, Paris; France)

(Written by Girls Friday)

Intro:
The story of Ursula Andress and Anita Ekberg began with the movie that made Ursula a house hold name, her role of Honey Ryder in Dr.No as the first Bond girl in film.
Anita was considered for the role of Homey herself after her performances in films like La Dolce Vita and Boccaccio '70, before it went to the unknown at the time Ursula.
While Anita accepted the loss of the role with not much complaining, she was rumoured to be upset in private that it had went to someone no one had heard of.
She had started to forget about her role, when she was cast in 4 for Texas with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and as it turned out; Ursula Andress.
The girls got along well enough, not saying much through filming, over time they even started to show signs of friendship, talking over problems of the script, daily life's and even problems with men.
But old scars were always on the surface and what was becoming a friendly relationship, turned into hatred over a set of drinks.
Stories go that after a hard day filming, the four main actors in the film were drinking together, Anita and Ursula had laughed, even danced together for their male friends.
But as talk turned to other matters, talk of James Bond and Ursula in her famous white bikini coming out the sea came up.
Anita commented "it should have been my role" whether the drink had loosened her lips or she'd just let her mind speak.
Ursula of course didn't exactly take that slight laying down, asking Anita to explain herself and getting a not so friendly explanation from the Swedish born Ekberg.
The argument between the girls became heated, leading to a slap from one of the girls, reports vary; but all agree that the girls turned the table they were drinking at, pulled hair, slapped the taste out of each others mouths and got into a catball on the floor.
While Frank and Dean loved a catfight, they both knew they couldn't let the fight go on too long, any injuries here would endanger the film shooting and neither actor wanted to be stuck waiting to finish this film.
Pulled apart, the girls screamed at each other, wanting to be freed to fight it out till one of them proved to be the better woman.
Frank suggested the two make money out of their fight, being a wise guy you could say, he told both that he'd arrange the two to step into a boxing ring to finish this argument, paying customers would come and he'd expect a cut of any gates.
Ordering the girls to shake hands to agree, the girls glared hard at each other, all love they had grew for the other was gone, but they did shake hands, since they knew the guys would stop them fighting it out anyway.
Filming finished and the girls went off to train for their fight, thinking of how deep down they could see so much of themselves in the other, two stunning blondes, both from Europe and both with bodies to die for, it made them want this fight so much more.
The fight was in Paris, normally the city of love, Tonight it would be the center of a war of beauties, with one blonde bombshell standing over her rival.
The arena was normally a ballroom, it had been converted for the fight by Frank's plans, the ballroom had a regulation boxing ring in the center and tables with chairs were spread out around the ring, each holding a group of men in black suits or women in beautiful dresses, only high paying people were allowed in, there was one long empty space that led to a backstage area.
Ursula was the first down to the ring, the 27 year old at the time was wearing a white robe, the front of the robe would flick open to show some of her famously toned body.
Entering the ring, Ursula bounced up and down on her toes as she headed to her corner, her debut fight in celeb boxing.
Out came Anita next, the 32 year old was wearing a yellow robe, her long lush legs were on show, Anita looked proud of her body, strutting down to the ring with the front bit teasingly open to show her own fit body.
Entering the ring, Anita punched the turnbuckle in her corner, before raising it to the crowd who give her a cheer, making Ursula scowl at her.
Coming towards the ring centre, the referee stood between the girls, now it was time to show each other what they have worked to create.
Ursula is first, her taped fists pulling on the belt of her robe, slowly peeling it off to reveal the same white bikini she wore for Dr.No.
Anita lost it, her temper boiling over as she pushed the referee aside and both girls grabbed the other by their hair, the crowd roaring as the two gorgeous starlets fought it out.
Ursula ripped at the robe of Anita, pulling it open to reveal the yellow bikini with blue trim she wore, before the referee with help from the coaches helped to pull the girls apart.
Back in their corners they stood, Anita takes her robe off and tosses it outside the ring, screaming for her coach to get her gloves on.
Finally both girls have their gloves on, ready to fight it out, the referee doesn't bother with a touch of gloves, he doesn't want another shove from either girl.
Instead he waves for the timekeeper to ring the bell and begin this fight to the delight of the fans, 15 rounds of action.

Round 1:
Both come out quickly, straight away you can see the differences in the fighters, Anita is throwing quick hands, striking around the guard of Ursula, while Ursula has the harder single punches, snapping the head of Anita back.
The girls in tight is giving Ursula the early advantage, beating Anita through her guard, knocking her back several steps as the taller blonde tries to match power with her Swiss counterpart.
After being knocked back, Anita changes tactics, shifting backwards, she uses her range and speed of hands to keep Ursula on the back foot.
Ursula tries to walk through the punches of Ekberg, but the Swede lands a good three punch combo up top to make Andress think about it.
The action starts to slow down a little, both seem stunned by the power each girl has, but gamely they continue to press forward, striking single punches over the others guard.
Till the 10 second warning sounds, Ursula steps in and cracks Anita to her left cheek with a right hook, the taller blonde shakes her head, clearly hurt as Ursula pushes forward.
Swinging hard shots to the body of Anita, Ursula looks on a mission as her prey covers up under the assault, but not long later the bell rings to a groan from some in the crowd, clearly on the side of the Swiss starlet.
Anita scowls at Ursula, walking over to her corner and shaking her head to her coach, who washes her face and tells her "keep your hands up and wipe the floor with this nobody"
Round 2:
Resuming the action, Anita has clearly learned her lesson from round 1, boxing at midrange, she's disrupting the punches of Ursula with quick viper like strikes from the pocket.
Ursula is trying to press her way forward, but she's not exactly thinking, more stuck in a robotic focus, striking forwards with straights to try and open up Anita, who leans out the reach of her rival and then cracks her with counterpunches up the centre.
The lack of a real defence from Ursula means that her nose takes a good amount of the counter shots and a thin trickle of blood forms from her left nostril to show the damage she's starting to take.
Anita starts smirking, clearly enjoying this dominance over her rival, she's not able to stop the stubborn Andress from coming forward, but she's wearing her down with these strikes.
A grunt escapes Anita's lips though, Ursula lunges in to land a good right cross to the ribs of Anita, then she throws a left over the top.
Suddenly Anita finds herself in a firefight, the girls trading as Ursula lowers her head and almost smacks it into the chin of Anita, as she steps forward to keep working the body.
Anita looks unsure now, the cockily smile disappearing as she's forced into a full on fight, but as she calms down, she holds on to Ursula, driving the younger woman's head down and sending her right in an uppercut to body and jugs of her rival.
The referee steps in to separate the two, warning Anita to keep things clean, she bows to the ref to apologize, but doesn't to Ursula.
Who instead seeks her own justice by stepping forward and keeping tight to Ekberg for the last few moments of the round.
As the bell rings, the girls stand and stare, no words being spoken, each girl trying to make the other back down, but seeing an undefeatable spirit in the others eyes.
Returning to their corners, even after a much better round, Anita looks to be kicking herself, she can't believe she let Ursula back into the fight, she had her where she wanted her in her own mind.
Ursula finally wipes the blood from her nose, as if just noticing it for the first time, staring at the blood stain on the back of her white glove, she almost looks like she's just realised how badly she may get beaten up.
Round 3:
Back come the girls, Anita working on the outside, using her long left arm to pin Ursula back from making any rash movements.
Once she feels comfortable, she lashes her shots out, cracking Ursula to her nose and cheeks to turn the head of her rival.
Sweat is starting to run on both fit girls bodies, each circling and Ursula throws caution to the wind, barrelling into Anita to work the body, driving her arms in like pistons, till she gets clinched up and Anita whispers some insult, as Ursula clearly wants to break free and punish Anita for her words.
The referee separates the girls, giving Anita amble time to step back and again use her rangy strikes to pierce the guard of Andress.
Ursula fans chant her name, hoping to get her into this fight, but Anita continues to time any forward movement from the younger girl, clearly seeing tells in her face or body language and countering her.
A mistimed charge from Ursula results in her being put down to her side and the crowd gasping, a right hook lands flush on Ursula's chin and her legs give way.
Anita roars "stay down bytch!" At her former costar, as the referee has to physically move her himself to a neutral corner.
Beginning his count, Ursula with the extra time she got from Anita's arguing with the ref, using the count to clear her head, but beats the count at 8 and tells the referee that she's OK.
Anita tries to end the fight now, striking with her straight towards the nose of Ursula, who just about blocks it, though she doesn't block the right to her ribs.
Ekberg is driving forwards now, clearly sensing weakness in her opponent, that changes quickly though when a right hand slams near her left eye.
Anita is blinking hard with her left, maybe an inadvertent thumb poke, she complains to the referee, who ignores her saying it was a legal punch.
Now Ursula comes back at her, the girls in tight and Andreas's setting the terms of the fight now, body punching seems the name of the game as she drives on with short sharp punches around the abs of Anita.
Not long to go in the round, Anita getting desperate after seeing Ursula finish strong in each round, shoves her back and lands a good two straight punches up top to knock Ursula back onto her heels.
The crowd are loving this back and forth action, the bell rings to a groan from the crowd, Ursula just looks happy to escape the round with her head still on her body.
Anita jogs back to her corner, desperate to get up and get at Ursula, hoping to finish this fight soon or get the consequences of not doing that.
Round 4:
Ursula starts covering up more, learning her lesson it seems that she can not be reckless against an accurate puncher like Anita.
The two circling near the ring centre, Anita doing all the early work, again working at distance, trying to crack open the defences of her opponent, working get fists up and down it's target.
Ursula with the odd lunge that meets a hard straight, her lips now starting to swell as her nose starts to trickle blood more freely.
A chant for Ursula begins, clearly getting under the skin of Anita, who almost looks to be staring past her opponent and into the crowd.
That lack of focus costs her as she tries to come forward and now Ursula comes out the pocket with a right cross, landing on that sore left eye.
Anita blinking again, her left eye reddening up from the vicious shots it's eaten and now Ursula drives forward.
The Swedish blonde is retreating, trying to get that safe distance back and is finding herself in a tight spot as her back touches a set of ropes.
Her face shows shock as she evidently didn't work out where she is in the ring and Ursula sees her chance to really punish Anita.
Anita covers up top, so Ursula works the body, looping shots around the guard to the sides, Ekberg winces under each shot as she starts to lean back further into the ropes.
She finally springs forward to clinch up, but Ursula presses Anita to the ropes, both girls swearing into each others ears nearest their mouths, the crowd shocked that two beauties like this know some of the words they are exchanging.
The referee pulls the girls apart, Ursula tries to go back on the attack, but ends up getting sidestepped and eats a straight left shot to her cheek.
Now Ursula stumbles sideways, Anita drives forward to batter her fellow blonde to the ropes under a loud cheer from her fans.
The fighters trade with barely anytime left in the round and the bell finally rings, but the girls keep pounding away at each other, falling into a clinch as the referee struggles to pull the wild cats apart.
A loud roar echo's in the old ballroom and Frank Sinatra can be seen in the front row of tables, grinning wildly, enjoying the show he helped organize, before he raises his glass across the ring to Dean Martin, who grins back and toasts his friend.
In the ring, the girls are pulled apart by their coaches, both snarling and kicking bare feet at each other, luckily not connecting some think, others not so much in the crowd.
Round 5:
The girls come out with rage written on their faces, Anita clearly losing patience with her tactics, just wanting to beat Ursula into submission.
But she finds herself being smacked backwards once the girls start trading, Anita just hasn't the raw power to square up to Ursula.
A particularly vicious right to that left eye of Anita, opening up a cut above the left eyebrow of the Swedish fighter, making her yelp and retreat again.
Suddenly the fight is back in the hands of Ursula, she powers through the guard of an almost winpering Anita, clearly shook up as blood runs down her face.
Ursula pins Anita onto the ropes, bashing her to the body till Anita takes a knee and Ursula just gets stopped smacking her opponent when she's down by the referee holding her arm back.
The two argue as the referee tells Ursula to get to a neural corner and Andress claims bias for not letting her deliver the finishing shot.
Finally she gets to a neutral corner and Anita milks the count till 9, then beats it and while she looks questioningly at Ursula, as if her rival is going to pat on her the back for getting up, she nods to the referee that she wants to continue and off they go again.
Ursula continues to pressure Anita back, slugging her to the body to try and open the guard up top, the Swede is covering herself up well though, clearly her desperation is helping her keep focus on not being hit as much.
So the Swiss fighter changes her plot, measuring up her opponent with her jab, when she finds a hole in her defence, she begins pounding her right through it.
Anita is knocked back into a corner now, the crowd is edging closer in their seats, but the bell ends the round before Anita can be put down again.
Ursula clearly wants to keep going, instead she can only stare at Anita, seeing the blood nearly covering the left side of Anita's face from the pounding she's taken.
Some women gasp in the crowd, clearly not expecting the fight to be so brutal, while the looks on the men in attendance faces show they were not expecting it either.
Both girls return to their corners, Anita's corner quickly working to stop that cut and asks her "do you really want this?" To which Ekberg nods that she does.
Ursula looks ready to fly out of her corner, as her coach has to calm her down and works to clean up her face of sweat and blood, her once pristine white gloves are now strained with the blood of Anita.
Round 6:
Out come the girls more slowly, the pace and damaged they dealt each other was taking it's toll, but Ursula looked the fresher as the girls circled.
The girls traded single shots as they seek an opening to strike at, it's Ursula who finds the hole or to be precise creates one.
Sweeping a right hook across the guard of Anita, Ekberg's guard moves away from her face and before she can get her arms back into position, Ursula strikes with some sickening shots.
Anita's head snaps back and her eyes shut as she is rocking and wobbling backwards, she doesn't see the uppercut that cracks her right on the money and down goes Anita.
The crowd all stand and clap as they know this fight is over, the referee checks her over but Anita is slumbering and even if refereeing standards were not as good as today for safety, the referee doesn't bother counting as this fight is done.

Winner: Ursula Andress KO Round 6

After:
Cameras rush to take close up photos on the ring apron of this crazy scene, Ursula raises her arms in the air, even as she feels tired and very sore from her first official fight in her life, she is so happy at this moment.
Anita is getting checked over by her coach, putting smelling salts under her nose to wake her up, it takes several moments, but when she does wake up, part of her wishes her coach had stretched her out the ring with medical staff.
Ursula, who'd had her gloves taken off, hugs Frank Sinatra, who waves his right hand at Dean behind Andress's back, hinting Dean has to pay for a bet made between the two on the fight.
Seeing Anita stirring, part of Ursula wants to shake hands with her opponent, clear the air and let them both get on with their lives without bothering each other again.
Of course that isn't what she chooses to do, her emotions make her go over to the still on her back Ekberg and place her bare foot on the chest of her rival.
Anita looks up surprised, but as she sees the cocky smile on the lips of her conquerer, she starts scowling and weakly trying to push the foot off her bountiful chest.
Ursula rubs her foot into her rivals jugs, trying to prove to Anita her superior over her and cameras take the picture that Andress will keep on her mantle piece for many years.
"You'll never be in my class bytch! So next time you go saying you should be a Bond girl, remember that a real one kicked your ass!" Screams Ursula down at Anita, who doesn't reply, just staring at Ursula with a real burning hate.
Frank ever the showman, goes over to the girls and raises the hand of Ursula to a loud round of applause and wolfwhistles from certain portions of the crowd.
The highlights in the paper the next day are "Ursula proves to be a real knockout!" With the photo front and center of the front page.
After the fight, Ursula would go on to fight girls like Raquel Welch in America twice, Martine Beswick and many others during the 60's and early 70's to great aplomb.
While Anita had a harder time, her brutal defeat to Ursula would start her career but she would pick up results later in her boxing career.
Neither girl forgot each other and as the decade wore on, news of their catfight at well known celebrities mansions spread, some even suggested the hosts had invited both since they knew their fights would liven the party up.
Reports suggested food fights between the girls being the nicest form they fought, to some damn right brutal fist fights when they were in really bad moods.
At the end of the decade, mostly due to their careers fencing away from each other, the two were said to bury the past with a private meeting and in later life, but the rivalry was never forgotten by those in Hollywood.