Post by Lookout! Boxing on Feb 2, 2017 10:33:37 GMT -6
Blake Lively vs Mary Elizabeth Winstead
(result:Lookout/hardwork:simgrrl)
Before: Blake Lively began 2016 with a streak of six consecutive victories, including the lightweight title in May with a KO of Brooklyn Decker. Four more wins followed, including three title defenses (Peregrym, Brook and Gadot) and a non-title JMDing of Michelle Marsh. But Lively's world came crashing down in October when her title was ripped from her unconscious fingers by Gemma Arterton! Losses to Bella Thorne (Nov) and Hannah Ferguson (Dec) followed as Blake's record - which she'd struggled for years to bring level - again fall back into a losing one.
Worse, the soul crushing defeats by novices Thorne and Ferguson seemed to shatter Lively's confidence. After being publicly humiliated by Ferguson in their press conference, Lively has reportedly been drinking heavily as she's 'comforted' by numerous longtime friends and former stablemates (including her ex-manager Jeri Ryan and flame-tressed party girl Lindsay Lohan!) More troubling is an apparent re-connection with 'bad influences' like disgraced former Academy trainer “Cat” Bell; ex-Lookout teammate Kim Kardashian as well as other known “trouble makers.”
Winstead's career on the other hand, has been rock steady as Lively's has cratered! MEW's 2016 hi-light was the March 28 TKO win over her longtime rival and nemesis Yvonne Strahovski (after she'd lost 4 of 5 going back to the summer of 2012). Now, with that monkey off her back, Mary Elizabeth looks to open 2017 with a big win she hopes will begin the run-up to her third lightweight championship!
Winstead and Lively met once before, in May of 2013. Then, Blake Lively got off to a fast start, knocking MEW down twice in the first round and again in the second. She was ladling on more hurt when a merciful referee stepped in to stop the fight, giving Lively a TKO2 victory! Afterward, Lively and her (then HISC) teammates, ganged up on Mary to humiliate her in the ring in front of shocked fans!
Mary Elizabeth hasn't forgotten... “I owe Lively big time for that,” she recalled when asked. “There's not many things I'd enjoy more than paying her back in kind.”
“Nothing?” the reporter asked, clearly surprised. “Do you have something special planned for her... if you win?”
MEW hesitated, then admitted, “OK, beating Strahovski is... and always will be my 'most fun' thing. But Lively's earned the number two spot and I DO have something really fun lined up for her after this fight. Because, there's no 'if' about it... I WILL BEAT HER!”
When told of Winstead's boast, Lively - instead of laughing it off or reacting with bravado as most fighters - actually shuddered as beads of perspiration popped on her forehead. Finally, she stammered, “We...we'll see...” then turned and hurriedly walked away, leaving the reporter gaping open-mouthed in surprise.
Lively in green bikini, white shoes and gloves, blonde hair in a pony tail secured by a green scrunchie; Winstead back in the same blue leather bikini she wore to beat Yvonne Strahovski last March, blue gloves and shoes, hair in a ponytail.
During R1: Just as their previous fight, Lively came out firing with both hands, landing a huge right hand in the first minute that buckled Winstead's knees and forced her to clinch. Foot firmly on the gas, the tall blonde continued to apply unrelenting pressure, hooking MEW's body with her left and hammering away to the head with her right. Winstead in disarray, getting rocked time and again, being battered backward around the ring without a moment's respite! At the bell, Lively chests up to MEW, glaring into her eyes, challenging her. Winstead pushes back and the referee has to intervene as they chest bump each other at the ropes. Round to Lively (wide).
R2: Second round begins just like the first with Lively charging Mary Elizabeth, trapping her in her corner and bludgeoning her with both fists; buckling her knees with a left hook in the opening minute just as she did with her right in the prior round! Winstead jacked up against the turnbuckle, arms wrapped around Blake's shoulders, struggling trying to tie her up in a clinch as they squirm cheek-to-cheek; body-on-body sliding along the ropes with the referee hovering, keeping a close eye on the bosom-to-bosom body exchanges. Winstead digging deep, willing herself to fight back and the third minute of the round sees her slowly begin to turn the tide as she begins to score to Lively's body. At the bell, it's MEW who initiates the chest bumping, both women snarling as the referee is again forced to part them. Another round to Lively, but this one is close.
R3: Again, it's Lively taking the fight to Winstead early, but this time it's MEW who lands the big blow; digging low to Blake's belly with the left, then driving her right straight into Lively's lips as she folds forward. Blake's mouth streaming blood from a cut lip as she's hammered back until her butt's stuffed in the strands where Mary Elizabeth sets up shop in Lively's living room to gut the willowy blonde's body with a steady drumbeat of belly blows! At the bell, Blake is breathless, wincing with body pain as Winnie bends her over the top rope with a forearm across her throat, spitting saliva in her face as she screams at her while the referee tugs ineffectually at her from behind as MEW wins the round (wide).
R4: For the first time in the fight, Winstead beats Lively to the center of the ring and goes right back to work on that midsection! Winstead knocking Lively back with a left hook high on the forehead, then as her body opens up, a short right uppercut sinks deep into that soft pooch below her belly button! Lively spits out her mouthpiece as she falls in to clinch, driving Mary Elizabeth back into the ropes. There, they wrestle and elbow one another until the referee breaks them, then halts the action long enough to retrieve Lively's mouth guard, rinse it with a squirt from her water bottle, then the action resumes.
After the short break, Blake Lively looks like a different fighter and as Winstead attempts to resume her attack, Lively catches her with a high left hook over MEW's right. WINSTEAD'S HURT! MEW slow to react to Blake's right cross is caught flush and sits down in the center of the ring! Lively, arms raised, dances away to a neutral corner as Mary Elizabeth sits on her butt with her legs stretched out on front of her, leaning back on both hands as the referee leans in to start the count!
Winstead rolls over at three; slowly get to all fours at five; shakes her head at six and seven; then is on one knee as the count hits eight. She just lifts her knees off the canvas as the referee's arm is coming down at “TE...” A quick look in in eyes is enough to convince him she's good enough to go and he steps back as Lively bores in to finish. Nothing coming back from Winstead and it's all Blake in the final seconds of the round! Thanks to the first knockdown of the fight Lively wins the round (wide).
R5: Both women have been hurt and so the pace slows dramatically in the 5th round as they both retrench and try to readjust. Lively less reckless, more cautious; Winstead looking to counter and get back to working Lively's midsection after her head-hunting turned into near disaster the last round! But Lively's still the aggressor and she's pressing Winstead much of the round. MEW fighting well backing up, scoring frequently with counter combos to offset Lively's more powerful single punches. Neither woman taking chances, neither able to establish any kind of rhythm as first one, then the other, is able to dominate for twenty or thirty seconds, only to see the other wrest the initiative briefly, before it changes once again.
It's a solid, tactical, round for both women, neither of them able to do much about the score, which at the end of the round, still shows Lively with a one, or at most two, point lead on the scorecards after this one ends even.
R6: Early in the round they pick up where they finished round 5, with neither able to get traction - or if they can, they're unable to maintain it! Midway, however, that changed when Mary Elizabeth drilled three shots (left hook-right uppercut-left hook) into Lively's belly. The hard blows took the wind out of Blake's sails and left her reeling, unable to get a breath, and Winstead teed off with both fists. A right to the side of Lively's face buckled her knees, then MEW drove her back into the ropes with a series of hard, straight, left hooks! Blake desperately tried to cover up, pulling her elbows in and ear muffing her gloves. Mary Elizabeth bodied up and went to work picking her apart, ripping gaping holes in the blonde's shredded defense. Starting at the waistband of Lively's bikini bottom, Winstead beat a steady tattoo up her belly to her breasts, continuing up to her now exposed head as the body-shocked blonde's hands dropped to her midsection. A cracking right hand short-circuited Blake's legs and she crumpled on the canvas at Mary Elizabeth's feet. Winstead looked down, grinned, then turned away with a toss of her head as she realized Lively wasn't getting up anytime soon. Winstead wins a KO6!
After: Winstead struts to her corner to accept congratulations from her handlers and her loyal fans who are giving her a standing ovation. Glancing back over her shoulder at Lively, who is slowly being brought around in the ring, Mary shrugs and calmly accepts the referee's hand raising as her due. Then she climbs thru the ropes and heads to her dressing room; fans on the aisle giving her hi-fives as she passes, never looking back to acknowledge her opponent.
Blake, finally groggily sitting upright, has to be lifted to her feet and aided to her corner where as she begins to awake on her stool, stubbornly insists she'd beaten the count and can continue - despite the fact she was still out of it when she was put on her stool. When it finally dawns on her that she'd lost, the blonde breaks down sobbing uncontrollably! No surprise about the tears as this is Lively's 4th loss in her last 5 fights and while she looked like she'd completely recovered after the 4th round - when she let Winstead off the hook - she couldn't reestablish her dominance after the KD and Winstead totally dominated the 6th up to and including the fight ending KO!
“I didn't see but a few flashes of the Lively I'd seen in videos of her fights the first half of last year,” Winstead told the media. “She was an entirely different fighter, and not nearly as crisp and sharp as six months ago. I think maybe those loses took a lot more out of her than anyone thought,” she added with a grin. “I'm happy I was here to take advantage of it. I've waited a long time for payback, and while this in no way makes us 'even' after her postfight shenanigans from years ago, if I'm the one who put the final nail in her career coffin, then I'm pleased.”
Lively, not surprisingly, was said to be “unavailable” to meet with the press. An Academy spokeswoman read a statement that said, “Blake Lively will have something to say in the near future. For now, we request you all respect her privacy and her need to be alone. Thank you.”
(result:Lookout/hardwork:simgrrl)
Before: Blake Lively began 2016 with a streak of six consecutive victories, including the lightweight title in May with a KO of Brooklyn Decker. Four more wins followed, including three title defenses (Peregrym, Brook and Gadot) and a non-title JMDing of Michelle Marsh. But Lively's world came crashing down in October when her title was ripped from her unconscious fingers by Gemma Arterton! Losses to Bella Thorne (Nov) and Hannah Ferguson (Dec) followed as Blake's record - which she'd struggled for years to bring level - again fall back into a losing one.
Worse, the soul crushing defeats by novices Thorne and Ferguson seemed to shatter Lively's confidence. After being publicly humiliated by Ferguson in their press conference, Lively has reportedly been drinking heavily as she's 'comforted' by numerous longtime friends and former stablemates (including her ex-manager Jeri Ryan and flame-tressed party girl Lindsay Lohan!) More troubling is an apparent re-connection with 'bad influences' like disgraced former Academy trainer “Cat” Bell; ex-Lookout teammate Kim Kardashian as well as other known “trouble makers.”
Winstead's career on the other hand, has been rock steady as Lively's has cratered! MEW's 2016 hi-light was the March 28 TKO win over her longtime rival and nemesis Yvonne Strahovski (after she'd lost 4 of 5 going back to the summer of 2012). Now, with that monkey off her back, Mary Elizabeth looks to open 2017 with a big win she hopes will begin the run-up to her third lightweight championship!
Winstead and Lively met once before, in May of 2013. Then, Blake Lively got off to a fast start, knocking MEW down twice in the first round and again in the second. She was ladling on more hurt when a merciful referee stepped in to stop the fight, giving Lively a TKO2 victory! Afterward, Lively and her (then HISC) teammates, ganged up on Mary to humiliate her in the ring in front of shocked fans!
Mary Elizabeth hasn't forgotten... “I owe Lively big time for that,” she recalled when asked. “There's not many things I'd enjoy more than paying her back in kind.”
“Nothing?” the reporter asked, clearly surprised. “Do you have something special planned for her... if you win?”
MEW hesitated, then admitted, “OK, beating Strahovski is... and always will be my 'most fun' thing. But Lively's earned the number two spot and I DO have something really fun lined up for her after this fight. Because, there's no 'if' about it... I WILL BEAT HER!”
When told of Winstead's boast, Lively - instead of laughing it off or reacting with bravado as most fighters - actually shuddered as beads of perspiration popped on her forehead. Finally, she stammered, “We...we'll see...” then turned and hurriedly walked away, leaving the reporter gaping open-mouthed in surprise.
Lively in green bikini, white shoes and gloves, blonde hair in a pony tail secured by a green scrunchie; Winstead back in the same blue leather bikini she wore to beat Yvonne Strahovski last March, blue gloves and shoes, hair in a ponytail.
During R1: Just as their previous fight, Lively came out firing with both hands, landing a huge right hand in the first minute that buckled Winstead's knees and forced her to clinch. Foot firmly on the gas, the tall blonde continued to apply unrelenting pressure, hooking MEW's body with her left and hammering away to the head with her right. Winstead in disarray, getting rocked time and again, being battered backward around the ring without a moment's respite! At the bell, Lively chests up to MEW, glaring into her eyes, challenging her. Winstead pushes back and the referee has to intervene as they chest bump each other at the ropes. Round to Lively (wide).
R2: Second round begins just like the first with Lively charging Mary Elizabeth, trapping her in her corner and bludgeoning her with both fists; buckling her knees with a left hook in the opening minute just as she did with her right in the prior round! Winstead jacked up against the turnbuckle, arms wrapped around Blake's shoulders, struggling trying to tie her up in a clinch as they squirm cheek-to-cheek; body-on-body sliding along the ropes with the referee hovering, keeping a close eye on the bosom-to-bosom body exchanges. Winstead digging deep, willing herself to fight back and the third minute of the round sees her slowly begin to turn the tide as she begins to score to Lively's body. At the bell, it's MEW who initiates the chest bumping, both women snarling as the referee is again forced to part them. Another round to Lively, but this one is close.
R3: Again, it's Lively taking the fight to Winstead early, but this time it's MEW who lands the big blow; digging low to Blake's belly with the left, then driving her right straight into Lively's lips as she folds forward. Blake's mouth streaming blood from a cut lip as she's hammered back until her butt's stuffed in the strands where Mary Elizabeth sets up shop in Lively's living room to gut the willowy blonde's body with a steady drumbeat of belly blows! At the bell, Blake is breathless, wincing with body pain as Winnie bends her over the top rope with a forearm across her throat, spitting saliva in her face as she screams at her while the referee tugs ineffectually at her from behind as MEW wins the round (wide).
R4: For the first time in the fight, Winstead beats Lively to the center of the ring and goes right back to work on that midsection! Winstead knocking Lively back with a left hook high on the forehead, then as her body opens up, a short right uppercut sinks deep into that soft pooch below her belly button! Lively spits out her mouthpiece as she falls in to clinch, driving Mary Elizabeth back into the ropes. There, they wrestle and elbow one another until the referee breaks them, then halts the action long enough to retrieve Lively's mouth guard, rinse it with a squirt from her water bottle, then the action resumes.
After the short break, Blake Lively looks like a different fighter and as Winstead attempts to resume her attack, Lively catches her with a high left hook over MEW's right. WINSTEAD'S HURT! MEW slow to react to Blake's right cross is caught flush and sits down in the center of the ring! Lively, arms raised, dances away to a neutral corner as Mary Elizabeth sits on her butt with her legs stretched out on front of her, leaning back on both hands as the referee leans in to start the count!
Winstead rolls over at three; slowly get to all fours at five; shakes her head at six and seven; then is on one knee as the count hits eight. She just lifts her knees off the canvas as the referee's arm is coming down at “TE...” A quick look in in eyes is enough to convince him she's good enough to go and he steps back as Lively bores in to finish. Nothing coming back from Winstead and it's all Blake in the final seconds of the round! Thanks to the first knockdown of the fight Lively wins the round (wide).
R5: Both women have been hurt and so the pace slows dramatically in the 5th round as they both retrench and try to readjust. Lively less reckless, more cautious; Winstead looking to counter and get back to working Lively's midsection after her head-hunting turned into near disaster the last round! But Lively's still the aggressor and she's pressing Winstead much of the round. MEW fighting well backing up, scoring frequently with counter combos to offset Lively's more powerful single punches. Neither woman taking chances, neither able to establish any kind of rhythm as first one, then the other, is able to dominate for twenty or thirty seconds, only to see the other wrest the initiative briefly, before it changes once again.
It's a solid, tactical, round for both women, neither of them able to do much about the score, which at the end of the round, still shows Lively with a one, or at most two, point lead on the scorecards after this one ends even.
R6: Early in the round they pick up where they finished round 5, with neither able to get traction - or if they can, they're unable to maintain it! Midway, however, that changed when Mary Elizabeth drilled three shots (left hook-right uppercut-left hook) into Lively's belly. The hard blows took the wind out of Blake's sails and left her reeling, unable to get a breath, and Winstead teed off with both fists. A right to the side of Lively's face buckled her knees, then MEW drove her back into the ropes with a series of hard, straight, left hooks! Blake desperately tried to cover up, pulling her elbows in and ear muffing her gloves. Mary Elizabeth bodied up and went to work picking her apart, ripping gaping holes in the blonde's shredded defense. Starting at the waistband of Lively's bikini bottom, Winstead beat a steady tattoo up her belly to her breasts, continuing up to her now exposed head as the body-shocked blonde's hands dropped to her midsection. A cracking right hand short-circuited Blake's legs and she crumpled on the canvas at Mary Elizabeth's feet. Winstead looked down, grinned, then turned away with a toss of her head as she realized Lively wasn't getting up anytime soon. Winstead wins a KO6!
After: Winstead struts to her corner to accept congratulations from her handlers and her loyal fans who are giving her a standing ovation. Glancing back over her shoulder at Lively, who is slowly being brought around in the ring, Mary shrugs and calmly accepts the referee's hand raising as her due. Then she climbs thru the ropes and heads to her dressing room; fans on the aisle giving her hi-fives as she passes, never looking back to acknowledge her opponent.
Blake, finally groggily sitting upright, has to be lifted to her feet and aided to her corner where as she begins to awake on her stool, stubbornly insists she'd beaten the count and can continue - despite the fact she was still out of it when she was put on her stool. When it finally dawns on her that she'd lost, the blonde breaks down sobbing uncontrollably! No surprise about the tears as this is Lively's 4th loss in her last 5 fights and while she looked like she'd completely recovered after the 4th round - when she let Winstead off the hook - she couldn't reestablish her dominance after the KD and Winstead totally dominated the 6th up to and including the fight ending KO!
“I didn't see but a few flashes of the Lively I'd seen in videos of her fights the first half of last year,” Winstead told the media. “She was an entirely different fighter, and not nearly as crisp and sharp as six months ago. I think maybe those loses took a lot more out of her than anyone thought,” she added with a grin. “I'm happy I was here to take advantage of it. I've waited a long time for payback, and while this in no way makes us 'even' after her postfight shenanigans from years ago, if I'm the one who put the final nail in her career coffin, then I'm pleased.”
Lively, not surprisingly, was said to be “unavailable” to meet with the press. An Academy spokeswoman read a statement that said, “Blake Lively will have something to say in the near future. For now, we request you all respect her privacy and her need to be alone. Thank you.”