(Main Event) Minka Kelly vs Kate Beckinsale

Minka Kelly vs Kate Beckinsale
(Lioness Club of America vs VIXENs)
(68-30-1, 64 KO vs 65-43-3, 50 KO)
Results: Lookout!; Story: Vassago

BEFORE: It's time for the LCA 10th anniversary Main Event which also happens to be Minka Kelly's 100th official FCBA bout! The Los Angeles southpaw is ready to enter Tractorpull's Hall of Fame in case of victory and her opponent's choice is no coincidence. Kate Beckinsale is a Hall of Fame member herself and despite a combined age of ninety these two never met each other before. That's almost a criminal match-making miscue that will finally be averted in the MGM Grand tonight.

Kate has enjoyed a solid career revival under the VIX guidance in the last couple of years - just don't ask Jenny McCarthy about it - and she hopes to put up a feisty challenge that will delay Minka's Hall of Fame entrance: "I know she will get there so no need to cherry pick the moment! Like we saw in the Co-Main Event, the Lionesses are beatable on their birthday party and we beat them in Stable War twice already... I mean, a vixen is way faster than a lioness so I got bad news for Minka... she will go down in a few minutes time!" (winks).

No trash-talking response from the younger brunette who claims she's above Jenny Mac's level of pettiness: "Everyone loves Kate around here, myself included. I admire her confidence because she won't have any excuses if she doesn't win... it's my century milestone! I'm here for all the fun and drinks! If I win then I win! I'm immune to pressure at this stage of my career. It's been a long last month... J-Love, Megan Fox and Sydney Sweeney. What can possibly go wrong vs Kate?"

Minka Kelly wears a leopard print bikini top, black hip-huggers & red gloves. Long dark brown hair tied in a custom ponytail. Kate Beckinsale wears a blue crop top, white hip-huggers & blue gloves. Long dark brown hair tied in a high ponytail. The fight is scheduled for ten rounds in the bantamweight division.

Round 1:
Kate slugs it to the milestone veteran and gives her a solid checkdown series working to the body during majority of the opening minute. Minka embraces the effort and picks her shots as she plugs her mitts into the fellow brunette's midsection as well before trying to smack her with a quick uppercut. That goes nowhere and allows Kate to bump more body shots and push Minka back onto the ropes come the two-minute mark. Steady jabbing pace comes into play as Beckinsale lands her shots up the middle and knocks Minka's head back to secure the opener on points.

Round 2:
Minka gets more aggressive in the second and lands several crisp shots into Beckinsale's chest and she finally connects with a couple of solid uppercuts that make the British tourist angry. And that doesn't transfer well into Kate's execution as her rushed delivery is blocked off by the more agile opponent down the stretch. Minka easily jumps on the counter-punching route and outworks the older brunette with room to spare so much that Beckinsale has to clinch her late in the going to limit the damage.

Round 3:
The two veterans don't press the tempo but flick with a couple of nasty series here and there and one might complain that Minka doesn't use her southpaw stance too often. She gives Kate too much time to find a proper response and the tourist uses her tools to pummel more of the American's body before shoving her onto the ropes as well. Kelly tries to come back but misses over the top and gets pinned on the ropes for remainder of the round where Beckinsale continues to do her thing and just pummels the open space downstairs to leave some visible marks on Minka's ribcage.

Round 4:
Another see-saw exchange in the center of the ring but Minka follows through with more luck this time and knocks Kate's head back repeatedly forcing the older brunette to seek respite in mid-distance. Minka controls the range from there on and works the steady jab while Kate is happy to see out the potential slugging burst but it just doesn't happen so both women settle for a harmless exchange of single punches during the closing stages of the round. Still no real urgency from either side and one has to wonder about fatigue given the combined age of these two women!

Round 5:
Minka finally pays a major price for not engaging into this fight despite all the odds in her favor, she gets busted with a rare shot in the chest and wobbles to her heels while Kate springs into a jabbing life to swamp by her the shear magnitude of the attack. She clobbers the briefly stunned opponent onto the ropes and hazes more shots into the American's belly before crashing a left hook on the jaw that slumps Kelly into outright spasms. The Lioness southpaw tries to drive a response over the top but Kate beats her to the punch and nails her with a scything right cross on the nose. Uh-oh! DOWN GOES MINKA!!! Talk about spoiling the LCA anniversary main event! Minka gets floored in the corner and shakes off the knockdown daze with visible problems. She takes the count to eight and finally gets up at the last moment but the clock is on her side and Kate runs out of time to finish her off.

Round 6:
It's all Beckinsale in the sixth as she seeks that knockout fame and hassles the visibly affected opponent around the ring. Minka sends a meaningless single-hand response and digs into her clinching tricks to stall the action but Kate eventually breaks free and dumps her onto the ropes with more aggressive slaps. She piles on more pressure but tagging the chin just doesn't do the trick as Kate kinda runs out of gas trying to find that slam dunk finish. Minka avoids a follow up damage and hangs on in the clinching stalemate alas she falls further behind on the cards and coach Eva Mendes tells her like it is: "You have to knock her out!"

Round 7:
Kate appears to be satisfied with the lead she's build on the cards and when she misses on the initial approach, she simply waits for Kelly to make her move instead. The Lioness brunette refuses to bite at the first opportunity and the Vegas audience is treated with another back & forth action with minimal damage until Minka cranks up the volume in the final minute and bangs away some strikes on the chest to stuff the British actress into noticeable spasms. Kate tries to have the last laugh but eats a left hook on the eye and thinks better off it as he retreats into mid-distance to run out the clock.

Round 8:
Minka fires a left hook into Kate's face and triggers a hectic head-hunting exchange. The older brunette doesn't quite have the agility to wheel away from danger when Kelly really wants to slug it out so both cougars dig deep into the slugging territory and bash away in fury to see who will run out of gas first. Kate doesn't have to stay in this one for the sake of it but she hopes to pull a more famous victory... until she eats a crushing hook on the jaw and wobbles to her heels amid some painful spasms. Minka jumps after her and bumps her onto the ropes where she hammers away at the exposed rack and slumps her into even louder squeals come the final stretch. Kate is unable to clinch the younger actress and gets pounded into a standstill as the clock comes to her rescue at the last moment!

Round 9:
Kate tries to weather the late comeback but eats more head shots in close range and gets stuck on her heels as fatigue really kicks in and allows Minka to bash her from both flanks. The milestone cougar lands a vicious triple on the right eye and cuts the tourist up before a clinching effort gets denied by another shot in the solar plexus. Beckinsale wobbles forward with a whimper just as Minka turns from the hip and SMASHES a left hook on the mouth that DROPS THE BRITISH WOMAN down on her side with eyes closed! Boom! That was a brutal strike at this stage of the fight and Kate simply doesn't have enough strenght to rise again. She remains motionless during the count and her scowls are swamped by the huge roar from the Vegas fans! It is over! KO9 Minka Kelly in come-from-behind fashion!!!

AFTER: Minka takes win #69 in her 100th official FCBA fight and gets joined in the ring by all - yes, all of the Lioness members present in the arena. Talk about the place getting crowded! She gets lifted by Brooklyn Decker and Kelly Rohrbach on their shoulders and paraded around the ring to the tune of some loud noise from the MGM Grand patrons. It's been six & a half years since she joined LCA from Lookout! Boxing and one might argue this was her most successful tenure overall highlighted by a personal season record of ten wins in 2021 and the unified bantamweight title back in 2015/16. The elite career is effectively complete and Minka has nothing left to prove anymore. She awaits the official word from Tess Valmore & the Tractorpull gang but from here on it's all about adding to the legacy as she is set to become the twenty-sixth member of the Hall of Fame (and only the second left-hander after Missy Peregrym).

This concludes the 10th Anniversary PPV of the Lioness Club of America! We hope we see you again in ten years time - maybe with some different names involved!

Official Result: Minka Kelly def. Kate Beckinsale KO9.