Posted by simguy on 11/19/2004, 6:53 am

(Thanks for FightFan for this repost)


Union Jack bikini Hurley
Black bikini w/ruffles Daisy
UD10 wide (8-2) Fuentes

In a match up were both women are at their best against girls who come forward, Fuentes and Hurley staged a painstaking war of bait and switch, smoke and mirrors - frustrating the crowd almost as much as one another in a sleep-inducing 10 rounder.

Fuentes was the better illusionist on the night - not the better fighter. She would crowd Hurley at the ropes, initiating swarming little do-nothing flurries that Liz would roll and slip away from - but round after round, judges saw Daisy apparently working, Liz lounging. Illusion it may have been, but Hurley did nothing to break the spell - content to lay back and wait for openings - she rarely moved her hands or did anything meaningful offensively - minute after minute ticked past in Fuentes' favour by default.

The fight did have its moments. Fuentes got to the Hurley midsection with some tasty licks in the third and had Liz hanging on hurt for a few moments. In the sixth, Fuentes timed a straight right hand down the middle, beating Liz's left and shocking the Brit to her backside for the fight's lone knockdown. And in the final minute of the 10th round, Hurley finally came alive off the ropes, twisting into one of her sleek counters, stunning Fuentes and nearly stampeding the Latina out of there with a final dazzling flurry. Too little too late - complacent Hurley had frittered away 8 rounds, losing by perhaps the greatest margin on scorecards in her long, distinguished career.