BEFORE: Welcome to Cannes on the world famous Cote d'Azur! The entire movie industry is glued to the Film Festival red carpet these days - the event itself kicked off last Wednesday but BBU TV's Goergie Thompson thinks it's just a perfect excuse to feature a couple of hot women in a classic boxing match.

Enter Berenice Marlohe !!!  

The former "Skyfall" Bond girl has been targeted by 'another' 007 heroine Naomie Harris into a vintage fight for the ages only to realize she needs some kind of a rehearsal after sitting on the bench since the January loss to the high-flying Elisabetta Gregoraci. In fact, Marlohe's last victory dates back to November 2013 and she rides a seven fight losing streak - which could be the main reason Harris challenged her in first place.

But if anyone needs a boxing rehearsal, it's Berenice' tonight's rival - the former model and current TV actress, mainly of Legend of the Seeker fame - straight out of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Enter Tabrett Bethell !!!

Today's birthday girl - she turns 35 years old exactly - knocked out Krystal Forscutt back in January 2012 but never build on that success and only managed to endure a stoppage loss to another Oz compatriot Abbie Cornish in March 2014 to complete her boxing resume. That's a very shallow audition tape indeed and even Georgie Thompson has no idea what to expect from the shapely blonde tonight. That doesn't seem to be the case with Berenice who has Sophie Marceau working as personal trainer here tonight, the Latin Union head coach simply couldn't avoid the Cannes red carpet and joins the BBU party as special guest. Bethell has Tania Zaetta working in her corner but the odds are very evenly matched in the minutes leading up to the fight despite Marlohe & Marceau having the home field advantage.

Your tonight's referee is Maria Grazia Cucinotta - who also briefly appeared on the 007 franchise before - and both girls are ready to go any second now!

Berenice Marlohe wears a navy blue bikini top, white knickers and red gloves. Dark brown hair in loose waves. Tabrett Bethell wears a red bikini set & golden gloves. Long blonde hair wet & straight. The fight is scheduled for ten rounds in the lightweight division.

Round 1:
The crowd's support urges Berenice into a flying start which enables her to pick off the lethargic Aussie from point-blank range repeatedly in the opening minute before Tabrett finally drops the earmuff cover and swings back at the brunette. It's a very encouraging showing from both women in desperate need of success but Berenice still lands the more crisp punches as she tries to reel the blonde back to the ropes. However Bethell doesn't buckle under the aerial onslaught and stuffs the local girl with a belting hook on the liver followed by a nasty hook on the boobs that wobbles Marlohe on her heels; she's fortunate enough the clock expires before Bethell can cause her more problems though.

Round 2:
Another high-tenpo start has both girls blasting each other over the top and once again Berenice secures the superior precision which enables her to keep the blonde comeback at bay. Tabrett winces while soaking up plenty of beef and lacks the swinging response this time around; she's forced into a circling escape but Marlohe keeps her in check with a scything combo on the mouth. Sophie Marceau urges the fellow Bond girl to add some body punshment but Bethell clinches the brunette to prevent this taking place. Both women wrestle along the ropes briefly until Marlohe shrugs off the clinch and beats the younger actress for a cross hooking combo on the mouth that snaps Tabrett's head to the side and sinks her on vulnerable knees right at the bell.

Round 3:
Berenice stays on top of the mid distance exchange but fails to embrace the uptempo switch from her opponent who needs a strong round to prevent losing too much ground in the early stages of the fight. She catches the French beauty with a left hook on the temple before stuffing her on the solar plexus and bumping off to her heels with another hooking drive on the rack. Berenice struggles to stretch her elbows in close range - and that's an old problem for the brunette - and allows Bethell to pound her butt-in-ropes during the second minute; the Aussie actress makes the most of this offensive burst and keeps hammering away around the low guard to sink Berenice even deeper on her knees before blasting through the gloves and piercing the nostrils into a screaming response from the local girl who's clearly been outworked in this round - the grim look on Sophie Marceau's face says it all.

Round 4:
Marlohe's efforts to spring back into immediate response are denied as she can't match the blonde's footwork and cuts thin air before finally settling down as Bethell was eyeing a one-punch counter KO scenario issued by coach Zaetta. Berenice's desire to win a BBU fight again is huge but she needs to keep her focus as Tabrett is somewhat of a mystery but she's done really well to pull herself back into contention in the third and Georgie Thompson believes she's done more than enough to warrant tonight's opportunity. She makes Marlohe look very uneasy on defence and coach Marceau must come up with a real plan to deliver the goods for the Cannes audience since Tabrett easily dominates the footwork battle in the fourth - the ammount of punches drops but the Aussie visitors have gained a ton of confidence now that Berenice's furious start failed to break them down.

Round 5:
Another burst of aggression enables Berenice to land some crisp punches against the Aussie guard but they lack the intended punishment and Tabrett escapes the heat through her superior footwork before dishing out the counter assault and blasting the older actress on the temples. Berenice wobbles on her heels again but leaps into a hooking drive nonetherless only to find none of the blonde's flesh... Bethell swings back straight into the clear AND NAILS MARLOHE ON THE JAW with the biggest punch of the night that leaves the Cannes audience gasping for air... disaster for the local crowd as Marlohe's guard collapses on the spot and enables Bethell to add a monster hook on the nose THAT SENDS BERENICE CRASHING DOWN ON HER BACK in a blink of an eye! Ugh! That was a true power supply move and one couldn't have predicted that whatsoever... Sophie Marceau screams out at her fallen compatriot but even Maria Grazia Cucinotta shakes her head as she slowly delivers the count... nope, Berenice just can't shake off the ragdolling procedure and remains flat on her back with arms outstretched over her head and mumbles in shock with eyes closed... it's a shocking KO5 Tabrett Bethell!!!

AFTER: Extreme upset here to start the Cannes mini-card - even when you consider Berenice's dismal record as of late - nobody really saw this coming but that Krystal Forscutt scalp from four years ago looms large now to confirm Bethell's gatekeeper status. The birthday girl silences the otherwise partisan crowd and well, Georgie Thompson thinks there will be plenty of wine & cake to celebrate in the Australian camp tonight. Maria Grazia Cucinotta is the first to congratulate both Tabrett & Tania which incurrs instant wrath from Sophie Marceau but this result has nothing to do with referee's actions as Bethell simply smoked Marlohe out cold in a KO of the Year candidate fashion!

Where does this leave Naomie Harris' open challenge to Berenice now? The dress rehearsal proved to be an epic disaster and well, Maria Grazia quickly stuffs her cleavage in the BBU TV cameras to claim she's ready to take Marlohe on whenever the French actress recovers from this Aussie beatdown. That's a very bold decision given the Italian's age but apparenly the Mediterranean temper doesn't recognize any barriers and if Maria has even a chunk of Elisabetta Gregoraci's punching power in her, she's more than ready to punish Berenice in the boxing ring.

However the Bethell/Zaetta tandem also has plans for the foreseeable future, they want a piece of Alaina Huffman sometime over the summer and Georgie Thompson openly supports this idea. The lightweight division truly needs someone to step up in order to remove Doutzen Kroes from the lineal title throne and with Jennifer Hawkins already signed for a Sayuki Matsumoto battle royale over in Tokyo next month, things look really promising for the 130 lbs roster indeed.

Final result: Tabrett Bethell def. Berenice Marlohe KO5.