BEFORE: Marion Cotillard remains the only Academy Award winner on the BBU roster but her fighting days seem to be numbered. She lost her Latin Union management in December and hasn't graced the ring for 21 months prior to tonight's last hurrah opportunity. Even the Bastille Day PPV card couldn't save her plunging stock - she was snubbed after all - and BBU TV's Charlie Webster begins to wonder if the French actress isn't going one bridge too far here against newcomer Hannah Ware.

Ware - a former model who got her Hollywood breakthrough in 2010 thanks to none other than Bruce Willis - is a rookie to boxing competition but comes from the Hammersmith district in west London which has produced fighters like Rosamund Pike, Cara Delevingne and Jaime Murray to become the most successful place where celebrity boxing hopefuls are born. Indeed, Jaime Murray makes an appearance in Hannah's corner tonight - still sporting plenty of cuts from the recent clash against Helen George - and vows to guide the fellow brunette through her otherwise unheralded debut.

Marion Cotillard wears a navy blue sports bra, black knickers and red gloves. Shoulder lenght curly dark brown hair. Hannah Ware wears a black basque top, white knickers and black gloves. Long dark brown hair tied in a sleek ponytail. The fight is scheduled for ten rounds in the bantamweight division (Weigh-in: Cotillard 116 lbs/Ware 117 lbs).

Round 1:
Cotillard looks very focused in her corner ahead of the opening bell, she probably knows this is her last chance to make it happen in the ring. She rips into the newcomer's face to open the action and Ware's guard is too low at this stage to fend off a spirited French charge. A couple of extra hooks bend the English girl to the side and she doesn't have the agility required to jump into safety so Marion bulldozes her way onto the chest again and clips the jaw for a good measure. Hannah hits the panic mode and scampers back to the ropes but there's no place to hide and Marion traps her in precarious position thereafter as she throws a flurry of angry leather but lacks precision neccessary to really damage the hitherto disappointing rookie.

Round 2:
Jaimie Murray is furious with her fellow Hammersmith girl and urges her to attack the French veteran from the onset; Hannah responds well and catches the older brunette in the brow ridge on the fly before drilling the breadbasket in close range. Marion tries to push the newcomer off but struggles for working space and must clinch Ware however eats a quick slant on the chin and wobbles on her heels. A right-on-right double follows and nails Cotillard on the mouth as her own punch skims off the Brit's shoulder. Hannah becomes a little too eager in pursuit thereafter and fails to split the French earmuff before settling for another clinch to run the clock down.

Round 3:
Hannah needs to use her speed much better to beat the French brunette to the punch, she does just that in the opening minute of the third and leaves the Academy Award winner scowling in anger when another hooking double nails her on the brow ridge. Marion tries to pick up the pace but lacks the mid range composure and looks laboured in execution, meanwhile an improved defense allows Hannah to earn a round of applause from the scattered audience - most of the Cardiff residents seem to choose the Olympic Games coverage tonight - before yet another clinching struggle brings Cotillard a desired break, Ware pounds a couple of shots into her rival's kidneys but gets away with that and she slowly but surely begins to settle in on her BBU debut!

Round 4:
Cotillard lands the big hook on the temple to expose Ware's guard off the bat but the Londonder refuses to back off this time and slams a left cross on the chin that wobbles the older brunette on her heels. It looks like Marion was slow with the follow up again and the subsequent brawling earns her more pain as Hannah punishes the ribcage with a well-timed rally and pummels the aching foe back to the ropes. Cotillard seeks another clinch but gets stuffed with a rare uppercut on the jaw and Ware keeps pounding away at the tummy to bend her against the shoulder. A ripping low hook catches the liver area and makes Marion groan her loudest of the night yet but Hannah just can't finish her off and gets dragged into a life-saving clinch with Cotillard looking very much up against it now.

Round 5:
Hannah's done really well to respond to that terrible opening round but she needs to put more pressure on the gassing out opponent. Marion looks heckuva tired out there already and bides her time in mid distance but there's no evil punch in Ware to be seen despite Jaime Murray's wild screams in the Hammersmith corner. Perhaps the newcomer anticipates a hidden trap door somewhere but let's be honest, she must have heard of Cotillard's issues over the past couple of years? Charlie Webster puts the lack of finishing touch from Ware down to the rookie nerves and once the Brit finally gets going, it's a little too late since a mere hooking combo on the mouth isn't enough to take the French actress down and Marion masters the clinching survival to perfection and lets the clock expire at half-distance with Hannah shouting at the ref over the time-wasting tactics.

Round 6:
It was good to see some emotions from the previously quiet Ware and she finally makes sure Cotillard's clinching tactics are squashed when she rips a scything combo upstairs and wobbles the older opponent to the side. Marion keeps her gloves too low and fails to prevent a follow up series that pounds her to the ropes and has Hannah almost blowing her gasket in a massive effort to score that elusive knockdown. Cotillard can't do much while getting shoved into the ropes and only aches her heart out while soaking up the Hammersmith heat! She drops her cover repeatedly and Ware just homes in with the leather rocking her opponent's head back & forth UNTIL COTILLARD MUST TAKE A KNEE to simply stop the vicious rout. She didn't have a sniff at the clinch this time and the Cardiff Arena roars in delight as the British brunette shakes her glove and shouts back at the fallen Frenchwoman. Marion gets up at eight but looks rather gloomy here and gets stacked into the corner when the fight resumes. Ware makes sure she stays there and just picks her off from close range, Marion goes all earmuff and fails to land a single punch; she's lucky the clock expires to save her from instant disaster but Charlie Webster in the BBU TV booth reckons the damage had already been done here!

Round 7:
Cotillard needs more time to recover but the interval ends after 60 seconds as usual and she stumbles into a brutal jabbing rush from her English opponent. Hannah smells blood here and whoops the French woman around the elbows to bend her forward before crashing a left hook on the temple - she misses with that one but as Marion lifts her head again, the next thing she sees is a Ware right hook crashing into her nose AND SENDING HER TUMBLING FACE DOWN on the canvas!!! And that is that! She collapses on her right side and shows no intentions of beating the count anymore! KO7 Hannah Ware!!!

AFTER: Bruce Willis would be proud of that last shot but so is the whole of Hammersmith as Hannah shouts "I did it!, I did it!" and runs back to Jaime Murray to hug her tonight's mentor. The Cardiff audience celebrates this hard-earned success but Charlie Webster remains coy on Ware's chances to take the 120 lbs division by storm. More evidence is required to see if Hannah is truly that good or did she just catch a lucky break with soon-to-be retired Cotillard.

Ware has enough respect for the Academy Award winner to hug her and raise her hand once Marion finally shakes off the KO daze but she admits to Charlie in her post-fight interview that she looks for a tougher test next time out: "Yeah, this was fun! Apart from the start I felt like I controlled Marion and the knockout was there for the taking. But she needed this fight to stay in the rankings and well, I needed a fight for my debut! We both profited from this however now I look forward to Helen George or someone like that! (...) Yeah, the very same Helen George who punched my mate Jaime in the crotch the other day! That stupid blonde bimbo needs to have her ass kicked soon! I'm ready for her.... well, sort of... maybe I'll have another fight booked here soon... who knows... but that cheap slut is on my radar and sooner or later, I'll knock her out plain and simple. That's a promise!"

Final result: Hannah Ware def. Marion Cotillard KO7.