Amelle Berrabah (8-5, 7 KO) vs Cristina Scabbia (9-1, 9 KO)
(Marti's Maulers vs BBU Free Agent)
Story: Vassago

BEFORE: Cristina Scabbia's otherwise unheralded return to BBU has a flyweight title quest written all over it and last month's epic punchout of ACB legend Dannii Minogue justified those plans with room to spare. The only problem for the Lacuna Coil lead singer is that former Sugababes mainstay Amelle Berrabah aims for the same piece of real estate after winning five of her last six bouts. This is a fine exotic match-up between two women that haven't quite made the elite grade in BBU thus far and Denise van Outen thinks if Scabbia was indeed British rather than Italian, she'd be given a shot at the belts around three years ago already!

Amelle Berrabah wears a red basque top, matching knickers and silver gloves. Medium lenght dark brown hair straight, curled at the bottom. Cristina Scabbia wears a black basque top with white trim, matching knickers and red gloves. Shoulder lenght raven-black hair straight. The fight is scheduled for ten rounds in the flyweight division.

Round 1:
Cristina roars into immediate jabbing rush and secures a quick connection with Amelle's body but gets caught out by an aerial response as the British singer is more than up for the challenge given her own title ambitions. Both women engage in a furious slugfest during the opening minute and Cristina's work load dwindles along the way as the younger opponent picks her off with a superior execution and pounds back towards the ropes in mighty impressive fashion. A nasty left hook finds the Italian's brow ridge and whips her against the ropes for good so the final few seconds are dominated by more attacks from Berrabah who pierces the low guard and digs deep into Scabbia's midsection.

Round 2:
Plenty of bad blood on display early in the second again; Scabbia squares up to the Brit and hoofs her mitts aside thumping point-blank range assault in numbers but Berrabah's just as durable as anyone lately and whips overhand response to spike the fellow brunette's temples eventually halting the Italian's charge. Both women clash heads as they lean forward which earns them a brief respite however the action hots up quickly after the command as Amelle lands another excellent overhand combo and begins to dig deep into the older singer's cheeks. Cristina has to yield ground as a result of this and spends most of the second minute backpedaling before jumping into another aggressive rout. She fails to split Amelle's guard anymore though and soaks up another late rally to the guts as the former Sugababe secures clear daylight on the scorecards according to Denise van Outen.

Round 3:
Amelle's above-par punching resistance visibly annoys the goth metal chick who argues in her native tongue with no one in particular during the interval. Every toss-up round could be ruled in Berrabah's favor and that's one factor Scabbia knows all about yet her bulldozing tactics that worked so well against Dannii Minogue last month are neutralized wholesale tonight and make the Italian think better of it after another ineffective close range tilt. Amelle's bulletproof guard and lethal counterpunching drill result in the older singer giving up the chase come the final minute however the Brit smells a trap here and fails to add more punishment while Scabbia's happy to forfeit the scorecards. This suggests the Italian would require a proper KO drive to dispatch the Aldershot girl and Denise van Outen wisely points out the Italian veteran is very much capable of pulling it off given her 9-1 BBU record.

Round 4:
The Marti's Maulers haven't had a BBU champion in their four and a half years of existence and interim trainer Sara Cox urges Amelle to stick her foot in the door for good here before the Italian goth chick storms at her all guns blazing. It's obvious that given Cristina's somewhat advanced age, she won't be biding her time forever and Amelle makes her pay early in the fourth with another close range assault that simply keeps the older woman wrapped up in a tight earmuff and boosts the Maulers' title ambitions hand over the proverbial fist. The twelve year age difference between the two is more evident than ever as Scabbia's scattered response makes no impression on the English singer at all while several jabs crash into her face and reel her back straight into the turnbuckle where Amelle maintains the pressure and harpoons the exposed ribcage with Cristina yelping in pain and uanble to shake off the heat. This is a statement-makin performance from the Sugababes stalwart who gives the embattled metal chick a long stare at the bell and for once Scabbia prefers to look elsewhere.

Round 5:
Here comes the Italian storm though, Cristina needs a big round to salvage her hopes of that elusive shot at the belts but while she lands solid jabbing rush upstairs, Amelle remains committed to the close range drill and doesn't yield an inch while looping more head hunting response on her own. Both women settle into a brutal slugfest but the ammount of punches simply stacks up on Cristina's face and when her lips burst into a swollen mess, she tries to lock a clinch while conceding the drive. However Berrabah bumps her off with an uppercut drive on the chest and lands another crisp shot on the jaw that dumps the older brunette on the ropes with her eyes closed. Amelle scampers towards the area and pins the visibly struggling veteran to the spot with more head hunting assault before reverting into a familiar midriff-busting gear that leaves Scabbia aching her lungs out at the bell and Denise van Outen simply can't believe what kind of a performance the 32 year old Brit delivers here tonight!

Round 6:
Scabbia struggles to catch her breath in time for the sixth and gets pounded back to the ropes with ease as Amelle rains punches all over town and keeps the veteran pivoting around for safety. However the age difference neutralizes whatever Italian rage is left inside the ring and another close range tangle has Berrabah piling on vicious jabs straight into Cristina's face to earn her a standing ovation from the partisan crowd. Scabbia's battered into a standstill come the second minute and sags on the ropes unable to break free while Amelle just delivers the hits one after another; she renders the goth chick's lips into a complete mess but only when she uppercuts the nose twice in quick succession, Scabbia's finally seen enough and TAKES A KNEE just to gather her thoughts amid this incredible English power drive. "Fi-nish her! Fi-nish her! Fi-nish her!", the crowd urges the Hampshire singer to knock the fellow brunette all the way back to Milan but Amelle seems to thrive on the completely tarnished attire of her opponent and teases her into one last attack. However Cristina's tank is all but empty here and she smears blood from her busted up lips across the face to make herself looks even more fragile than she is right now. Berrabah lets the clock expire and probably hopes to see the metal chick quit on her stool which would be the ultimate icing on the cake but that's not gonna happen much to the Maulers entourage's chagrin.

Round 7:
Cristina's dead on her feet as she rises for the seventh; she performs the sitting duck act only as far as the opening Berrabah jabbing drive allows her to and the head hunting approach slices through the cumbersome guard repeatedly from the outset to trigger more fanatic response from the audience. It only takes twenty odd seconds to see the metal singer draped against the turnbuckle screaming for mercy but Amelle wants to rearrange her face with more brutal shots; she opens the mouth wound again and manages to burst the fellow brunette's nostrils into a seeping river of red liquid before the ref finally halts this destruction show. He hauls the English singer off her prey and Scabbia just slides onto her backside with eyes closed having been thoroughly beaten up on the night. TKO7 Amelle Berrabah!!!

AFTER: Despite Amelle's recent success, this result must be considered a mild upset especially given the extremely rough treatment that stashed the Italian veteran into arguably the worst defeat of her BBU career. This might be indeed the fight that kills any hopes Scabbia had to reach the flyweight title glory and it's gonna take weeks if not months for her to recover from it. Denise van Outen calls it the Beatdown Of The Night and a solid pick for the entire season award which is a dubious mark for a woman who entered the ring tonight with just a single defeat on her record.
On the other hand Amelle might have lost to Siobhan Donaghy on the last year's Sugababes War PPV but she looks the Alpha fighter of the lot now surpassing the slumping Heidi Range and MIA Mutya Buena. She confirms her title ambitions by calling out both Jenna Coleman and Kelly Hall just before the BBU TV coverage hits the commercials however Denise van Outen jokes that she'd need to rewind her Mr. Marcus Invitational tape and visit few officials' bedrooms to speed dial her championship schedule. Can she go all Samia Ghadie again to give the Maulers their maiden straps? Watch this space!

Final result: Amelle Berrabah def. Cristina Scabbia TKO7.