ROSE BYRNE VS ELODIE FREGE
Writing: Archer     Results: Lookout
Rose: 37 YO, 5’6 ¼ (1.68 m), FCBA:  0-4-0 since 2012, Foxfire Atlantic Boxing
Elodie: 34 YO, 5’7 (1.70 m), FCBA:  7-27-0 since 2010, Latin Union

Before: French singer Elodie hasn’t had a lot of success in the FCBA, but her 34 fights has given her a small, but supportive fan base. They can always be counted on be there to support Elodie and cheer her on in victory or sympathize with her in defeat. Australian Rose Byrne keeps trying but so far she hasn’t pulled off an FCBA.

“I’m not giving up on the FCBA,” Rose declares. “I believe I can win, just I have scored a couple of wins in the BBU. I realize those wins don’t count here, but they do show I can win. I will admit I am not getting any younger so I need that first win. I am an underdog with Elodie. After she’s had way more FCBA fights then I have. I am the Visiting Team. She is the Home Team. Any sports fan knows its hard to beat a good athletie on their home ground, but I am going to do that now!”

“She has four losses? How sad they seem to bother her,” Elodie tells the crowd, “I have 27 of them and I just put each one behind me and concentrate on adding to my 7 wins. I am grateful to Rose for taking my challenge, but, I warn her, she is going to be adding to her list of losses.”

Rose gives her a determined look: “You haven’t beaten me yet!”

In the ring for their fight, Elodie is in a gold satin lingerie set with bra and briefs. Golden gloves and boots finish the look. Her redhair is an elegant braid down her back. Rose has gone with black satin bra and briefs, but with white gloves and boots (black laces), Her dark hair is pulled back in a tight ponytail. No nonsense preliminaries with the referee. Both of these ladies are ready to fight!

R1: Rose and Elodie waste no time in getting at each other. They are in close, though not toe to toe as they circle and exchange sweeping shots and straight in rights and lefts. Back and forth action with attention going to upper chests and ribcage. Then the action shifts to head shots, but Rose going after Elodie’s chin late. Quick chin checks make Elodie hunch up more and punch less. Rose ups the pressure to the body and scores a narrow opening round win.

R2: Action now moving to toe to toe range as Rose presses in hard with alternating head and body punches. Elodie firing back with her jab, splattering leather egainst Rose’s head and chest. Rose slows down as the jabbing does its damage and Elodie then comes back with strong hooks to the belly that put Rose on her tip-toes as she backs away. Elodie getting some chin checks on her own in this round and Rose is kept on the defensive to the bell. Elodie now puts a close win on the cards and has the score even in rounds.

R3: Right back comes Rose as she lights Elodie’s head up with some quick head shots to commence the round. Elodie crouching down tries to pop up with some hooks to the body, but Rose greets her with a furious downward jabbing defense. Elodie banged to hard to the face and pulls back to regroup. Rose moving quickly to try to steer Elodie to the ropes. Elodie jabbing back hard succeeds in stopping Rose’s effort to get her on the ropes, but Rose quick to use her own jab to break up Elodie’s efforts to counterattack. Two are fighting hard all way to the bell, but the judges decide to give the round to Rose Byrne, but it is another close one.
R4: Elodie showing more footwork in this round. She’s constantly on the move, striking at Rose with shots that make her head ring and then coming around to sink hard hooks into Rose’s ribs. Rose seems rattled by this approach and her counters are not as effective as they might have been. Elodie seems to be gaining confidence as the round goes more and more her way. She is trying to work Rose to the ropes when time runs out, but sh’;s smiling as she seems a panting, sweat drenched Rose Byrne have to pause and pull herself together before going to her corner.

R5: Rose trying to overcome the effects of the beating she took in the last round, goes after Elodie right from the start. Elodie shaken by a hard hook to the solar plexus and then a follow-up uppercut to the jaw. Elodie struggling to get away from Rose and reorganize, but Rose just keeps up the relentless pressure. Elodie getting shots into the belly and another finds her solar plexus. Elodie gasping and floundering is driven back to the ropes by Rose throwing everything she has got into the attack. Elodie unable to keep her gloves up as Rose pounds her belly and then Rose brings overhand rights crashing over Elodie’s drooping gloves and into her jaw as she tries to turn away. Elodie spun around, arms over the top rope as her legs give way. Rose steps back as Elodie falls over sideways to lie on her side under the ropes, sleeping peacefully. The referee declares the fight over and raises Rose’s arm.
THE WINNER: ROSE BYRNE KO5

After:  “I WON! I WON! I WON!” Rose’s happy cry as she jumps up and down is the stuff of highlight reels. She runs around all four corners of the ring waving her arms over her head and screaming in delight.

“Oh, that felt so good to win,” Rose tells the press later. “Elodie was tough. I almost couldn’t believe it when she finally went down. It just didn’t seem possible, but there she was. I do hope she’s all right.”

Elodie whisked from the ring by Latin Union staff, is eventually brought out to meet the press: “I think she was more than a little lucky. She caught me off guard in the last round. That was my fault, I acknowledge it, but it was a fight I could have and should won. So I am more determined than ever to stay on and fight my way to victory in the FCBA!”

Elodie Frege may have a point about Rose Byrne being lucky, but a winning fighter will take advantage of opportunities and that’s just what Rose did. It was a close fight, the kind that can slip away from a fighter and lead to defeat. A hard lesson for Elodie Frege. However Rose Byrne probably shrugs off the details for now. What’s important to her is that she has won her first FCBA fight and suddenly all things seem possible. It should be most interesting to see if Rose can build on first success and become a factor in FCBA Bantam at last.