This fight has been built up as being an eliminator for Una Healy’s bantamweight title, as experienced Nicola, who looks in the form of her life at 31, takes on the undefeated 29 year old Fleur, who just seems unstoppable at this early stage of her career.

As the junior fighter, Fleur is first into the ring, wearing a black leather bikini, with matching gloves and boots, looking very menacing, and she’s soon joined by Nicola in an electric blue one piece outfit, with baby blue gloves and boots.

Although both girls have so much at stake, they seem to respect one another, and bump gloves in the centre of the ring as the referee speaks to them both.

Round 1

But now the bell has sounded to start this fight, and the girls aren’t wasting any time in taking the other on, and as usual Fleur starts quickly, lands a snapping combination of left jab, right cross, left jab, and she wants to take control early in the fight, but Nicola won’t yield any ground, and the girls are really trading some hard shots now, Nicola giving Fleur’s defence some work to do as she bats the younger girl with a couple of lovely left hooks, but she fights back well, gives Nicola an uppercut, and that sends Nicola backwards for the first time, and now Fleur’s hurting Nicola, pressing her backwards, so she becomes more defensive, clinches and protects herself, and this is frustrating Fleur, who just wants to trade big shots to see who is stronger.

Round 2

Nicola’s still being evasive, and she’s boxing well in defence again, making Fleur miss, then clinching, holding, and hitting Fleur inside, using her experience. The referee breaks the girls, and Nicola’s catching Fleur each time she gets in closer, her left jab snapping Fleur’s head backwards, and she gives her a right hook to the ribs as well this time, making Fleur go backwards, and Nicola comes out of her shell at last, hits Fleur to the mouth with a right cross, and hurts her with that punch, Fleur sagging a little, and now Nicola shows some class, and presses Fleur to the ropes, but the younger girl’s super fit, and Nicola’s unable to hurt her with body shots, as she covers her head, and almost gives the redhead free reign to hit her toned abs.

Round 3

Well that looks like one round each now, and as the third round starts, the experienced Nicola’s beginning to dictate the fight, and she’s giving Fleur the runaround, she gets in range, unloads on Fleur, then after landing a couple of sharp punches, she’s out of range, and seems to have no problem avoiding Fleur’s almost desperate attacks, hits the brunette again with a perfect pair of jabs, and Fleur just can’t connect with her punches, and she’s getting more and more frustrated as this round goes by, Nicola giving her a lesson in how to box, controlling her and hurting her as well, Fleur’s face a little swollen around her left eye and cheek.

Round 4

Fleur’s cornermen have had to work hard to reduce the swelling on her left eye, and she comes back out with guns blazing, seeking out Nicola and pumping the punches towards her face, but still Fleur can’t get her punches home, and she looks a little weary, having wasted a lot of effort, and she misses with a huge right hook, and she’s off balance after that, and now instead of defending, Nicola’s beginning to land her punches instead, the Liverpool girl being canny on the counterpunch, letting Fleur commit herself, block her, and then land sweet punches in Fleur’s face, and the younger girl looks confused as she backs into the ropes, and Nicola hits her again, not long left in this round, which has gone Nicola’s way again, and she hits Fleur with a left jab, then another, the girl’s defence all over the place, and she goes down late in the round as Nicola cracks her across the jaw with a right hook, Fleur only down for a count of 5, but it’s a lesson for her, and that’s what she’s getting in this fight – a lesson!

Round 5

This is becoming rather one-sided now, as the fans are treated to more aggression from Nicola as she seems set to take the fight away from Fleur, and she hurts the girl again, smacking a lovely hook and cross into her face, and she’s got Fleur in some distress now, blood on her face, because Nicola has cut her right eye, and now the redhead seems to sense victory, looking in total control against Fleur, who looks like a novice tonight, but Nicola gets herself into a pickle when she’s too slow to retreat after giving Fleur yet another one-two, and at last Fleur hits her, and hurts her, crashing a booming right hook into her face, and that’s set the older girl back on her heels, and she has to retreat and cover, with Fleur now in front of her, pumping big punches into her body, and suddenly this fight has turned around, although Nicola’s still ahead on points.

Round 6

Away they go again, but Nicola looks tired now, and maybe she shot her bolt in round 5, with the punishment Fleur gave her taking a lot out of her, and she seems to wilt in comparison to the superfit Fleur, who’s still full of energy, and she’s finding the slower Nicola an easier target now, and she just keeps pressing the older girl backwards to the ropes, and she’s giving her a good working over by the middle of the round, and starts to rock Nicola with some crisp punches to her face, and it rather looks like Nicola’s been softened up in this round, and Fleur knows it, takes advantage of the redhead’s tiredness, swats her face again, then has her squawking with a big left to her midsection, gets her guard lowered, and she puts her down with a crushing left and right combination, Nicola rolling over from her back to her front to beat the count at 8, with Fleur not having enough time to do any more damage.

Round 7

This fight has been so gruelling for both girls, but it’s all Fleur now, and she’s working Nicola around the ring, sends her back into a neutral corner, and she’s hurting her with right hooks to her body, Nicola managing to clinch and hold on for now, but the referee’s looking hard at her, because she’s looking very tired, and Fleur’s taking full advantage, peppering her face with punches, and hurting her with a right hook, flooring her again – brave Nicola gets up at 8 again, but she’s swaying and dazed, the referee stopping the fight quickly.

Result: Fleur East stopped Nicola Roberts in round 7

Nicola had that fight just about won, but took a risk, and that’s dangerous against a girl who punches like Fleur.

After the fight, the mutual respect is clear, as Fleur hugs Nicola, and tells her, “When I win the title, I’ll give you first shot – if you want it!”