Posted by  Lookout! Boxing on Mar 31, 2017 at 11:28am

Hilary Rhoda versus Sarah Lancaster

Written by Girls Friday/Results by Lookout!)
(Girls Friday vs Free Agent)

Intro:
A big time welterweight bout here as the newly ranked number 1
welterweight Hilary Rhoda looks to keep her unbeaten run going against
a two time welterweight champion in Sarah Lancaster.

The 29 year old Hilary has 7 wins, all by knockout and 0 losses to her
name, Mandy Moore and Katrina Law are her biggest scalps up to now but
Sarah would be up there if she can get the job done.

But the 37 year old Sarah is no push over! While her record of 10
wins, 9 by knockout and 14 defeats doesn't look great.

She's beaten pound for pound legend Amanda Righetti twice! Also beat
the other half of the infamous R&R as pundits call them in Bridget
Regan to win her second welterweight title only two years ago.
Though many see this fight as the new school against the old school,
can Hilary show she belongs or will Sarah show the world what
greatness truly means?

At the press conference, there was a cold air it seemed, both girls
tense as they go face to face for the first ever time.

Surprisingly with the experience both have, the importance of this
fight for both shows on their faces, they look slightly nervous
looking at each other, not scared of each other per say, purely on
what a loss will do for each fighters career.

'The girls are led to their tables, with Hilary asked to speak first,
but first she takes a sip of water to clear her throat before she
starts.

"First I have to say I was stunned, we always get the rankings in the
GF gym when they come out, to see my name just under the champion in
the welterweight rankings was a major surprise" says Hilary to start.
She adds "honestly I don't feel I'm there yet, look at the other young
women and veterans who've fought to get into the top ten, Hannah
Ferguson and Tanhee Atkinson have been ripping up trees and my name is
being punted into the title hunt"

She turns to Sarah and says "no I'm not quite ready yet but I don't
think I'll be too far away, especially if I'm beating girls like you
Sarah, true legends of the sport and ones who paved the way for girls
like me to flourish, I have to win, so give me everything because I'm
coming with everything I have" before she sits down and looks calmer
now she's got her feelings out.

Sarah doesn't know what to think at first, she was expecting a
slagging match with the younger woman, instead she was so frank with
her feelings.

So instead of what she was planning on saying, she starts with "thank
you Hilary, it is nice to be respected by anyone"

Adding "I have been watching these fighters and even fought them this
past year, I have to be honest like Hilary, I've come up short time
and again to these youngsters, it hurts inside when I get back to the
locker room and look in that mirror knowing that time is disappearing
for me to show I belong in that ring with these girls"

Sarah takes a deep breath, then with fire in her soul, she says "but
time hasn't got me beaten yet and I'm far from done if I can help it!
So sorry Hilary but I have to be the one who upsets you in that ring,
then so be it"

Hilary and Sarah are led back together for the face down, this time
the nervousness is gone and two strong woman stand nose to nose
telling the other to back off with their body language.

The girls are separated by their coaches, before they go off stage,
Sarah says "good luck" with her hand out, Hilary grasps it and says
"thanks, you too" as both can't help but smile.

Fight night, Hilary comes out first with Melanie Sykes as her coach
tonight and Eva Carneiro as her cut woman, she nods to the crowd as
she scans the FCBA arena, smiling as she sees the crowd standing and
cheering her for this expected war.

As she starts her walk down to the ring, she is wearing a light blue
sports bra, trunks with a white GF badge on the right leg, light blue
gloves and boots.

Entering the ring, she grins to the crowd as she heads to her corner,
Melanie helping her warm up and going through any last minute
instructions.

Now out comes Sarah, she bangs her gloves together as she looks deep
in thought, her coach standing behind her as her fans chant her name.
As she marches down to the ring, she's wearing a black sports bra,
plain black trunks and shoes, she has black gloves with white thumbs.
Entering the ring, she nods over at Hilary before jogging over to her
corner to through her own warm up routine and advice from her coach.
The referee waves for the girls to come to the ring centre, the girls
standing nose to nose, a few words being exchanged, nothing too
serious it seems and when asked to touch gloves, they respectfully
touch them up.

After they go back to their corners, the referee nods to both girls
and waves for the bell to ring to start 10 rounds of welterweight
boxing action.

Round 1:
Out of the corners come the girls, both starting cautiously, jabbing
at each other to gauge range and test out defences.

Hilary looks slightly more comfortable as she starts letting her hands
go the sooner of the two girls, Sarah looking slightly gun shy, her
losses this past year to girls like Karlie Kloss seems to have stuck
in her mind.

Rhoda sneaks a right hook to the body of Lancaster and as the older
girl tries to fire back, she finds her opponent is out of the firing
line.

Sarah is struggling to catch Hilary, who looks to be getting over the
early nerves as she is boxing around the actress, jabbing away to keep
her on the backfoot, then snapping her right to the body.

The crowd watching closely, both girls land two punches to the others
head, Hilary though parries a follow up right from Sarah and cracks
her across the cheek with a right cross to her cheek to turn her head.
Sarah covering up as Hilary throws a three punch combo that gets
blocked, but another right to the body makes a mark.

A look of annoyance starts to draw onto the face of Sarah, who throws
punches to the sides of Hilary's body in retaliation.

But again gets caught, Hilary landing a straight punch between the
mitts and follows up with a quick thrown left hook that knocks Sarah's
head around.

This time as Hilary goes to keep the gas on the pedal, she lands two
more straight strikes to the lips of her opponent.

Forcing Sarah to fight back before this fight gets away from her right
from the off, leading to the girls standing and banging away at each
other as the crowd gets up to roar the girls on.

Sarah seems to have been released from her shackles as the final
minute of the round comes.

Using her skills from years of boxing, Sarah forces Hilary to miss
with a sneaky jab as the younger fighter loads up a power punch with
her right.

Then Sarah adds two digging shots to the body to force Hilary onto the
back foot for the first real time this round.

Hilary comes back at Sarah quick enough , with the dying seconds of
the round, both go heads down, slinging hooks to the sides of the
others bodies.

As the bell rings they just about hold back from throwing some more
body blows, instead giving each other a quick glance, before heading
off to their corners.

Round 2:
Off they go again, both heading to the ring centre with tight guards,
neither wanting to make a mistake, but they are starting to throw more
punches together, instead of just Hilary like the first round.
This time though, Sarah surprises Hilary by stepping back and parrying
a left cross, then snaps a straight over the top of the arm to the
cheek of Hilary.

Back onto her heels goes the model, Sarah freeing her hands up as she
lashes out with two punches up top that glance the cheeks of Hilary.
The two body shots to the side don't though, landing nicely to force a
gasp from Rhoda, who seems to grit her gumshield and to get into the
face of Sarah.

Who starts to control the pace of the fight, stepping in and out of
range as she starts to look at ease, looking more like herself to be
frank as she trades with Hilary, then whips a right hand around the
guard of her opponent to knock her head around.

Now Sarah powers on, banging her fists onto the defence of Hilary,
whose covering up as she is on the receiving end of a power drive from
Lancaster.

Finding an opening, Hilary starts firing back, a double jab seems to
ward Sarah back a bit as space opens up in front of her.
But as she tries to get back into attack mode, she gets caught to the
cheeks with two cross punches and suddenly she is getting pressed
backwards.

If not for some good footwork, she may have ended up on the ropes and
at Sarah's mercy, instead she lands a left cross of her own.

Once more the girls tee off on each other, they seem to enjoy getting
in close and banging shots to each others bodies.

Hilary just about dodges an uppercut by inches as she almost jumps
back, a warning shot for the model, who needs to keep her wits about
her.
Especially as the round is coming to an end and Sarah continues to
press forwards, forcing Hilary into bruising exchanges that neither
seem to really enjoy, but it is giving Sarah a chance to land cleaner
punches till the bell rings to end the round.

Sarah looks relaxed, if slightly marked up from those last few
exchanges, maybe doubts she had coming into this fight are washing
away.

But across the ring, Hilary doesn't look too worried, her and her
coaching team going through plans of how to win this as she gets her
equally marked up face cleaned up.

Round 3:
The action heats up as Hilary tries to press the issue and get back on
top of things, Sarah though isn't a veteran for nothing.
The more experienced girl keeps on the back foot, parrying Hilary's
punches before sending stiff counter shots back through the spaces
left in her opponent's guard.

Trying to change tactic as that fails, Hilary is surprised by the
sudden aggressiveness from Sarah, as Lancaster spots her chance to
strike and lands two pounding straights to the nose of Rhoda to knock
her back several steps.

Hilary has to dig in and try to fight back, but she hasn't got her
feet perfectly planted as Sarah sends a five punch flurry through the
lax guard and knocks the head of Hilary back.

Sarah is almost grinning, keeping herself focused on the task in front
of herself, she lands a right hook to the head.

Knocking Hilary towards the ropes and if not for the model clinching
up, she would have been pinned to the ropes and then we won't know
what damage could have been done.

The referee separates the girls, Sarah going to try to keep on the
front foot, but now Hilary has a chance to get back at her, she isn't
going to let this chance disappear.

Both girls trading on the inside, slamming punches through each others
guards, an uppercut snaps the head of Sarah back and as the round is
coming to end, Hilary is knocking Sarah backwards.

Sarah throws a right hand towards the head of Hilary but misses and
gets cracked onto the top of her head with a right cross, rocking
Sarah.

The bell rings to end the round with Hilary nodding to her coach as
she heads back to her corner, while Sarah looks frustrated heading to
her corner.

Both girls faces needing to be cleaned up of sweat, their faces are
starting to swell, bodies have red marks littered over them.

Round 4:
The fighters meet up in the ring centre with the early action being
fun for the crowd but not so much for the girls themselves.
Hammering away at each other, focusing on each others bodies at first
as both girls groan out in pain, the girls nearly clash heads as they
attempt to shove each other back.

Hilary lands a hard overhand right that turns Sarah's head, then as
Sarah goes to cover up, the model digs three unanswered punches to the
body of her opponent.

Sarah looking winded as she's pressed back by Hilary, whose going for
the finish by the looks of it, sending five punches at Sarah, only
three hit though; one to the body and two up top to continue pressing
Sarah onto her heels.

Hilary was stalking Sarah as the older brunette pushed her back a step
with her left, her eyes narrowed as the world for her become about
beating Sarah now that she saw a chance.

The model used her jab to keep Sarah on the defensive, then slammed
her right around the guard knocking Sarah's head around.
Till Sarah is forced onto the ropes, all hell breaks loose as Sarah in
desperation starts throwing wild shots to try and catch Hilary plum on
the chin or temple.

It does the job of forcing Hilary back, but doesn't do good for
catching her breath back, as she gets off the ropes and tries to keep
that space, she is on the receiving end of Hilary's fists once more as
she gets caught with a right cross to her lips.

Sarah doesn't seem like she can catch much of a break as the girls
trade in tight, but her face is grimacing as her body takes repeated
body blows to continue driving air out of her lungs.

She has to clinch up to get a breather, luckily for her the bell rings
as Hilary not too forcefully but clearly trying to prove a point,
gives Sarah a small push to separate the girls.

A hard look is exchanged by both girls, before they head back to their
corners, Sarah trying hard not to rub her body, trying not to show
weakness to her opponent.

But Hilary seems to be seeing through Sarah's mask, she's nodding at
Sarah as if to tell her I know I've got you.

Round 5:
Out come the girls, Sarah looking to get at Hilary early on, she finds
that Hilary wants a piece of her too though and the girls square up in
the centre of the ring.\

Banging shots over each others guards, both girls wincing as they take
some hard shots that rattle each of them.

That is till Hilary slips her right hook under the chin of Sarah,
whose head turns to the side and her legs turn to jelly.

How she stands up still is a shock to journalists, though she looks
badly hurt as she tries covering up, but is getting smacked to the
chops with rights and lefts knocking her head around her shoulder
almost.

Falling into the ropes, a clean right cross to her cheek dumps her to
her side in a heap, groans coming from the fallen Sarah on the canvas.
Hilary jogs to a neutral corner, hoping this fight is over as the
referee begins his count and Sarah is stirring slightly on the ground.
The referee manages to get up to 10 though as Sarah looks too rattled
to do anything but roll to her back and groan out in pain as the fight
ends with her counted out.

Winner: Hilary Rhoda KO Round 5

After:
As the bell rings, Hilary goes over to check on Sarah, bending down to
ask if she's OK; the beaten fighter needs helping up by her coach but
nods to her to show she will be.
Hilary heads back to her own corn

er so Sarah can get helped by her own
coach in the other corner.

The Girls Friday coaching team reminding Hilary that she's beaten
another former champion, but Hilary doesn't look overly excited about
that, instead telling Melanie "I still have some work to do in the gym
when we get back"

Melanie looks surprised, Hilary is now 8 and 0 in the FCBA, her
competition has been of a good level and beating girls like Moore, Law
and Lancaster back to back isn't an east feat to achieve, yet Hilary
looks deep in thought.

"You did a great job babe, girls would kill to have the start you've
had, but if you are worried about losing then don't be, you will
someday!" Melanie tells her fighter.

At first Hilary doesn't seem to be able to say anything, stunned that
she's being told she'll lose, after a moment though she smiles,
knowing what Melanie is trying to tell her.

Nodding at her coach as her gloves are taken off and she turns to go
see Sarah, whose now standing in her corner and looking better then
moments ago, Mel can only smile, wondering "where do I find these
girls?"

In Sarah's corner, her gloves are off and after a bit of time to shake
off being put down hard to the canvas, she seems steady enough to
stand and go over where she went wrong.

That is interrupted as Hilary comes over to say "thank you for the
fight, you gave me a hard test" which is stopped by Sarah replying "I
didn't babe"

Looking hard at Hilary as if looking in a mirror, she tells Hilary
"you fought great, you deserve to be where you are, but I'm not the
fighter I was and well I have to accept that right?"

It's Hilary's turn to stop Sarah in her tracks, telling her "don't let
Tess or anyone else get into your head, she said I shouldn't even be
in this remember, now she is on my side to suddenly achieve things"
Hugging Sarah, she adds "just get that first win out the way and
you'll be back fighting me before you know it" with Sarah hugging her
back tightly.

The girls part and nod to each other, before Sarah is helped out the
ring and Hilary goes to the centre of the ring to get her hand raised
to a loud cheer from her fans.

Sarah looks slightly in a better mood as she heads to the back, still
wondering though how she does get that win she needs to get the engine
running.

Hilary meanwhile leaves the ring not long after, waving to some girls
in the front row of the crowd who hold a banner with her name on.
After she heads up the ramp, journalists look to swarm her, but
Melanie looks at Hilary; who doesn't look like she wants to deal with
the press yet, instead Mel tells them "you'll get a statement soon,
but my fighter wants a well earned shower first"

Then they move off to the stable locker room to get Hilary cleaned up
and a quick hug from different members of her stable.

Before she finally meets the press outside the locker room in just a
long white fluffy robe that is tied up tight to hide the stunning
contents inside.

"Sorry that I didn't do this straight away, just needed to look
presentable" jokes Hilary with her beautiful smile on show.

"Sarah is a top girl and for me to continue my path of growth in the
FCBA with the wins I've had is just amazing to me" adds Hilary as she
shoves a loose wet strand of hair back behind her ear.

She finishes by saying "I don't know where I go right now, some would
argue a tune up tester then hopefully a title shot, others would argue
to jump into the deep end, all I know is whatever happens, I'll be
prepared"

Then with a flourish, she turns and quickly heads back into her locker
room, the only visible view is the stable girls who won tonight
sitting watching a big screen with the title fight between Hannah
Ferguson and champ Gemma Atkinson.