Vera Brezhneva vs Gabriella Cilmi
(BBU Free Agent vs Garnet Gunners UK)
(BBU Debut vs 3-6, 3 KO)
Venue: Cardiff Arena, Wales

BEFORE: Nobody knows the full story behind Vera Brezhneva's BBU debut but she's been voted the sexiest woman by Maxim Russia three times already which seems to be her main calling card according to Georgie Thompson. And that's not a weak calling card whatsoever! She's also been a member of a popular girls band before and with Dorota Rabczewska supposedly dominating the Eastern European boxing market perhaps we're in line for a proper Alpha Blonde rivalry in the foreseeable future.

On the other hand we have Gabriella Cilmi who broke BBU waters long before the current crop of ACB free agents started to make significant progress into the media spotlight. The dark-haired singer is still only 25 years old and Georgie Thompson simply can't explain why she's been so overlooked by fellow peers over the past eighteen months.

Vera Brezhneva wears a leopard print bikini set and white gloves. Long blonde hair in loose waves. Gabriella Cilmi wears a black bikini set and red gloves. Long dark brown hair tied in a sleek ponytail. The fight is scheduled for ten rounds in the bantamweight division.

Round 1:
These Eastern Europeans are supposed to be aggressive, right? Well, if Vera is labelled as the second coming of Doda then she certainly gets off to a fast start as she squares up to the Aussie girl and whacks her straight up the middle which splits Cilmi's gloves and allows the rookie to score easy shots upstairs. Gabriella tries to fight back from her heels but fails to maintain her balance and weaves around under the Ukrainian onslaught which forces her butt-in-ropes come the second minute. She swings one promising hook that finds the blonde's brow ridge but gets countered over the top as Brezhneva's one-dimensional attack still proves to be superior. Vera wraps the younger singer in a proper jabbing assault thereafter and barks in her efforts to break the brunette's spirit but runs out of gas and allows the hitherto overwhelmed Cilmi to clinch her in the dying seconds.

Round 2:
Another quick start allows Vera to dominate the early exchange; Cilmi shows some proper juice though and both girls trigger a feisty slugging affair that evens the score down the stretch. Brezhneva remains too predictable in her head hunting pursuit and Cilmi finally finds her range landing quick shots on the body which wobble the aggressive blonde into serious execution issues. Vera can't steer her shots clearly enough as Gabriella improves her footwork and tackles the blonde's rack to reel her backwards across the ring. She flicks a nasty hook on the lips before adding another one on the temple and Brezhneva's forced into deep cover in the corner while the Aussie singer simply cleans out her tummy in a hectic jabbing drive in the final few seconds.

Round 3:
Cilmi's encouraged by the strong recovery peformance in the previous round and becomes more aggressive as she stalks the blonde downstairs and clearly tries to pierce her liver area. However she wobbles too far forward and the blonde clinches her before wrestling her back to the ropes. A brief struggle for supremacy ensues where Brezhneva proves to be the stronger of the two yet Cilmi digs her elbow in her tummy and lands a punishing harpoon on the liver that drops the older singer to her heels. Ugh! Vera begins to moan in pain and Gabriella stuns her with a quick uppercut on the jaw shortly afterwards but she fails to add a proper combo and allows the Ukrainian to duck underneath her aerial swing. The final minute has Brezhneva in full retreat and Georgie admits the rookie isn't quite settled into this action yet - especially when she meets a proper resistance and a nasty punch on top of that.

Round 4:
Gabriella's rally continues as she tackles the blonde's guts in another close range exchange before driving her hook straight into the solar plexus. Ugh! Vera slumps on her knees and manages to lock a much-needed clinch at the last second to prevent the Aussie from sinking her for keeps. Cilmi misses the put away hook and gets wrestled back to the ropes which again underlines the blonde's superior physical strenght. However it's not a weightlifting contest here in the ring and Vera's raw boxing skills are getting exposed with every minute now. Still, the brunette can't take further advantage from her dominant position and the ref does a lousy job of separating them as the final minute turns into a lenghty wrestling struggle. The bell puts the boxing purists out their misery and even Georgie Thompson is relieved about that one.

Round 5:
Brezhneva catches a second wind in her tails and beats the Aussie for a quick punch upstairs; she's a one-dimensional fighter based on tonight's evidence but she does have some power in that punch and rattles Cilmi on her heels when she nails her on the lips. Gabriella's overhand response cuts thin air and the blonde tackles her on the boobs - that's a welcomed change alright - before adding a nasty uppercut on the chin that drops the brunette's guard for good. A scything cross slams Gabriella on the nose and makes her wince in pain but she's a touch slow in her otherwise desperate counter and Vera steers a cross hook from the left on the nose again. And we have blood! Cilmi's nostrils begin to leak that familiar red liquid which immediately reels her into hectic retreat but Brezhneva's fast enough to still split her mitts on the pursuit. She pounds the wounded brunette back into the corner where she finally digs into her guts for a good measure and leaves her crippled under the barrage come the bell. In fact, the bell doesn't halt Vera's attack and the ref has to pull her away as Gabriella slumps on her stool with eyes closed visibly affected by the nasal injury and the right old beating she took in her worst round since the opener.

Round 6:
Gabriella's cutmen patch her up just in time for the sixth but Brezhneva's eyes glare full of venom right now. She beats the Aussie for an overhand double combo and immediately tries to open that nasal wound again. Gabriella's confidence suffers a lethal blow - literally - when the Ukrainian foe connects with one strike too many and cuts her up much quicker than anyone inside Cardiff Arena anticipated. That's a lousy medical work from Cilmi's crew indeed but she can only swallow the blood seeping onto her lips as the head hunting assault intensifies and finally uncovers Brezhneva's full potential. Gabriella's feet stay behind as she gets overwhelmed mentally as well as physically by that injury and gets battered into stupor during a one-sided opening minute frenzy. Ugh! She slumps on the ropes as Vera's all over her face and simply keeps plugging away until she rocks the brunette's head so badly you can almost hear the neck cranking under the pressure! Ugh! AND DOWN GOES CILMI... the younger singer simply can't take it anymore and ragdolls down onto her bums as Vera shouts in delight and pumps herself across the chest. Gabriella tries to recover from the vicious knockdown but actually smears blood over her face and looks in all sorts of bother as her eyes are hollow by this point. She gets up at nine... and that's a generous count from the man in charge - before sliding against the turnbuckle. That's simply too much for her to handle tonight and the ref waves it off while signalling for the medics to take care of that ugly nasal wound. TKO6 Vera Brezhneva!!!

AFTER: Georgie Thompson calls the Ukrainian beauty a hot prospect but there's something very raw about her. She's got a mean punch alright - one doesn't bust up another girl's nose just like that - but the lack of a versatile approach might yet come back to haunt her against more qualified opposition. Still, Gabriella Cilmi is no genuine jobber whatsoever and Brezhneva's debut choice is widely applauded by the media pundits. She even calls out Tulisa Contostavlos as her next target and catches most people around Cardiff by surprise with her better-than-expected English vocabulary skills.

Meanwhile Gabriella needs to be consoled in her corner, that comeback looked really good at one stage but the nasal injury proved devastating and the Aussie babe never recovered from it. Several other girls around BBU wouldn't have recovered from it either but a weakness like that separates Cilmi from all the divisional elite contenders and places her a level below them at the very least according to Georgie Thompson.

Final result: Vera Brezhneva def. Gabriella Cilmi TKO6.