Posted by Girls Friday June 16 2017 11:05 am.
NEW BLOOD BANTAMWEIGHT TOURNAMENT SEMI FINALS
(Written by Girls Friday/Results by Lookout!)
(Free Agent vs Free Agent)
Tale of the Tape:
Lia Marie Johnson:
Age: 20
Height: 5'6
Measurements:36-25-36
Record: debut
Vs
Anya Taylor-Joy:
Age:21
Height: 5'6 1/2
Measurements:33-26-34
Record: debut
Intro:
The second semi final in the New Blood bantamweight tournament sees Lia Marie Johnson take on Anya Taylor-Joy to take the last spot in the final.
Lia was born in Wahiawa, Hawaii but resides now in Los Angeles, she is a famous YouTube personality and has released songs like "DNA" and her debut song "Moment like you"
Anya was born in Miami, Florida, she is a mixture of British and Argentinian, she became famous due to her debut role in the movie The Witch and later in Morgan.
At the press conference, the girls meet up face to face, both women nodding at each other as they look slightly nervous but looking each other up and down seems to help them relax, clearly thinking they can take the other.
Sitting at their tables, Lia is giving the nod by organisers to speak as she stands and smiles warmly to the crowd of journalists.
She starts by saying "wow I am finally going to be in the FCBA! I've watched my idols like Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson to name just two who've made such impacts in music and in this organization"
Smiling as she adds "I'd love to have half the career they have had, but this is the start of my journey and I plan on having many nights of success before I hang the gloves up"
Asked about Anya, she answers "she seems a cool woman, but I will win because the cream rises to the top; no offence of course"
Of course Anya does look offended, but she calmly tells the press "like Lia, I watched the FCBA when I was in my teens, seeing larger than life characters come out and fight was partly what inspired me to sign now as I remembered those days"
She continues "I mean look at Charlize Theron, the GOAT of this place has fought around the world in all sorts of matches, weights and was the one who stood out the most as I watched, I want to stand here in 10 years and have Charlize say she's proud of me, though that's just a silly dream"
Turning to Lia, she finishes by saying "what isn't silly is winning this tournament, Lia believes the cream will rise, I agree but not the way she means, this this day one of my career, I plan on making everyday I step into a ring a special one for me and my fans"
Before fighters stand up for the final stare down, no words being exchanged, but you can sense that the nerves seem to have passed being around each other, now they feel ready to stamp the first mark on what they hope will be illustrious careers.
Fight night, out comes Lia first wearing a black one piece swimsuit with white strips down the sides, she is smiling warmly to the crowd as she stands at the top of the ramp in a classic looking Wonder Woman pose.
Before she starts to walk down to the ring, highfiving fans as she goes and hugging some young fans in the front row.
Then she climbs into the ring to a loud cheer as she waves to the fans while doing a quick lap inside the ring till she reaches her corner, where she goes through her final warm up routine.
Everyone's attention turning to the ramp as Anya arrives with her own big smile, she's wearing a navy blue one piece swimsuit and matching gloves as she bounces on her toes, psyching herself up for this fight.
She begins her walk to the ring with almost a bounce to each step she takes as she nods to her own cheering fans, both fighters extremely likable, adding to the rivalry between the two fighters ironically.
Climbing into the ring, Anya walks to each side of the ring and waves to her loving fans, before heading to her corner to go through her own warm up routine.
Soon special referee Halle Berry waves both fighters to the ring centre for her instructions, both doing as told and giving their opponent a quick once over to see if their is anything they can target.
Asked to touch gloves, both look at each other with questioning eyes, before they do touch gloves, maybe worried about an early sneak attack.
Before they jog back to their corners, as soon as they are ready; Halle signals for the bell to be rung to start 10 rounds of bantamweight action.
Round 1:
Out come the fighters up on their toes as they circle each other and throw probing punches towards the other to get a feel of the others defenses.
Lia looks to have the faster hands of the fighters as she connects with the more cleaner punches in these early exchanges.
Anya throws a feint left and steps in with a straight punch that ignites the first real full blooded exchange between the two fighters.
Soon they separate and get back to circling each other with curious looks, they both know they are similar for looks and by the looks of it power, so this is all going to be about skills.
As they step towards each other again, they parry and try to counter each other but it leads to an early stalemate between them.
Till Lia ducks a right and comes back with a sweet left cross and two right punches; one to the ribs, one up top to shove Anya onto the back foot.
As Anya covers up, Lia doesn't give her time to think, the singer keeping close enough to Taylor-Joy to keep her pinned behind her guard with straight strikes.
The actress is doing a good job to block them till she takes a right across the side of her body that forces a grunt from her and a jab snakes through a gap in her guard.
Luckily for her, she sidesteps a follow up right hook, but looks annoyed at herself for getting caught that easily, as she steps back in to engage Lia.
The fight returning to a more even exchange of single punches finding gaps through or around the others guard.
The bell rings to end the round, neither girl stops to stare, instead they head back to their corners to hear what their coaches have to say in what is quickly becoming a chess match between these two.
Round 2:
Both start off with quick fire jabs as they dance around each other, the crowd watching closely to see who gets the advantage soon.
That soon turns out to be Anya, who lands a stiff jab to the nose of Lia, then quickly following up with two alternate cross punches to turn Johnson's head side to side.
The slightly younger fighter is knocked onto the back foot as Anya adds two more shots to the sides of her body, before she takes a straight to her face.
Anya though is on the front foot, slamming shots into the forearms protecting the face of Lia, who can't seem to get out of her shell.
Lia does manage to slip under a left cross to land a right to the body of her opponent and lands a left cross of her own as she comes out her crouch.
But Anya steps back, takes a quick breath before she wades back into the action, leading both to put their heads down and let their fists go, working the other to the body.
Just a few seconds left in the round as Anya steps back to create space and as Lia tries to plug the gap, she snaps a jab and straight combo into her nose to stop her.
Before she can drive forwards, the bell rings to end the round and she just stops herself throwing a right cross, both girls nod at each other as they show respect to the other on what's proven to be an even fight.
Back to their corners they go to get cleaned up, as Halle looks somewhat impressed by both girls, smiling as she leans against the turnbuckles in a neutral corner.
Round 3:
Both fighters are looking desperate to get some control of this fight as they come head touching their rivals head, swinging hard shots to the others bodies.
Lia steps back and snaps a jab to the face of Anya, before adding a right cross to the lips of the actress, blood starting to trickle from the bottom lip of Taylor-Joy.
Anya shaking her head as she tries to tell Lia she isn't hurt, Johnson not caring as she throws a straight right at those lips and Anya does her best to cover up.
It's clear to the crowd that Lia is in control as she moves out the way of counter punches from her opponent and digs away to her body to try and open that guard up.
When it does open, Lia is quick to dig her punches through the gap and Anya can be heard yelping as the sting of the punches on her cut lip.
Anya does fire back with a two punch combo of her own to slow down the assault of Lia, who smiles as she clearly thinks she has her opponent where she wants her.
Feinting a left hook, Lia instead lands a right hook that knocks Anya towards the ropes, her follow up punches to the head force Anya the rest of the way onto the ropes.
Anya covering up as Lia pounds her to the sides, but struggling to break open her guard, the beaten blonde pulls Lia into a clinch to stop the punishment she's under.
Halle gets to work prying the girls back apart and with seconds reminding in the round, Anya does her best to keep her distance from a confident Lia till the bell rings to end the round.
Back in their corners, Lia looks to be buzzing in her corner, banging her gloves together as she looks at her coach with a smile, her coach doing his best to keep her focused and calm.
Anya meanwhile is wincing as her lip is being treated, it's the first time she can remember her lip being split in her life as she listens to her own coach on where she went wrong, her fans looking worried on their faces over this round.
Round 4:
Anya is stuck on the defensive straight from the bell as Lia is looking to finish this by the looks of things, she's hammering the forearms of her opponent to try and open her up.
The slightly older fighter manages to land a few counter punches as she fights off the back foot, but Lia manages to shove her towards the ropes and lands two hooks to the side of her body.
Shoving Lia back, Anya moves off the ropes and as her opponent comes back in, she lands a straight punch to the chin to knock her head back to create a moment to take a breath.
Soon though Lia is back into her face, throwing a flurry of punches as she isn't holding back, she can't find the punch to do anything serious though as she bangs off the guard repeatedly.
Anya slips under a right hook that had real power behind it but no aim, then she comes back up with an uppercut that catches Lia square on her chin.
Lia's let's out a loud groan as she stumbles back a few steps, Anya looking surprised that she caught her opponent so flush, looking like she's admiring her handy work as her coach shouts at her to get at her rival.
Anya nods and the girls both exchange several hard punches, she's starting to back up the still stunned Lia, who is now the one forced onto the back foot.
The crowd stunned at the sharp turnaround as Anya shows some real precision with her punches, finding gaps in Lia's guard.
The bell rings with Lia stuck on the ropes, both girls looking at each other with some desperation showing, they look to be asking without saying the words "please go down" as they've both been hurt.
But as they head back to their corners, Lia is the one who is in bad shape, she dips her head down looking embarrassed by her performance after such a dominant round before that.
Anya not doing as Lia did after the last round, she keeps herself calm as she looks across the ring at her opponent, both girls looking at each other as they think about what they need to do to win.
Round 5:
Lia won't give Anya an easy time it seems as she comes out the corner with some wild punches, she lands a straight as Anya backs up.
But as she misses with a right hook with Anya stepping to the side, Lia takes a left hook to her cheek and a straight punch that rocks her head back.
Lia is covering up again, Anya though is driving forward with the body of her fellow blonde her main tactic, before Johnson clinches up with her.
Both girls keep things clean surprisingly in the clinch, Halle still having to nudge the fighters apart though.
As the action starts up again, Lia lands a jab to the lips of Anya to slow her down for a moment, that moment passes quickly as Anya is hunting down her rival.
She pulls a trick from Lia's textbook, feinting with a right; before landing a left hook that makes Lia stumble towards the ropes once more.
Lia trying her best to fight off the ropes, Anya has the advantage though, she's planted her feet and is landing some real vicious punches to the face.
Covering up as best she can, cameras pick up on the fact that Lia has blood coming from a cut under her left eye, those clean shots she took before did some real damage.
Lia shoving Anya back to get herself off the ropes, but a right from Taylor-Joy as she chases down her retreating opponent nearly puts Johnson down as she's clearly rocked.
The bell rings as Halle steps in between the girls as Anya looks ready to blast Lia's head off, her eyes look wide as she has her opponent at her mercy but has been stopped from finishing the job.
Anya jogs back to her corner with her coach calming her down, Anya looks across the ring at the disheveled Lia, who has a ringside doctor checking that cut to see if it is bad.
After a few seconds, he deems it to be OK after Lia's coach cleans it up, the coach more worried about if Lia is going to be fit enough to continue fighting, he's going to get an answer soon enough.
Round 6
The girls both come out, though it's clear by the lack of spring in Lia's movements that she hurting as Anya is quick to come on the attack.
A straight punch catches Lia between her gloves and Anya puts her opponent out of her misery with a big right hook that puts Johnson down to her side.
Halle kneels down to check on Lia and waves the fight off as she's knocked clean out!
Winner: Anya Taylor-Joy KO Round 6
After:
Anya smiles but doesn't celebrate too much as she watches the ringside doctor and the first aiders rush into the ring to check on the fallen Lia.
The victor being told by her coach to head to her corner as the moment seems to hit Anya, whose staring down with real worry on her face at the girl she beat.
Lia soon wakes up thanks to the doctors help, clearly disappointed that she lost, but she's not complaining as she sees Anya shove her coach out the way as she still has one glove on.
Pulling the lone glove off and tossing it to her side, Anya checks on Lia as the girls chat like old friends, no animosity between them even after the damage they did to each other.
Which after Lia is helped to stand up, Anya joking holds her face in both hands and says "a good nights rest and maybe some make up and you'll look as good as new"
Lia laughing and reply "speak for yourself, I want you to pay for my spa visits" which makes Anya laugh too, both returning to their happy go lucky like self's.
Anya doesn't even get a chance to speak to the interviewer though as Lia points out that her opponent in the final Naomi Scott has just entered the ring.
Wishing Anya "good luck in the final" before with help from her coach she leaves the ring, Lia is happy to get to the back and plan her future in a different way now.
Journalists all seem to converge into the ring at the same time as they surround the finalists, who stare each other down.
Neither veils the glares as they head toward each other, Naomi though breaks the ice by putting her hand out to Anya and saying "great win babe"
Anya looks untrusting of the gesture, but does shake the hand after an intense moment, seeming to pass as they share a smile.
That changes as Naomi pulls Anya in closer so they are nose to nose and scowling at each other with Naomi saying "I like and respect you, but this means too much to me to sacrifice my dreams to you"
As she tries to release the hand of Anya, the blonde keeps her grip and them head to head, as she replies "don't think because I am friendly that I will roll over for you too babe"
Naomi nodding as the hand shake is finally released and she leaves the ring so Anya can take a moment to finally celebrate her big win.
She does a lap of the ring to a loud cheer, she waves to the fans but her mind is on one thing, that's the biggest fight of her life as she thinks of facing Naomi in that final in less then two weeks on PPV.
Jun 16, 2017 at 11:05am via mobile
Jun 16, 2017 at 11:05am via mobile
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