Cher Lloyd vs Frankie Bridge
(BBU Independent vs Double A Boxing)
(5-1. 5 KO vs 3-14, 3 KO)
Results: BBU; Story: Vassago

BEFORE: Guess who's back? Yes, it's Cher Lloyd who until a very untimely defeat to a flyweight/bantamweight tweener Diana Korkunova was considered as the hottest 110 lbs entry in the BBU not named Jenna Coleman or Cheryl Cole. Now she has to work her way back into the flyweight title contention ahead of the likes of Elizabeth Henstridge, Jade Thirlwall or Ivana Baquero to list the most obvious suspects.

On the other hand Frankie Bridge (nee Sandford) remains one of the most unfortunate BBU operators and still occupies the cellar of The Saturdays roster while her stablemate Mollie King has tasted the flyweight championship opportunity and quite frankly is best suitable to become Lloyd's next opponent. So, is there some kind of a scheme being run behind the scenes? Did Mollie require Lloyd to fight Frankie and perhaps even Vanessa White before she agrees to this blockbuster match-up? There's no official word from the Double A/Saturdays camp but veteran BBU TV anchorwoman Denise van Outen recognizes the writing on the wall whenever she sees on!

Both these singers come off a loss to Diana Korkunova and Frankie's biggest claim to BBU fame is her knockout of Jade Thirlwall back in December 2013 though few people expected the Little Mix singer to emerge as the next big thing in the years that followed. Can Frankie repeat those heroics and kickstart her career? She's still only 28 and has plenty of gas in the tank left according to Vanessa White who acts as the personal trainer in tonight's contest.

Cher Lloyd wears a black bikini set and red gloves. Long dark brown hair tied in a high-ponytail. Frankie Sandford wears a violet bikini set and white gloves. Shoulder lenght dark brown hair loose and straight. The fight is scheduled for ten rounds in the flyweight division.

Round 1:
Cher simply can't wait to get this Cardiff bout started and romps into a hectic jabbing assault that immediately caves Frankie behind a tight earmuff. Of course the East Londoner expected this high-flying introduction from younger brunette but still her guard can barely embrace the furious heat she's been handed here. Cher knocks and bumps Frankie around but the apparent red mist mode hurts her execution and the lack of a solid big punch enables Bridge to sidestep away from the immediate danger come the second minute and loop some promising counter-attacks thereafter. Frankie settles into mid-distance and Cher's so occupied with taking her head off, she leaves her feet behind and gets picked off with more single hands as the fight enters the third minute. A clubbing hook then finds the jaw and wobbles Lloyd into a quick uppercut which allows Frankie to dominate the last few seconds as she snaps the Gypsy brunette's head back with a nasty jabbing series from point-blank range.

Round 2:
Frankie ended the opener on a high note and she lures the charging Lloyd into another mid-distance trap, Cher barks in her efforts to land a hooking combo upstairs but lacks the composure and most of her strikes cut thin air before another looping response allows Bridge to actually score the meaningful punches. She leans on the younger brunette and lays into her guts - a welcomed if unexpected change - and Lloyd's the first one to be caught off guard but the sudden switch. She wobbles into Frankie's range and eats a nasty uppercut on the jaw which sinks her on soft knees and results in a period of dominance from the much-maligned East Londoner. Bridge pierces her rival's high guard from point-blank range and knocks her back to the ropes where she scythes her across the boobs and pounds more juice on the exposed ribcage. Cher begins to wince in pain and has to clinch the fellow singer in order to survive the onslaught but that was a clinical display from the former Miss Sandford who punches the air in delight at the bell. Most of the BBU fans and pundits know how rarely she was able to do that in her lacklustre career to date!

Round 3:
Did the Korkunova loss affect Cher's confidence so badly? She gets blitzed by another looping counter-attack from the older brunette and a quick brawl in the center of the ring results in Lloyd's ponytail spinning around like crazy! This is as aggressive as Frankie was outside of thumping Tisha Merry last year and she puts some serious weight behind her shots while working from the front (left) leg. The creampuff factor is seemingly gone but perhaps it's down to Cher's mediocre defense tonight but she keeps leaking punches and gets reeled onto the ropes come the second minute where Bridge just rains punches and traps her in a subdued position. It's Lloyd's turn to swing some single shots in a counter-puching manner but that's never been her boxing demeanour and she struggles to halt the East Londoner's charge that eventually ends with a drilling harpoon on the navel and bends the younger brunette into loud spasms at the bell.

Round 4:
Frankie's aggressive approach triggers a classic flyweight war of attrition and Cher's lips suffer the full punishment during a hectic exchange in the opening minute. Both girls really step it up but as Lloyd's ponytail begins to swirl around her neck, she wilts under the point-blank range asault and wobbles onto her heels when Bridge delivers the cross-hooking juice. Ugh! Cher's gloves drop to the side but she stumbles backwards instead of dancing out of danger and a vicious left cross nails her on the temple moments later... DOWN GOES LLOYD!!! The monster upset is on the cards here as the Gypsy singer gets throttled to the floor with a nasty hook!!! Even Vanessa White looks genuinely surprised by her bandmate's antics and well, Frankie herself is left speechless when Cher battles back through the count. She gets up at seven but leaks blood from the wounded lips and her eyes indicate she's mentally stunned as much as anything. Frankie jumps into a swift effort to clean out her rival's clock but the hectic retreat from Cher prevents further fireworks... the bully is the one getting bullied in the ring though and Lloyd's dramatic escape is something even Diana Korkunova couldn't have dreamed of! The bell saves plenty of Gypsy pride but the laughs in The Saturdays corner tell a different story.

Round 5:
Lloyd realizes her reputation is on the line regardless of Frankie knocking out Jade Thirlwall in the past. Apart from the squashed lips she doesn't sport additional physical damage and settles for another war of attrition script that allows her to finally explore some holes in the older singer's guard. Bridge is happy to follow the same path but she gets beaten for the initial overhand and eats a jabbing series up the middle; Cher leans on her and almost headbutts in the proccess but then stings her around the elbows and drops to her heels. Frankie swings back from the back foot but bounces off the shoulder and gets rocked with a left hook on the jaw! Ugh! Cher knocks her back with another heavy jabbing drive and keeps looking for that monster haymaker but the sheer amount of punches she throws at the fellow brunette is enough to reel Bridge back to the ropes where she remains until she gets headbutted on purpose! Cher lost her composure wholesale and when she couldn't find that uppercut series she was looking for she lashed out with a shot on the groin - unsuccessfully - and then just dumped one onto the Londonder in a swift follow up. Ugh! How about it ref? Vanessa White screams bloody murder from the opposite side of the ring but Lloyd escapes the punishment and drives more hooks into Frankie's boobs as the older brunette slides onto soft knees amid increasingly loud yelps. She gets no respite here though and Lloyd stuffs her in the corner with more brutal hooks that leave the East Londoner visibly affected at the bell. "I'm back, you stupid cow!", Cher shouts at her rival but that was a highly-controversial piece of boxing from the Gypsy hot prospect!

Round 6:
"Blow her brains out, punch her in the ##### if you have to!", Vanessa White can barely contain herself in the Double A corner and there's a grudge scenario brewing around Cardiff following that shocking lack of protection from the referee. It's easy to say Cher Lloyd is the future of the flyweight division but does she really need a helping hand from the officials as well? Denise van Outen grits her teeth and hopes Bridge can somehow recover from that woeful showing in the fifth round... both girls charge at each other and the feisty look in Frankie's eyes suggests she's fighting for her life here and could be axed from BBU in case of losing... she beats Cher for a crossing route up the middle and opens the lip wound again before knocking a right hook on the nose and stuffing the Gypsy vixen on her heels... another hooks clatters into Lloyd's jaw and makes her gurgle in pain before a quick switch downstairs finds the navel and bends the younger brunette forward... another quick hook tears a patch across Cher's nasal ridge and sends her into shimmy shake mode... a left/right cross nails the aching singer on the lips and catches the nose as well which results in more blood being spilled now! Ugh! Cher gets her mitts shoved into her face following another jabbing effort from the fellow brunette and a left hook adds more facial misery as there are visible stains on the boards from all of these wounds... Cher chokes on the blood streaming down from her nose and wobbles forward into another uppercut drive that sends her ponytail spinning around and around... she screams out in horror when she gets pinned to the turnbuckle and THE REF STEPS IN TO SALVAGE BOTH HIS AND LLOYD'S PRIDE!!! The poor Gypsy singer has been well and truly stopped here tonight and most of the Cardiff audience can't believe that! TKO6 Frankie Bridge in Upset of the Month fashion!!!

AFTER: This result throws a wrench into the King/Lloyd fight plans especially that Vanessa White is quick to react: "Hah! So much for that Gypsy bimbo! There will be nothing left for Mollie to scribble on once I knock her out myself!" However Denise van Outen thinks that Cher won't back down from her original promise and quite frankly Vanessa is a questionable upgrade over Frankie despite the latter's epic victory tonight. Cher for once doesn't respond to the challenge and storms out of the ring without even having her nasal wound properly addressed but that's very angry brunette heading back to the locker room.

Frankie is so inexperienced in delivering the post-fight humiliations she lets the fellow singer off the hook and prefers a warm embrace from her bandmate Vanessa and now the real question is what's next for the delightful brunette whom many music fans consider as the hottest The Saturdays babe of the lot. There are enough wiley veterans around BBU for Frankie to improve her dismal record and van Outen reckons tonight's result is actually the best ever for the former Miss Sandford given how unheralded Jade Thirlwall was back in 2013. Cher is a proper elite prospect and has become the most valuable scalp on Frankie's ho-hum resume!

Final result: Frankie Bridge def. Cher Lloyd TKO6.