Leighton Meester vs Cheryl Cole
(FCBA Independent vs Lioness Club)
(25-23, 21 KO vs 18-4, 18 KO)

Results: Lookout!; Story: Vassago

BEFORE: Former Lookout! & Front Street member Leighton Meester is back on the open market and her comeback fight against the most recent unified flyweight title challenger sounds like a bad idea but it's hardly surprising given the standard match-making procedure in this league. Rule number one: free agents aren't choosers and several pundits believe this is all about Cheryl Cole who wants to take a thin-veiled stab at two of the most successful stables around, both of which found Meester expendable in the big picture.

Leighton Meester wears a light blue bikini set with bright green trim and neon green gloves. That's as eye-catching set of colors as it gets but Meester needs exposure more than anything else these days. Long dark brown hair tied in a sleek ponytail. Cheryl Cole wears her trademark Newcastle United black & white vertically striped bikini set and blue gloves. Long dark brown hair tied in a custom ponytail. The fight is scheduled for ten rounds in the flyweight division.

Round 1:
Leighton is the taller of the two girls and takes full advantage of that working from the inside in the early going. Cheryl jumps into ultra-aggressive jabbing assault which is basically old news given her feisty demeanour but she struggles to find her range and allows the younger brunette to dominate the action in a hectic opening round. Meester is definitely qualified to headline a stable roster out there and she does extremely well to shut down the former title challenger when she smacks Cole across the mouth and pins her deep into the corner come the final minute. Cheryl has to bellow out behind a high earmuff following a misjudged hooking swipe and is fortunate that Leighton only bounces off the top of her forehead with a late haymaker push that fails to meet it's goal.

Round 2:
That promising opener gives Meester more courage to jump into a trigger-happy assault but the Geordie singer improves her footwork and neutralizes the American's aggression before blasting a counter-punching route to sink the free agent into instant misery. If Meester accepted the Lioness challenge just because Megan Fox supposedly wore Cheryl to the ground then it's no longer a viable reason to justify the decision since the English girl thumps her straight up the middle and forces to adapt a circling escape which is a far cry from the opening round heroics. With no immediate coaching help available, Leighton simply thinks better off it and allows Chezza to stalk her around the ring for remainder of the round - if only the Geordie babe could do something about that inferior reach to really punish the spooked opponent!

Round 3:
Leighton bides her time for a while and coach Schiffer does well to contain the singer's trigger-happy demanour early in the third. In fact. the surprising low-key start from the singer enables the American to seek a crossing route that connects with the target upstairs and snaps Cole's head bckwards several times before the response also finds it's mark. The second half of the round brings the audience a much-needed punching galore and Meester slugs it out in dominant fashion matching Cole's initial work rate before pulling clear through a scything combo on the lips that knocks the English tourist off her spot. While Cheryl is the last of the backpedalling fighters, she wilts under the steady jabbing attack and eats more crisp shots on the lips which are visibly swollen come the bell and the smirk on Meester's face says it all too.

Round 4:
Cheryl jumps into immediate leather assault and catches the taller brunette with a quick hook on the lips before driving her up the alley and clipping the bottom of her breasts for a good measure. Leighton wobbles to the side but still tries to sink one in from close range, she bumps the singer on the hip though and gets beaten for a subsequent follow up which crashes into her lips and dents her back on the heels. And Cheryl finds a lightning-quick strikes soon afterwards that tags the free agent's chin and drops her into more misery. A flurry of Geordie shots come flying into Leighton's face and pound her into a standstill on the ropes - that injection of pace clearly shows why Cole is so highly-rated on this side of the Atlantic - her BBU championship reign not withstanding - and she buries the subdued foe under a high-octane jabbing rush inside the final minute. Meester begins to scowl from behind the guard but fails to mount a recovery and eats another jaw-checking series that slumps her against the turnbuckle when the clock expires.

Round 5:
Leighton doesn't have the speed nor agility to match another furious leap from the tourist and eats a crushing hook on the jaw seconds into the fifth which tails her off on the heels on the spot. A half-hearted response grazes the Geordie's shoulder before Chezza romps clear into destruction mode with a brutal left hook on the jaw that folds Meester forward into a jug-thumping uppercut. Ugh! The American squeals in pain but just can't keep her gloves in tact anymore and GETS FLOORED with another clean uppercut on the exposed chin... Uh-oh... DOWN SHE GOES.... Leighton's legs slide from underneath her and she collpses in a heap at the singer's feet... she rolls onto her right side and aches all the pains out but she's unable to beat the count and remains in horizontal disarray all the way through. KO5 Cheryl Cole!!!

AFTER: The Geordie tourist bounces right back into contention following last month's championship failure. And she's gonna be extremely difficult to remove from there going forward! The ultimate task of becoming the first FCBA and BBU regular champion is what very much keeps Cole's fire burning even in her mid 30s. However the crossover girls fight with a chip on their shoulders each and every time on this side of the pond and nobody needs to fuel Cheryl's desire to knock all her opponents out - one way or another!

Meanwhile Leighton's career is officially at crossroads, can she spark another big money signing move now that girls ten years her junior have effectively replaced her under elite contender billing? (Hi, Ariel!) Only wins can cure the free agency disease and while Meester looked up for the task in the opening three rounds tonight, she found no answer to Cole's injection of pace that followed and duly paid the most cruel price in boxing for the lack of adjustment or a genuine lack of back-up plan. So it goes...

Final result: Cheryl Cole def. Leighton Meester KO5.