Nozomi Sasaki vs Emma Rigby
(Front Street Japan vs BBU Independent)
(0-2 vs 6-9, 6 KO)
Results: BBU: Story: Vassago

BEFORE: It's not often you see a winless girl featured in a Main Event but Nozomi Sasaki finally gets an opportunity to steal some headlines as she goes up against Emma Rigby. Sasaki couldn't handle Alesha Dixon and Jessica Schwarz few years back and was supposed to fight Diana Korkunova on her comeback but the Sirens' model has ventured into the Contenders Six event and forced Ayako Hamada to scramble for a replacement. She found it with Emma who takes advantage of the Hollyoaks Special being put on hold and has made a cameo appearances over in America in the so-called meantime. While Sasaki was guilty of bad match-making before, she has a golden opportunity to steer her career back on track even though Rigby is vastly more experienced of the two women.

Nozomi Sasaki wears a black bikini top, white panties and red gloves. Long dark brown hair tied in a sleek ponytail. Emma Rigby wears a light blue bikini set and silver gloves. Long blonde hair tied in a wavy ponytail. The fight is scheduled for ten rounds in the bantamweight division.

Round 1:
Emma is guilty of a careless start but perhaps she wasn't anticipating such a feisty jump from the local favorite who simply couldn't wait to get back into the ring. There's little rust evident when Nozomi whacks the blonde straight up the middle and begins to punish her boobs in relentless fashion. Emma misjudges her response and gets clobbered onto her heels in no time while Nozomi even gets vocal as she delivers the juice. The Tokyo audience roars in support and Rigby simply has to yield real estate as she keeps searching for a breakthrough but is unable to match the brunette's intensity and reverts into some early clinching just to survive Sasaki's aggressive push. The local girl still slams her on the ribcage and drives back to the ropes before the bell halts her impressive charge.

Round 2:
Emma ups the tempo and slugs it out with the charging Asian in the middle of the ring before finally sticking some proper juice upstairs. She snaps Nozomi's head back & forth and digs her mitts into the brunette's chest as well. Nozomi groans in pain and sinks on her heels but then thumps a belter on the liver area to slow the blonde's progress down. Both girls settle into a hectic mid-distance dispute thereafter however Emma shows superior precision and outworks Sasaki during the second minute before another belter to the body reels her backwards. Rigby struggles to land a proper combo down the stretch but Nozomi fails to rally into contention herself and several punches cut thin air as both women battle it out in mind over matter fashion. The crowd still loves Sasaki's offensive approach though and Rigby's classic death stare at the bell indicates she really didn't expect such a performance from the local heroine at all.

Round 3:
Nozomi keeps coming back at the blonde tourist but after missing with her initial jabbing drive she gets nailed with a vicious cross that finally allows Emma to establish some authority here. She snaps the brunette's head back & forth and squashes her lips into a swollen mess before thumping her on the boobs to sink her into immediate spasms. Nozomi bends forward and lets her gloves drop too and Rigby romps her with a left hook on the chin, literally lifting her leg when delivering the strike... AND DOWN GOES SASAKI!!! Ugh! That's a real blow to all the partisan hopes here in the Tokyo Dome as their heroine crashes onto her back with a loud oomph. She gets back onto her feet at seven but Rigby zeroes in on her immediately after the command and throws a magnitude of punches intended to knock the Asian vixen out on the spot. Nozomi has to yield real estate in a hurry and she bides some time along the ropes but Emma now barks in her determination to land that killer strike. She splits Sasaki's high guard but even though she pummels her lips into more swollen mess, she can't finish her off before the bell!

Round 4:
Emma remains in destruction mode and hassles the older girl around the ring but her accuracy drops significantly as Nozomi survives the initial onslaught. The blonde tourist has to adjust her plans but this leads into an extended duck & weave show during the second minute with Sasaki only landing single strikes from behind the guard which don't bother Rigby all that much if at all. The Englishwoman seeks another instant hit through the middle but gets a little too one-dimensional here as she avoids thumping Sasaki to the body and chest while giving the aching brunette time to recover. A late jump has Emma eating a nasty counter-punching blow to the lips and she thinks better off it; Nozomi doesn't add any follow up and Charlie Webster thinks Emma should have really done more here in first place.

Round 5:
More crisp punches tear into Nozomi's face early in the fifth but she swings a belting cross on the nose that reels Rigby back before she beats the blonde for a classic right-on-right overhand that drills the chin and sends Emma tripping back to the ropes! She bounces off them and tries to smack the incoming Japanese with instant response however Nozomi gets there first and WHACKS her on the mouth so hard the gumshield comes flying off AND RIGBY JACK-KNIVES TO THE CANVAS on the spot! Whoa! Tokyo Dome errupts in joy and Emma's down on all fours until the count reaches seven. She gets up but looks rather rattled here with both her cheeks blowing all red. And Sasaki gets the jump on her following the command, she drills the exposed tummy and keeps the tourist pinned to the ropes. Some really hard punches dissect Emma's guts now and she bends into spasms while desperately trying to clinch the Asian menace... no can do, folks! Nozomi rips an uppercut combo to shatter the high guard as if she's not satisfied enough with the body assault and leaves the English girl yelping in spasms at the bell. What a comeback from the Asian vixen here!

Round 6:
Nozomi rallies to clean out Emma's midriff early in the sixth and it looks like the tourist hasn't really recovered from the pounding she took in the previous round. She sinks into more spasms while trying to clinch the charging brunette but Sasaki just rips through her guts and increases the moaning volume in the proccess which leaves Rigby fish-tailing on the ropes come the one minute mark. The high-guard goes all deadmeat too and enables Nozomi to haul in more punches to the temples that send Emma leaning over the ropes and literally doing nothing in response. The ribcage gets all exposed again and Sasaki tears through it to batter the younger woman into stupor. Coach Kei Miztuani is all fired up in the corner and Nozomi's merciless assault finally breaks Rigby down into tatters when she whacks the hapless foe on the solar plexus a couple of times and FOLDS HER BREATHLESS FACE DOWN ON THE BOARDS!!! Ugh! Emma scrambles to get back onto all fours again but that's all she wrote and this time she cannot beat the count!!! KO6 Nozomi Sasaki in come-from-behind fashion!!!

AFTER: The Front Street Japan hosts sign off the fourth edition of the International Jewels PPV with Nozomi's maiden career victory and she truly earned it the hard way. The match-making woes seem to belong to the past and allthough she got caught out in the third round, she has rallied back in fine style to justify the Main Event billing. Marnie Simpson might have spoiled the partisan Japanese party for a moment but with Mikie Hara waiting in the wings to shatter her Geordie hopes next, owner Ayako Hamada can be proud of Nozomi's performance when some experts questioned the decision to pick such a dangerous opponent like Rigby for her comeback. The Japanese executives dismiss the idea that Nozomi should fight the unfortunate Marion Cotillard next but don't reveal detailed plans other than former lightweight champion Sayuki Matsumoto has booked a trip to Europe as early as next week already. Charlie Webster is able to confirm that Marnie will be in fact staying in Japan for a couple of weeks longer so the Mikie Hara showdown might as well happen sooner rather than later. And that could be the talk of the town amid a very busy month for the BBU organization!

Final result: Nozomi Sasaki def. Emma Rigby KO6.