Celebrity Boxing After Dark
JoJo Levesque vs Lauren Mayberry
(FCBA Indepenent vs The Dollhouse)
(2-7, 2 KO vs 0-1)
Results: Lookout!; Story: Vassago

BEFORE: Lauren Mayberry's FCBA debut ended in disappointement but most of the pundits believe that JoJo Levesque is a more manageable opponent than Camila Mendes who stopped the petite Scottish brunette in five rounds earlier this month. The Dollhouse brass still needs to learn a thing or two about match-making but it's difficult to provide a 5'0" girl with a physically inferior rival. However JoJo has been a popular go-to-target for any aspiring newcomer for years and is generally viewed as a bit "soft" which should help Lauren's winning cause tonight. This being said, one of her two career wins has come at the expense of Avril Lavigne whom The Dollhouse revived into active duty earlier this fall and the Canadian singer is present in Mayberry's corner tonight so perhaps a rematch between the two is on the cards in the foreseeable future?

The fight is held in Brooklyn's Barclays Center - home of the NHL's Islanders and NBA's Nets franchises - and Vermont native JoJo is the crowd favorite here tonight effectively fighting in her own East Coast backyard. 

JoJo Levesque wears a red bikini set with white trim and white gloves. Long dark brown hair tied in a curly ponytail. Lauren Mayberry wears a pink sports bra with black trim, black thigh-lenght trunks and pink gloves. Long black hair tied in a high ponytail. The fight is scheduled for ten rounds in the flyweight division.

Round 1:
A classic brawl ensues in the opening minute and one can suspect Mayberry was told to just let it rip against a rusty opponent. JoJo hasn't fought in over two years and it shows early on as she gets beaten punch for punch during a hectic but otherwise one-sided exchange. Lauren is right in her face and delivers quick pouncing strikes up the middle which clip the chin a couple of times and force the taller brunette back. JoJo soon disappears behind a tight earmuff and that's a promising sight for the Dollhouse camp as both Avril and coach Kristanna Loken lead the vocal support. Meanwhile Levesque gives up the recovery plan and allows Mayberry to pound her into the corner where she's targeted to the body as the Scottish singer tries to open new paths to success. She drops the head hunting assault but doesn't find as much success with punching JoJo downstairs.

Round 2:
Lauren follows the aggressive plan again and that truly seems to be the way to go against a genuine journeywoman free agent like JoJo. She splits the taller brunette's mitts and knocks her head back but eventually the Vermont native steps back and forces a mid-range stance that Mayberry struggles to embrace so effectively. She begins to skim off JoJo's mitts and fails to put much weight behind her shots while the American rallies back to loop promising shots over the top. Lauren gets tagged several times which neutralizes her aggression for good but she still flies in to regain the close range opportunity. JoJo clinches her and turns back to the ropes where she pummels her on the exposed liver - the Scottish singer wasn't prepared for that and bellows out on the ropes as the American drills her midriff for remainder of the round.

Round 3:
Coach Kristanna Loken tries to keep Lauren's spirits high and the smaller brunette opens another round in supreme fashion only to falter down the stretch. JoJo eats a couple of nasty jabs straight up the middle but manages to use the footwork into her advantage to escape the close range heat and outwork the older singer thereafter. There's still little to choose between the two as they engage in a proper slugfest but The Dollhouse crew must have hoped to see Levesque more rusty than that for an extended period of time. However the free agent has responded well after a poor opening round and she does have over three inches on Mayberry after all. That number alone makes the Scottish challenge so difficult in first place. The back & forth nature of the third round is finally decided when Lauren manages to find extra boost of speed and slam a left hook on her opponent's nose. That punch wobbles JoJo to the side and she gets trapped in the close range heat again; she drops back to the ropes and Mayberry finally finds some proper body assault as she carves bruises within the American's soft belly and makes her groan in pain at the bell.

Round 4:
Mayberry keeps going forward but misses the initial hooking approach and walks into a scything cross on the lips that drops her gloves by the side. Levesque doesn't need another invitation to camp inside her pretty face and she buries the Scottish foe under a head hunting barrage that bumps her butt-in-ropes in a hurry. Lauren tries to brawl herself out of trouble thru a classic war of attrition but struggles to match the American's intensity and gets trapped in the corner and has to soak up more facial damage. JoJo barks in her efforts to turn the tables on the fellow brunette and allthough she doesn't land the majority of her strikes on target, the sheer work load alone keeps Mayberry under wraps and allows her to impress both the judges and the rampant crowd. Ugh! Lauren begins to squeal in pain when the Levesque heat threatens to break her resilience and deep into the third minute she gets cut across the nasal ridge which bellows her out on top of the ropes with eyes closed; JoJo is somewhat unlucky the clock expires before she could have made a lethal impact here but the anguished look on coach Loken's face tells it's own story.

Round 5:
Things don't get much easier for Lauren as she tries to recover from that difficult previous round but the beating she took there seems to have impacted both her aggression and mobility as Levesque splits her mitts with the initial approach and suddenly she's the one doing all the early stalking. Mayberry gets stuck on her heels and the high guard tails off in dramatic fashion which fuels the younger brunette's desire to knock her out! Uh-oh! Lauren's head gets rocked back & forth when JoJo nails her with numerous punches and then shuts her eyes with a drilling right hook to the temple. Oi, Lauren! The embattled Scot has taken nothing but heavy punishment for the last four minutes and counting so she SIMPLY DROPS TO HER KNEES unable to take the heat anymore. JoJo screams out in delight as The Dollhouse crew scrambles to salvage Mayberry's pride. The brunette takes her time before getting up, she beats the count at eight but her misty eyes indicate she's rattled way beyond her comfort zone now. Levesque notices that look too and jumps into anothe head-hunting frenzy which just wraps the poor Scot into more misery. She gets thumped back into her own corner where the American delivers all the juice and it almost looks like she wants to tear Mayberry's head off here! The pint-sized brunette is battered into stupor but the referee only looks at coach Loken as if he expects to see the towel in the ring now. Meanwhile JoJo takes care of business herself and literally punches her opponent into the ground, this is simply too much for the hapless Lauren as she SLIDES DOWN ON HER BACKSIDE in the corner and rests her head on the ropes. Eyes closed... not moving... it's all over... KO5 JoJo Levesque!!!

AFTER: Nothing but joy for the winner and one can understand that given JoJo hasn't won a fight since September 2011 when she decked then-teenager Demi Lovato. She has truly upset the free agent odds tonight but Lauren's lack of physical presence might become a serious issue going forward. That's to be expected according to several pundits but then again, it's not Levesque's problem to begin with. She shouts back at stone-faced Kristanna Loken but here comes Avril Lavigne to spoil the Vermont party. The Canadian jumps through the ropes and wants to tackle the gleeful brunette only to be restrained by the referee at the last moment. The verbal exchange between the two petite singers continues until coach Loken accepts the responsibility of The Dollhouse's short-comings and tells Avril to let it go.

'I'm not used to taking orders regarding whom I want to beat up! And that useless bimbo deserves to be annihilated!'

'Keep dreamin', cow! I've knocked you out before and I can do it again!', JoJo still wants to have the last laugh but she notices that Avril and Kristanna engage in a conversation on their own so turns back to climb the ropes and accept the ovation from the Brooklyn audience. 

Meanwhile does anyone even care about poor Lauren? The Scottish babe is left sitting motionless in the corner for well over a minute before coach Loken finally ends the quarrel with Avril and restores The Dollhouse integrity. While the Canadian singer has channelled her short fuse lately, she seems like a genuine upgrade over Mayberry when it comes to shutting down Levesque's bragging rights. The Dollhouse might have lost the CBAD battle tonight but they're on the way up. Just give them some time and favorable match-ups and they'll be right up there, leaving the JoJos of this universe inhaling their dust!

Final result: JoJo Levesque def. Lauren Mayberry KO5.