(Written by Girls Friday/Results BBU)

(Girls Friday vs Free Agent)

Intro:
The Echo Arena in Liverpool sees two young bantamweights looking to make a mark on the division, with Poppy Drayton and Emma Rigby meeting tonight.
Poppy is 27 years old, she stands 5'6 and holds a record of 8 wins, all by knockout with 2 defeats.
Emma is 28 years old, she stands 5'4 ½, her record is 6 wins, all by knockout and 12 defeats.
The fighters were interviewed before the fight; with Poppy admitting "I needed to stay out the ring and get my mind back into the right place, losing those two fights last year had me questioning myself, beating Lena Hedley helped me get over that"
Smiling she continues "so now I have been getting into shape to step up the rankings, Emma will be the first one to see what I can do now"
Finishing her statement by saying "I know Emma will be tough, she is very fit and if Miss Ginny saw something in her, then she certainly won't be a pushover"
While Emma looks in good spirits as she tells the press "I am looking forwards to fighting Poppy, I have been out the ring too long but now maybe I can start off getting the ring rust off and getting back in the ring more often"
She adds "I have seen Poppy a few times; she is a good boxer but I have seen she doesn't like being put under pressure, her two defeats prove that, I'll prove it further when I kick her arse" smirking as she goes off to train.
Fight night; Poppy arrives first with Taryn Terrell and Eva Carneiro by her side, she has a big smile on her face, even as she is in hostile territory, in Emma's home county.
She is wearing a brown leather sports bra, brown silk trunks with emerald green trim, brown gloves and shoes, her brunette hair is braided.
Stepping into the ring; Poppy jogs over to her corner and begins to shadow box on her way, Taryn telling her "this is your moment to show all these people who you are"
Now out comes Emma to a loud cheer; she jogs out with her coach, a wide beaming smile on her face as she heads down to the ring with her arms in the air.
She is wearing a red sports bra with gold trim, matching trunks, red gloves with gold thumbs, and red shoes, while her blonde hair is in a fighting ponytail.
Climbing into the ring; she bows to each side of the ring, before getting into her corner to begin warming up for what she knows will be a tough fight.
Both women come to the ring center and look at each with no real look of malice, just an all business expression as they want to add the others name to their records.
Asked to touch gloves; the fighters respectfully touch them up, nodding at each other before they jog over to their corners, ready to start 10 rounds of bantamweight action.

Round 1:
Out come the fighters up on their toes; exchanging stiff jabs as they look to test their opponent out, Poppy looking the slightly better in these exchanges with her reach advantage.
As Emma tries to slip inside; Poppy lands a double jab off the top of her head, with the brunette starting to look to take control of the action as she lands a straight through the mitts of Emma to begin backing her up.
Till Emma dips under a right and lands an overhand right that catches Poppy flush on the side of her head, with the local hero pushing Poppy back towards the ropes with her head down and body shots raining in.
Poppy pulls Emma past her as she moves out to the side, with the brunette boxing off the back foot as she catches her opponent coming forwards with her punches slamming into the face of the smaller fighter.
Late in the round Emma parries a straight and step inside to trade with Poppy, a right slams across the cheek of the Shannara Chronicles star to shove her back behind her guard.
The bell rings with both women looking happy enough with that first round as they return to their corners, looking up to get going in the next round.
Round 2:
Back out come the fighters looking warmed up now as they trade more punches in bunches as they step in closer to work away.
Emma looking to pressure Poppy as she said she would by dipping under punches from the brunette, then getting in tight to work the body, driving Poppy towards the ropes.
The crowd cheering on Emma as she takes the ring center, forcing Poppy to be on the defensive, with Drayton trying to find a way to get away from the ropes being stuck so close to her.
Emma though dips under a right cross that Poppy throws, coming up with an uppercut that knocks Poppy onto her heels.
The former Hollyoaks start slams her fists into the ribs of Poppy to drive her onto the ropes, with Poppy pulling Emma into a clinch to stop her assault.
The referee steps in to pry the girls apart, with Poppy looking relieved to be able to work again at range, with Emma trying to keep the tempo up of her charge.
But Poppy is able to get her rangy punches going; drilling her punches between the mitts of Emma to keep her back till the bell rings to end the round.
Emma looks all smiles as she heads back to her corner, her coach praising her for her intensity, pointing out that she needs to keep this up to put Poppy down.
Who takes a breath before sitting down, Taryn telling her "look you've had better rounds, don't get yourself down OK, she is there to be beaten and punished by you babe" with Poppy nodding in reply.
Round 3:
Emma looks to keep the tempo up, keeping getting into the face of Poppy as they trade away in tight to a loud roar from the crowd.
It's Emma looking the better in tight as she has her head down and coming in compact, short sharp hooks digging into the sides of Poppy's body to make her groan out, as best Poppy can do right now is landing glancing blows.
Poppy forced to retreat back; firing out her jab to try to keep Emma back, who throws a looping right that Poppy just leans out the way of.
But it unbalances Poppy and allows Emma to shove her onto the ropes; the blonde pounds the body of Poppy, till she is pulled into another clinch, the crowd booing Poppy as the referee steps in to break them up.
Once apart; Poppy looks to get back into the round by stepping in and trading with Emma, maybe letting the crowd get to her as she tries to trade in tight with Emma.
But she is fight Rigby's fight; with Drayton getting caught across her cheeks with a right and left that puts her back behind her guard.
The bell rings with Poppy covering up as Emma had her near the ropes, Emma almost bouncing back to her corner as she is all smiles, looking her usual cocky confident self.
While Poppy has her head down as she jogs to her corner, Taryn shouts at her "get your f***ing head! You are better then this bytch and you are going to prove that is the case!"
Round 4:
The round starts with Emma once again looking to stick to Poppy, who is boxing more on the move, looking to keep herself off the ropes with her punches working the top of Emma's head.
With Emma dipping down to come in closer to land a double jab off the abs of Poppy; missing with an uppercut as Poppy leans back and this time gives Emma a shove to her face.
It's Poppy now starting to look more self assured, able to get her rhythm going as she dances out the way of several punches from her opponent, countering with her punches catching Emma to the face.
Emma feints to get Poppy to react, so she can slip inside with two rights drilling into the ribs of the bigger woman to make her groan out.
It looks like Poppy is going to be stuck back behind her guard, till she pushes Emma to her face and lands a right across the side of her head that makes Emma get knocked to the side.
Now it is Emma covering up as Poppy turns on the afterburners, banging her punches into the gloves of Emma to push her back.
Several punches find a home on Emma's face as the seconds tick away in the round, the bell soon enough rings with Poppy getting a nod from Taryn on a much better round.
While Emma doesn't look too worried as she heads back to her corner, her coach wiping her marked up face as they tell her "her body is looking nice and red, you keep at it and she'll collapse at your feet babe"
Round 5:
Both women look to stamp their authority early on the fight; Emma continues to stalk Poppy around the ring as the fighters trade single stiff shots.
Emma parries a straight and lands a right to the body, missing with an overhand left as Poppy gets her glove up in time to take the blow.
It's the local fighter looking to make things happen it seems as she drills her punches towards the body of her opponent.
But Poppy lands a left hook near the temple of Emma, making her back up as Poppy now bangs her punches into the face of the smaller fighter.
For the first real time in the fight; Emma looks in trouble as Poppy gets into her face, driving her onto the ropes as Poppy smacks her across the face, till Emma can pull her into a clinch.
The fighters are pried apart, with Emma looking to use her head movement to get inside, but she gets caught with a straight on top of her head to keep her at range.
With the late part of the round seeing a right across the nose of Emma brings tears to her eyes and allows Poppy to smack her on her face with another three punches to snap the blonde woman's head back.
The bell rings to end the round; with Poppy looking focused as she sits on her stool, Eva washing her down as Taryn tells her what she wants to see from her now.
In the opposite corner; Emma leans back on her stool against the turnbuckles and can be seen blinking to try and clear her head, that hit on her temple has definitely shook her.
Round 6:
Poppy is measuring Emma up more now; taking the ring center early on as she forces Emma to the outside of the ring with her punches finding their way onto the face of Emma.
Who looks to dip down, problem is she isn't quick enough to come forwards, with Poppy snapping a jab into her face and lands a right hook that turns Rigby's head.
Poppy drives onwards with two punches squarely landing on the face of Emma, the Scouse lass tries to swing in a right cross that misses, LEAVING HER OPEN TO A RIGHT ACROSS HER CHIN THAT TAKES HER LEGS FROM UNDER HER AND PUTS HER DOWN ON ALL FOURS!
The referee points for Poppy to head to a neutral corner before beginning the count 1...2...3...4 Emma is shaking her head as she pushes herself into a kneeling position 5...6...7...8 she pushes herself to her feet with a little wobble, waving Poppy to bring it as the referee checks her out.
Allowed to continue, Emma starts swinging wild shots that Poppy needs to bob and weave out the way of, with the brunette landing counter straight strikes onto the face of Emma.
Till Poppy lands a straight onto the nose of Emma, A RIGHT HOOK FOLLOWS TO KNOCK EMMA ONTO HER SIDE!
Emma has a glassy look in her eyes, 1...2...3...4 Emma rolls to her back and stares at the ceiling, 5...6...7 Emma spits her gumshield out as she looks defeated 8...9...10 with Emma being counted out!

Winner Poppy Drayton KO Round 6

After:
Poppy looks proud of herself as she raises her fists and stares down at Emma, before she heads to her corner as she gets a few boos to say the least.
Emma has to be checked on by the doctor; they sit her up and check her out, after several moments she comes out her daze and looks understandably upset to have lost.
Over comes Poppy after she has her gloves taken off, kneeling down to check on Emma, who tells her that she will be OK.
With both women shaking hands to show respect, though as Emma is helped up and gets a cheer from her fans, she sheds a tear and waves thanks to them.
Emma is helped out the ring by her coach as the doctor wants to do more tests, she looks OK though as she blows kisses to her fans, hoping she can get back in the ring to get back on track.
While in the ring; Poppy gets a big hug from Eva as Taryn says "good job finishing the fight but still something's could be improved" with Poppy nodding.
"We can talk about that tomorrow, my guess is Ivana is waiting with a drink for you in one of the bars around here" says Taryn as Poppy cheekily grins, remembering that Ivana told her about some bar she'd heard about from a few of the girls in the stable.
With the winner and her team leaving the ring; Poppy gets a respectful applause from the fans, probably over her showing their girl some concern after the fight, with Poppy hoping she can go on a run now.