Sophie Monk vs Yumi Sugimoto
(BronzedOz Boxing vs Front Street Japan)
(0-5 vs 0-4)
Results: BBU; Story: Vassago

BEFORE: Both these fighters are 0-12 combined across three fighting organizations (0-9 in BBU alone) and it's a particulary painful experience for Sophie Monk who enjoyed a FCBA boxing on the beach cameo nine years ago before her career seemingly burned in flames. However she gives it another try here in the Melbourne Crowne Plaza Hotel as Front Street Japan's Yumi Sugimoto seeks her own breakthrough.

The Asian model suffered a heavy knockout versus Camilla Luddington on the Jewels PPV almost twelve months ago and her manager Ayako Hamada decided to ship her Down Under with a soul-searching mission. It also probably helps that Luddington stopped Monk in the blonde's last BBU fight that dates back to June 2015.

Green & Gold's Sarah Cumming calls this fight a toss-up but Sugimoto has struggled with favorable match-making during her boxing career plus she's Sophie's junior by a full decade so the neutral pundits back in the UK give the edge to the Japanese tourist.

Sophie Monk wears a black bikini set and golden gloves. Long blonde hair tied in a high ponytail. Yumi Sugimoto wears a red bikini set and black gloves. Long dark brown hair tied in a sleek ponytail. The fight is scheduled for ten rounds in the bantamweight division.

Round 1:
Sophie tries to put immediate jabbing pressure on the Japanese tourist but Yumi declines the close range invitation and spends majority of the opening round showcasing her supreme mobility which frustrates the BronzedOz entourage. Sophie barks in her efforts to land several shots up the middle but either bounces off the high guard or cuts thin air leaving herself exposed to a steady counter-punching response from the younger opponent. Yumi shows no signs of losing her tactical plot and when Sophie finally catches her in close range, a quick left/right combo from Sugimoto finds the blonde's chin and wobbles her backwards.

Round 2:
Nicky Whelan urges Sophie to become even more aggressive but she just can't match the fellow model's agility and eats more painful counter-strikes over the top that stall the blonde's progress in the center of the ring. Monk gets blasted across her nose several times but refuses to back out of the forward rush only to meet more punishment when Yumi slams her on the temples from both sides and eventually bulldozes into the ropes. The blonde's punching resistance is truly below par here and Sugimoto learns out it on the fly, she drops the defensive mindset come the final minute and simply wades punches to snap the fair ponytail around to the point the Crowne Plaza audience can't hold back the negative response anymore. However Monk remains trapped on the ropes and Yumi methodically cleans her out even though Sarah Cumming dismisses her attacks as "one-dimensional and predictable". It's still too much for the hapless blonde and she just shakes her head when coach Whelan shouts at her during the break.

Round 3:
Maybe Nicky Whelan would have done a better job in the ring than in Monk's corner because their Japanese counterparts have dropped the defensive approach wholesale and Yumi delivers another head-hunting drill that destroys the blonde's guard and drags her into a vicious close range slugfest instead. Sophie remains glued to the spot though and only eats more punches upstairs as Sugimoto cranks up the heat and spins her back to the ropes when the intensity breaks the resilience. Monk just can't escape the pressure and moans out her loudest when the tourist whacks her on the nose with a couple of extra hooks. The Aussie guard collapses and Sugimoto piles in with a brutal uppercut that has Monk fish-tailing proper, another left hook clips her jaw AND SENDS HER TUMBLING ON HER KNEES with coach Nicky Whelan losing her temper for good in the BronzedOz corner. The slow count saves Sophie from a humiliating demise but she remains trapped on the ropes regardless and gets belted to the body in the closing seconds with Yumi in full control of the one-sided action.

Round 4:
Sophie just doesn't have it, folks and when Yumi begins to split her mitts with another hooking approach, the writing is effectively on the wall. She stumbles back to the ropes and fails to embrace the Japanese leather test as the tourist whacks her from both sides in a hectic effort to take the blonde head off. Ugh! Sophie bellows out against the ropes with eyes closed and wilts into a shrieking disarray when she gets pounded on the boobs; it's off scales now for the Japanese tormentor and perhaps she's taking extra lessons from Harumi Nemoto now as she thumps the exposed rack to force a quick decision from coach Whelan... IN COMES THE TOWEL and that's as bad as it gets on home turf!!! TKO4 Yumi Sugimoto!!!

AFTER: Yumi bows to all four corners of the arena but that doesn't stop the jeering and whistling even though Sarah Cumming suspects Sophie Monk might actually be the target of this hostile reaction. Since Yumi declines a post-fight interview, Nicky Whelan comes to the fore and apologizes the partisan ACB fanbase for delivering such a shocker here. Yes, she might consider stepping into the ring to avenge this defeat but only if Zoe Ventoura fails to avenge it first. It's not like the stables bantamweight fortunes hinge on Sophie's dismal record alone. However Yumi - despite being winless herself - proved to be quite a fierce competitor and appears to be a much better fighter than her record indicates (duh!).

Meanwhile Front Street Japan trainer Kei Mizutani has been given permission to speak about a potential rematch between Sugimoto and any aspiring ACB member. The soul-searching mission has been declared a success and nobody in Tokyo cares it came at the expense of probably the most hittable bantamweight on the ACB roster!

Final result: Yumi Sugimoto def. Sophie Monk TKO4.