(Written by Girls Friday/Results by Lookout!)
(Foxfire Boxing vs Holloway Boxing)
Intro: A battle of Britain heads to Las Vegas, MGM Grand sees Sophie Turner fighting Dua Lipa, both are wanting to be in the title hunt now there is a new lightweight champion.
Sophie is 24 years old; she stands 5'9, holding a record of 19 wins, all coming by way of knockout, with 8 defeats.
Dua is also 24 years old, she stands 5'8, holding a record of 15 wins, all coming by way of knockout, with 5 defeats.
The fighters were interviewed by Lucy Liu on the set of the FCBA Network, first on the hot seat is Sophie, wearing a red dress that matches her hair as she looks excited to be chatting to the legend.
She is asked how she feels this year is going, Sophie admits "it has been a mixed bag, beating Elsa Hosk should have been a good tune up for the title fight in March, everyone knows how that went" with Sophie losing to then champion Emily DiDonato by being knocked out in seven rounds.
The subject turns to this fight, Sophie tells Lucy "me and Dua haven't any issues other then wanting to be a champion here in the FCBA, she is talented but I'm proud of what I have done in the ring, so bet on me to win, I mean it is Vegas" winking as Lucy tells the cameras the FCBA doesn't recommend gambling.
The final question is the about what goals she has the rest of the year, Turner answers "I want to be a champion; pure and simple, I know I am probably at the back of the queue right now, I am going to work my arse off" Lucy shakes the hand of Sophie and wishes her luck in her future.
Now in the hot seat is Dua, she sits on the stool smiling warmly to Lucy as they exchange pleasantries on life before they get down to business.
Asked about Sophie, Dua replies "she is a good fighter, we are very much alike in styles and physically, so I need to outsmart her, out work her and out fight her, this might be the toughest test of my entire career" Lucy nodding in agreement.
Dua adds "whatever happens it stays in the ring, I like Sophie and while we can be rivals in the ring, I hope we do not fall out when not in the ring" pushing a stray blonde hair behind her right ear.
She is finally asked about her goals, laughing Dua says "you can guess the obvious answer, apart from holding gold I want to earn my spot in that elite discussion" with Dua getting a smile and a hug from Lucy before she heads off.
Fight night; out comes Sophie with Virginia Madsen beside her, the Game of Thrones star enjoying the crowds love, waving to the fans as she jogs down the aisle.
She is wearing a red sports bra, matching trunks and shoes, white gloves with red thumbs, her hair is tied back into a ponytail.
Climbing through the ropes into the ring, Sophie blows a kiss to the fans, she settles into her warm up routine, Virginia telling to show she is the best of Britain.
Now out comes Dua, her coach follows her as she jogs down the aisle with her arms out at her side, a smile on her face as she looks excited at the test ahead.
She is wearing a violet sports bra, matching trunks and shoes, white gloves with violet thumbs, her hair is tied into a braid as she steps into the ring.
Dua mounts the bottom ropes in her corner, raising her arms into the air as the fans cheer for her, she hops down and goes through her warm up as her coach tells her to earn her place at the top table of celebrity boxing.
The referee brings the fighters together, there is a relaxed feeling between them, looking over their opponent as they are thinking of where the best place to attack is.
Touching their gloves up respectfully, they jog back to their corners to a cheer from the crowd, the bell rings to start 10 rounds of lightweight action.
Round 1: At the bell they nod to each other as they start up on their toes, trading stinging jabs to the cheeks of their opponent, moving their upper body as they look for angles to strike.
It's Sophie who lands the first big punch, stepping back out the way of a straight, landing a left cross/straight combo, looking more prepared as she is landing more punches then Dua.
Heading into the second minute of the round, Dua manages to slip a jab to land a counter right to the cheek of Turner, she then gives the redhead a taste of her hand speed with two body shots before she gets clipped with a right to the cheek.
They box around the ring in evenly fought exchanges, heads getting knocked back when they get their punches through the guard of their opponent.
Final thirty seconds of the round, Sophie feints with her jab, instead dipping down so she can land two hooks to the body, pressing back Dua to the ropes with piston like body shots.
Round comes to an end with Sophie getting a beaming smile from Virginia, who tells her "you looked good there, Dua is good but you are better" making Sophie nod as she is more relaxed then Dua looks.
Round 2: Starting off similar to the the first round, both fighters trade single punches as they move around the center, intensely eyeing each other up as one mistake could be all it takes.
Changing tactics slightly, Dua dips down to duck a right, she buries in two body shots before retreating back a step, starting to get success by moving her upper body more to create different angles to strike into.
The first half of the round is more firmly on Dua's control, Sophie landing a few crisp punches around the head of her fellow English lass, but not being able to unload her combinations as easily.
But heading into the final minute, Sophie lands a right into the chest of her opponent, stopping Dua long enough in her tracks to land a left across her cheek.
Inside fighting from both as they come in close, shoulders bumping as they try to push the other back, it is a far cry from the technical skills they were showing earlier, they just want to prove whose stronger right now to get inside the head of their opponent.
The end of the round comes with both turning on their heels with no incident, sitting on their stools, it is Dua's corner happier about this round after a slow start to the fight.
Round 3: Now fully warmed up they are throwing more punches in bunches, while getting more adventurous to move inside to fight it out, getting cheers from the fans as they slug it out.
Sophie moves back a step to dodge a right cross, drilling in a double jab to the top of Dua's head, she then quickly steps in to land two short sharp rights under the ribs of the singer to make her groan out.
Back comes Dua though when she parries a right to land one of her own to the chest of the redhead, a sweeping left cross bashes Turner across her face to knock her back a step.
It is pretty evenly fought action through the first two minutes, both land crisp punches after dodging their opponent's, showing their perfect techniques.
With less then a minute to go, Sophie feints with a left cross and once she sees daylight, she strikes with an uppercut, knocking back Lipa to her heels as Sophie opens up on her.
Dua is forced to cover up as her back hits the ropes, Sophie doesn't connect with every punch she is throwing, but she is keeping her opponent under wraps.
As the bell rings she has taken the round in many peoples eyes, including an annoyed looking Dua who heads back to the corner calling herself stupid, her coach working to calm her down.
Round 4: Maybe frustration for what happened in the last round, but Dua is throwing more cross punches that Sophie easily dodges as they are easy to read, the beautiful actress countering with several body shots to make Lipa have to think about her tactics.
A straight smacks Dua on her nose, opening her up to a clean left hook to her jaw, back on the defensive goes Dua as she is being bullied back to the ropes by a flurry of punches coming from Turner.
First clinch of the fight comes as Dua holds onto Sophie, both lanky builds press hard together as they struggle to push the other back, referee breaking them up as that competitive spirit is growing.
Trying to keep the pressure on with a minute to go, Sophie now misses with a right to the face as Dua dips down and comes up with an overhand left to the side of her head.
Dua finishes strong with a body punching barrage to make Sophie groan loudly, the bell rings not long after Sophie is backed into a corner, if Dua had made the comeback in the round earlier she might have stole it.
Round 5: Nearly clashing heads early on as they are definitely fighting harder now, Sophie lashes a right across the cheek of Dua, able to press her back towards the ropes with three more clean shots straight into her face.
Dua pulls Sophie into a clinch, sweaty bodies grind together as they hiss insults, referee struggles but does break the heated pair apart so they can continue.
Next exchange sees Dua slips a left cross, burying an uppercut into the body of Sophie, then an overhand left smacks across her jaw, now Dua presses the redhead back with her head nearly under the chin of Turner.
Shoving back Dua to open up a gap, Sophie gets off the ropes but finds an aggressive Lipa coming at her, with two punches landing square into her face, sending sweat flying off Sophie's head.
Backed along the ropes where she can only seem to land at best two punches, Sophie is mostly being stuck behind her shell, Dua seems to have found another gear.
When the round ends she pumps her right fist into the air, the Holloway corner looking a little relieved that Dua took control of things after being pushed around the two rounds before.
The Foxfire corner don't look too worried yet though, Virginia giving Sophie words of encouragement as another coach wipes down Turner.
Round 6: Looking up for this now, Dua lands a double jab under the left eye of Sophie, she follows with a right cross to the same spot that makes her opponent wince, a small mouse forms under that eye of Sophie.
Who pulls Dua into a clinch when the brunette rifles in two more body shots, heads are grinding in the clinch, referee pries them apart as both fighters cheeks are reddened up.
Trading more on the inside at the center, both women are knocking sweat off the other, barking in effort as they try to land that one punch that will turn things around.
Instead it is getting a little more scruffy the action, holding starts happening more as they so badly want to win, referee warning them to keep it clean.
Soon the bell rings with both looking annoyed they can't seem to do much to control the action, Dua doing enough early on to maybe win this round.
Round 7: Looking to start off strong again, Dua tries to land a double jab as she steps in, Sophie moves her head out the way of both before landing a right hook of the chin of Dua.
There's a slight wobble by Dua, who reverses course as Sophie charges her, the redhead smacking Dua with a left cross then an uppercut comes in to send Dua into a corner, WHERE SHE GOES TO CLINCH BUT EATS ANOTHER UPPERCUT, DOWN GOES DUA SLIDING DOWN THE TURNBUCKLES!
Sophie pumps her fists in the air as she us whooping, 1..2...3...4... Dua's gumshield comes out as her head is facing down and her back is against the middle turnbuckle, 5...6...7.. There doesn't look to be any lights on, 8...9...10 Dua is counted out!
Winner Sophie Turner KO Round 7
After: It was a hard fought back and forth, Sophie is standing tall with her name being chanted, she poses with hands on her hips and a cheeky grin as she enjoyed that knockout.
Returning to her corner, Sophie gets a pat on her shoulder from Virginia, who simply says "you did good kid" making Sophie nod as she gets a drink of water and washed down of sweat.
While Dua has smelling salts under her nose, she stirs awake and at first is still dazed as she blinks to clear her head, her coach slowly helping her up to her feet and onto her stool.
Soon Dua is fully OK again it seems, she admits to her coach she got too reckless trying to push the pace, the Holloway coach tells her "it's the hard school of knocks for a reason, just learn from this and you'll be an elite fighter" with Dua nodding in reply.
Over comes Sophie as both share a smile, a far cry from how they were mere minutes before, they shake hands as Sophie tells Dua "god you are one tough bytch to pin down" Dua laughs before saying "likewise" both showing plenty of respect as they talk about the fight.
Afterwards they head to the center of the ring, Dua smiles and nods as Sophie gets her hand raised, she tells the winner "I'll beat you in the rematch" Sophie winking as she replies "dream on" a warm embrace from both as the crowd applaud the fighters.
The Holloway crew leave the ring together, Dua not looking too down heartened by this loss, knowing she still has some work to do if she is to crack that top ten group of fighters, clearly willing to put in the work judging by how far she has come in a year.
Inside the ring Sophie smiles as she bows to the fans, excited as always by the love of the crowd after a win, Virginia telling her "someday you'll have a title and that buzz you feel will be some much stronger" Turner grins at that thought, so happy she is a Foxfire fighter with all their support for her since she turned pro.
Now the Foxfire crew leave the ring together, Sophie turns back at the top of the aisle to blow kisses to the crowd, showing why she is so popular.
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