(Written by Girls Friday/Results by Lookout!)

(Girls Friday vs Free Agent)

Intro:
Tonight sees the return to the ring of Joan Smalls since losing her FCBA welterweight title to Bo Krsmanovic, across the ring from her is her former stablemate Catherine Tyldesley wanting to prove the Girls Friday stable wrong for cutting her.

Joan is 31 years old; she stands 5'10 ½, holding a record of 10 wins, all coming by way of knockout, with just 1 defeat, she is former FCBA welterweight champion.

Catherine is 36 years old; she stands 5'7, she holds a record of 10 wins, all coming by way of knockout, with 8 defeats.

The history of these two begun when Joan signed for the Girls Friday stable in February 2016, Catherine and her both were in the stable working together, that was till Catherine was cut October 2017.

In the build up Joan and her stable both kept it professional in the build up, not giving any interviews as they used videos on social media of Joan sparring and working out to hype up her return to the ring.

While Catherine was happy to sit in the BBU TV studio with Denise Van Outen, telling with a smile "well I guess they remember my phone number" both chuckling at the joke.

The former Coronation Street actress then tells Denise "look am I still upset over being cut by them? I just look at them now and think look what you gave up, I am still strong and as physically fit as I have ever been" flexing her arms to show her toned biceps.

Changing the subject to the fight, Catherine says "Joan and me were never friends, she stuck with her fellow Victorian Secret models in the stable, me and Michelle (Ryan) were the odd girls out, so this isn't going to be a love in between us, this is war for me and I am going to knock her smug arse out"

Fight night; Joan is out first with Melanie Sykes and Eva Carneiro behind her, she heads down to the ring with an intense stare as she faces down to the ring.

The model is wearing an orange sports bra with white trim, matching trunks with "The Return" in white letters on her waistband, orange gloves and shoes, her hair is tied back into a braid.

Stepping through the ropes into the ring; Joan thuds her gloves together as she jogs to her corner, looking very focused as she goes through her warm up routine.

Now out comes Catherine with her coach beside her; raising her fists at the top of the aisle to a cheer, she jogs down the aisle with a big smile on her face as she looks confident.

She is wearing a black sports bra with pink trim, matching trunks and shoes, her gloves are pink, while her hair is tied back into a ponytail.

Getting into the ring; Catherine pounds her chest with her left fist, telling Joan as she stares at her "you are going down stick!" Then settles into her corner to warm up.

The referee waves both women to them at the center of the ring, eyes locked together as there appears to be no loved lost here at all.

Bashing their gloves together when told to touch gloves, they return back to their corners promptly, the bell rings to end the round to begin 10 rounds of welterweight action.

Round 1:
At the bell they both trade near the center of the ring, neither holding back much to start, moving in to land hard combinations before stepping back out.

After getting caught with a right across her face, Joan needs to nudge back Catherine as the smaller fighter goes to work in close, slamming punches into the models body.

Whether she remembered the game plan or needed a wake up call, Joan switches things up by using her reach advantage to drill her opponent in her face.

Showing impressive footwork to sidestep before landing double jabs into the cheeks of Catherine, annoying the actress who tells her to come and fight.

Catherine does manage to land some nice body shots when she can bully her way in tight, more often then not though she is being nudged back so Smalls can get the space she needs to fight in.

The round ends with Joan looking happy as she returns to her corner, compared to Catherine; who slaps the top rope with both fists before she sits down looking bugged by Joan's movement.

Round 2:
At the bell Joan is keeping to moving around Catherine and landing that stiff jab, the guard of Tyldesley early on is leaking too many punches for her coaches liking, seeing her head get knocked back.

Before Catherine slips a straight and surprises Joan with a right across her face, followed by two hooks to the sides of the former champs body.

Sticking in close to Joan; Catherine is drilling to the body of the model, keeping Joan aimed towards the ropes as Smalls covers up more then she'd like.

Shoving Catherine to the face, Joan gets off the ropes before landing two straight punches into the face of the actress as she gets back onto the move around the ring.

Late in the round Catherine dodges a jab so she can land an overhand right across the face of Smalls, knocking her back towards a corner.

Joan needing to clinch up with seconds to go in the round when she gets hit several times to the body, the referee needs to break them up at the bell as they snarl and begin hurling insults.

They give their opponent a shove before returning to their corners, tempers starting to rise between them as coaches work on calming them down.

Round 3:
Stepping out their corners, they trade near the center of the ring, barking in effort as they let their hands go in a hot tempered exchange.

It's Tyldesley who wins the exchange after ducking a left cross, she counters with a right to the ribs followed by an overhand left across the jaw of Joan.

The actress then bullies back Joan to the ropes, landing several punches through the mitts of the Puerto Rican fighter to her mouth, making Smalls cry out with each clean hit.

Joan though catches Catherine with a right to her ear, then nudges her back with her left so she can get off the ropes into space to work.

But it's Catherine keeping the pressure on the younger fighter, keeping her on the outside of the ring as she stalks her, throwing jabs into the body of Joan when she dips down.

When the round ends; Joan heading back to her corner looks annoyed, Melanie giving her advice into her ear, as Catherine smiles in her corner.

Round 4:
As they come back out; Joan boxes more off the back foot to start, catching Catherine on her nose and forehead with a slick jab, doubling it up when the smaller fighter gets closer to her.

Almost like a bulldozer Catherine shoves her way in tight with a left shoulder bump, throwing rights into the cheek of Joan, things turning scruffy as Joan drags her into a clinch.

The referee breaks them apart, Catherine missing with a left cross when she comes at Joan, earning a jab/right hook to her face to knock her back.

Seeing an opening; Joan starts to fire more punches on the front foot to knock back Tyldesley now, who is now trying to cover up as she is under assault.

At the bell Joan jogs back to her corner to a nod from Melanie, while Catherine still looks relaxed as she sits down on her stool, getting told off her coach not to get too relaxed after a good start.

Round 5:
As they begin the round, Joan starts off quickly, rifling punches to the face of Catherine, while mostly dodging the punches coming from the smaller fighter.

A frustrated Catherine starts throwing more hooks, missing though with a right hook and taking an uppercut that snaps her head back; wobbling her knees.

For the first time in the fight Catherine looks in trouble, Joan bashing her across her face with a hooking barrage, SENDING CATHERINE INTO THE ROPES, ANOTHER LEFT HOOK TO THE JAW SENDS THE ENGLISH LASS TO THE CANVAS!

Joan pumps her right fist in the air as she jogs to a neutral corner, 1...2...3.. Catherine is blinking as she lays on her side, 4...5...6... Rolling to her back, Catherine is groaning as she holds her jaw, 7...8.. Her coach shakes their head, 9...10 that's it for Tyldesley!

Winner Joan Smalls KO Round 5

After:
Joan shakes off her title loss with a good performance tonight, she raises her fists before heading over to Catherine, placing her foot on her chest as she poses for the crowd.

After proving her point; Joan heads over to her corner, where she gets hugged by Melanie before Eva fist bumps the bigger woman, all smiles in the Girls Friday camp.

Especially compared to Catherine and her coach, she is helped up to her feet after she comes round, heading over to her stool with an understandably pissed off look on her face.

"I was hurting that cow! I know it!" Yells an irate Catherine to her coach, seeing the smiles of her former stable not helping matters one bit.

Catherine is helped out the ring as she doesn't want to see Joan's hand raised, shaking her head as she heads up the aisle back to the locker room.

Inside the ring Joan gets her hand raised by the referee, the big smile on her face a far cry from the despair she showed last time she was in the ring.

She poses for cameras with her arms raised, then heads off out the ring looking excited about plans for later tonight, talking with her team as Joan about the celebrations.

The biggest thing about this fight is Joan has showed she is still dangerous in the ring, losing the title doesn't seem to have dulled her edge so to speak.