VACANT REEBOK WELTERWEIGHT TITLE

Posted by simguy 8-7-04

Thanks to Ginny for this repost

Visser/Heigl a premier match up of skill vs shock - Heigl hoping to walk Nikki down and obliterate her - Visser looking to whittle Kathy down from range, disposing of her at leisure once Heigl's exhausted. Fight upgraded to title bout status as Loken leaves a void like a retreating Mongol horde - welters scrambling to grasp the reins of power while they're available. Nikki in white leather western motif bikini, pigtails, Heigl in royal blue sport top, yellow/blue/white floral print bikini bottoms, messy ponytail.

Rds 1-2-3: Unmitigated disaster for Heigl as Visser undresses Katherine with slick boxing, deft movement mid-ring. Rapid fire one-twos chip away at Heigl's chin - Nikki dropping 'em in, then stepping left - Katherine hurt from the get go, put wobbly butt, gamely trying to close the distance. Midway through the second, Visser lights Kathy up that tasty one-two to start, then cleans up a jagged left uppercut - Heigl startled, then faltering to one knee with a windblown expression: she's being dismantled, outclassed at this point. Third round sees Heigl move her paws and get to Visser's torso with half-hearted clubbing, but Nikki spices Kathy up late with left uppercuts off the one-twos, effectively halting the rally and ringing Heigl up on her heels. 3 rounds huge for Visser - Nikki alert, upbeat in her corner during the breaks - Katherine wincing, busting up, left eye bulging ominously after 9 minutes of pure Nikki.

Rd 4: Heigl fights and wins a series of important exchanges, nixing Nikki's attempts to close this thing out. Critically important: Heigl able to paw a screening jab, then get her weight behind pulverizing right hands snug under Nikki's heart - Visser gasping on impact, moved off balance by the blows - Heigl able to come forward constructively for the first time in the fight.

Rd 5: Visser controls the Heigl heart-thrust with lateral movement. Visser taking a little off the fastball, no longer setting down to hurt Katherine, but Aussie maintaining her distance, using her legs to circle and fade, frustrating Heigl's attempts to bring face-to-face battle.
Rd 6: Visser gets that vicious left uppercut rigid under Heigl's chin in the first minute, putting Katherine wobbly butt and backing her off, but Heigl's taking the power better now. Katherine able to regroup, coming forward again with some head movement, crossing her arms as she dips down under Visser's constant, seeking jab. Visser's round on ring generalship, but Katherine's coming forward, still dangerous, still trying to get to Nikki's chest.

Rd 7: Visser slowing down - Heigl's heart punch a fact of life now for Nikki as time and again, Katherine's able to lean in and bash it home. Visser issuing fight's first clinches, cheek wet on Katherine's brawny shoulder as the girls waltz. Heigl muscling Nikki ropeside, work her flanks with punishing lefts and rights - good thorough beating administered along the ropes has Nikki flat footed and panting through 7.

R8: Same again - Visser fighting in spots, walking Heigl into punches, but Katherine bulling through them, single minded in her pursuit of Nikki's glorious torso. Visser groaning, grimacing, shying away from Heigl's crashing right hand to the heart/ribs - Visser clinching, gritting her teeth as Katherine walks her into the ropes after depositing a crunching right hand to the torso. Kathy squirming happily against Nikki, writhing to free her arms so as to continue the numbing beatdown of Visser's arms and flanks. Good bully's work done down the stretch as Kathy stacks NIkki up brawny shoulders and extended left elbows, then metes out the punishment.

Rd 9: At the ropes - Visser pale, suffering - Katherine just using an open palm left to push away the guard, then driving in right hand haymakers to the heart - over and over and over again. Thumping, smashing blows visibly shaking Visser on impact, drawing shouts from the crowd - crude, brutally effective attack puts space-age skills of Nikki on the scrap heap. Simply put: Nikki's helpless - paralyzed by Heigl's relentless right hand piledrivers - Aussie just getting stacked up and drilled and VISSER GOES DOWN! Nikki wilting to the canvas under the non-stop, withering assault - sunny smile Heigl as she steps back to appreciate the sobbing ruin at her feet. Visser ashambles, unable to get off her knees - 10 count passes her by, leaving Katherine Heigl the winner and REEBOK welterweight champion.

After: Katherine becoming one of the pre-eminent pressure fighters in the game, withstanding Nikki's pinpoint attacks in the opening third, slowly running Visser to ground over the middle rounds, then closing her out with that devastating torso attack. "We've figured Nikki out," says a glowing Katherine Heigl, puffy faced, but triumphant, "I think her 15 minutes are up, as Kim would say. You know, when she first came up, nobody had any tape on her, her moves were a little confusing and she was taking a lot of girls by surprise. Now we know she's nothing special and I think you'll see a lot more welters helping themselves to Nikki Visser and that disappointing chassis of hers." Ouch - Katherine making sure to pack Nikki's wounds in salt before she leaves - you'd think those booming right hands would have been enough.