Posted by Simguy on Sunday, 28-Nov-1999 16:56:16

Before: big time celebrity boxing returns to St Tropez for the first time in 10n yearts, bringing out many of the jet set and former French stars like Bardot, Moreau, etc to watch Sophie in action. Sophie the harder puncher, both girls are classy, very fluid boxers who can fight forward and back--always in position to take advantage of openings. Openings in black bandeau bikini, Soto in red bra style bikini.

During R1: No wasted footwork, sliding, supple upper body movement--both women missing more than connecting, but Sophie often finishing the exchanges with the delayed, wide left hand on the mouth. With the round in the bag, Sophie reaches to work the body, and Talisa counters, grooving that Felix Trinidad hook over Sophie’s right shoulder to crack hard against her eye. Sophie turning her shoulder, shocked to have been hot so hard so early, gets nailed again and again as Soto steps neatly with her, continuing to lick left hooks. At the bell, a woozy Sophie Marceau shakes her head, and the two exchange feline glares as the pass en route to respective corners.

R2: Girls fence with jabs, left for Talisa, right for southpaw Sophie. As they circle, the girls lean in and out, exchanging hooks which usually miss or catch a neatly turned shoulder or blocking mitt. Marceau able to dictate pace this round, and in the final minute, gets her hard left hand into Soto’s gut to take the round.

R3: Talisa stepping up the pace--she’s able to feint Sophie into making her defensive move too early, then flow over the protective shoulder to bite at Sophie’s swelling right eye with hooks. Sophie’s idea is to slide under the hook, but Soto just too quick early, nipping the French girl before she can get out of the way.

R4: Sophie working her own right hook to Talisa’s ribs early, but midway through the round, Soto sneaks in the straight lead right up the middle, stunning Sophie and leaving her wide open for the smooth left hook on the chin, and Marceau’s knees give way--Marceau takes an 8 count as Soto stares at her prey, Sophie retreating to the ropes, treats Talisa to a lesson in counter punching as the sultry brunette squares up, missing over the top, and taking clipping right hands to the breasts and face at the bell.

R5,6: Sophie rattled by the knockdown, sharpens up and begins to bookend the exchanges with Talisa, often roughhousing to make the brunette stand and trade. Soto’s jab nowhere to be seen, and Marceau begins to find the range with her slinging left hand wide to the brunette’s midriff, Talisa wincing in the sixth as Sophie sets down on those withering single body shots.

R7: All Sophie Marceau as she has the brunette hurting to the body, slowing Talisa’s reaction time considerably. Soto getting hit with chopping right hooks on the cheek that she wasn’t getting hit with earlier, and downstairs, Sophie’s heavy whip-action left is spanking repeatedly against the brunette’s dusky midriff. Soto not punching back, sliding away from Sophie as the French girl steps in. Final minute: Marceau turns her body onto an off-speed right hook over the sho9ulder, then comes back with a sizzling left hand to the sternum, and Soto crumbles, folding sideways to the ropes, then dropping to her hands and knees. Talisa is up, but gasping, and Sophie pushes her up a against the ropes, now rolling her shoulders into digging rights and lefts to the brunette’s body. Methodical bludgeoning proves too much, and Talisa dribbles down Sophie’s body in a weak clinch to land once again on all fourts. Soto beating the count, is saved by the bell as Marceau wades in.

R8: Desperate Talisa Soto looks to hook her way out of trouble, but Sophie is reading the punch well, and countering with those booming wide left hands to the body,. Final minute action sees Sophie bust up Talisa with chopping right hands on the face, uppercutting left hands to the solar plexus, leaving Soto trembling at the bell.

R9: Sophie executing the beat down, walks through Soto’s pushy jab, unleashes wide lefts and rights to the body, then dips a shoulder to swing hard with a looping overhand left to the face of Soto. Talisa swooning, back to the ropes, huddling up and trying to withstand the bombardment. Marceau whipping up on her foe, pounding double right hands to the ribs, then clipping Soto’s face with the short left uppercut, slicing up Talisa’s defense and leaving her helpless. Soto drops from the accumulation of merciless bloows to take yet another 8 count in the fight.

R10: Sophie Marceau know she has the fight win, working her lefty jab, backhanding it at Talisa’s face and potshot ting with wide left hands to the breasts and chin with no intention of coming any closer than she has to. Soto with the fight beaten out of her, minds her manners, and doesn’t offer much in the way of offense down the stretch. Unanimous Decision Sophie Marceau.

After: Sophie overcoming a difficult start as Soto proved a puzzle early, but the French girl’s poise and power eventually delivered the good. Marceau trying for the knockout late, couldn’t make the resilient brunette quit, and takes a well deserved decision by a healthy margin.

Reposted by Archer 5/29/11.