HMK FIGHTER ANALYSIS BY DANIELLE HARRIS

KATE BOSWORTH (Age 25, Height: 5’ 6 ½. Debut: 8/19/02 Def. Carmen Electra KO9. Overall Record: 14 Wins; 10 Losses; 2 Draws. Record in 2008: 3 Wins; 2 Losses; 1 Draw). FOXFIRE Opponent: SARAH CARTER.

Bosworth has been looking good this year, On 2/9/08 she was outhit in combinations by Kristen Bell, but their rematch on 10/18/08 saw her fight evenly with Bell in an excellent contest that ended in a draw.

After the first fight with Bell, Bosworth had one of her best fights of the year on 3/7/08 when she took apart veteran Alyson Hannigan. Notable for her quick, “switchblade” punching and ending the fight with a KO6.

She fell behind Megan Fox on 5/17/08. but came back with classy boxing to nip Fox with a 1 Pt. UD.

Bosworth again showed her agility and polished boxing in defeating Selma Blair on 7/25/08 (KO10).

No doubt it was her loss to Hayden Panettiere in her last fight (10/31/08) that most impressed this stable. Sarah Carter should be reminded that daring quickness could be as much a problem for her as was for Hayden. Hayden won by overwhelming Bosworth with her punching, so there are questions about her ability about her durability, but she has shown the ability to win with knockouts so she should not be taken lightly.

BRITTANY DANIEL (Age 32, Height 5’7. Debut: 10/3/01 Def. Paula Trickey (KO3). Overall Record:  52 Wins; 47 Losses; 3 Draws. Record in 2008: 2 wins (TKO6 over Grace Park on 1/10/08 and a KO2 over Eliza Dushku on 5/29/08). FOXFIRE OPPONENT: MARY ELIZABETH WINSTEAD.

(Ed. Note: Ms. Harris seems have been confused. LAURA VANDERVOORT will be fighting Ms. Daniel)

Daniel is a proven veteran and her defeat of Eliza Dushku was certainly on of 2008’s most startling wins, but she has been inactive for the past 6 months whereas Mary Elizabeth Winstead has been campaigning steadily this year (7 Wins; 3 Losses). Still, it would be a mistake to assume the “Rust Factor” will seriously undermine her performance. Daniel is a brawny fighter who “out-beefed” Grace Park, despite being hurt by her, and hanging in to win the fight by TKO. In the Dushku fight, Daniel employed blistering firepower and when she was able to land repeated blows on Dushku’s chin, she got the winning KO. Mary would be well-advised to avoid Daniel’s chin shots and not try to outlast her to the body. (Krista Allen was able to win her series with Daniel last year 4-2 and MEW would be well-advised to check out those the fights from the FCBA library).

CARMELLA DECESARE (Age 26, Height: 5’8. Debut: 9/17/04 Def. Paris Hilton (TKO2). Overall Record: 21 Wins; 9 Losses; 1 Draw. Record in 2008: 4 Wins 1 Loss.) FOXFIRE OPPONENT: ELISABETH HARNOIS).

HMK’s active Playmate (their boss HEATHER KOZAR was Playmate, too, but is no longer active in the ring). While not a title contender, Decesare, as can be seen from a check of her numbers, has built herself a good career niche.

In studying her 2008 fights, it is clear that Decesare’s weapon of choice is her body attack. She is also a fighter who can come off the canvas to win. Our own Laura Vandervoort learned this the hard way back on 1/10/08. She got off to a fast start winning the first three rounds, only to have Carmella knock her down in R4. Laura admits now that this shook her badly and couldn’t cope with the steady body attack that followed in later rounds leading to an eventual TKO8.

Next came a Playboy Mansion fight with Sports Illustrated cover girl Marissa Miller on 2/14/08. After a rock’em/sock’em opening,. Decesare settled down to her body attack, survived a late Miller rally, and hammered the cover girl “Back to the Stone Age” at the end, though she didn’t quite get the KO having to settle for a UD10.

Carmella followed that up with a 2/22/08 win over veteran Hilarie Burton. In defense of ms. Burton, she was coming off a KO3 loss to Missy Peregrym and it is a fact she has not enjoyed the success at bantamweight that she did at flyweight. (It could also be that Ms. Burton misses her former Tank Enterprises management). Carmella went early to the body and it was disastrously effective for Hilarie who ended up being battered helpless for a TKO3.

Next up on 3/6/08 was British blonde Jennifer Ellison. This was actually pretty close, but again Decesare’s body attack came through, breaking Ellison down and setting her up for the KO9 finisher.

Carmella returned to action on 10/31/08 against Kate Beckindale. The last time thet met at the Playboy Mansion, Decesare had scored a notable upset. Not this time. Beckinsale uncorked her own body attack that set up the shot to the head that ended the fight with a KO2.

To beat Decesare, Beth is going to have to seize the initiative as Beckinsale did and prevent Carmella from establishing that body attack. Beth also needs to work on her conditioning to survive the attack when it comes. Beware of Carmella using the body work to set up her KO punch late.

ERICA DURANCE (Age 30, Height 5’8. Debut: 9/24/04.Def. Elisabeth Rohm (KO7). Overall Record: 27 Wins; 9 Losses; Draws:0; 2008 Record: 6 Wins; 0 Losses; 0 Draws. Unified Lightweight Champion since 10/3/08. 2 defenses. FOXFIRE OPPONENT; MARY ELIZABETH WINSTEAD).

Ms. Durance is our personal candidate for “Lightweight of the Year”, she is actually on a 10 fight winning streak (since 4/27/07) and has won 12 of her last 13 since 10/7/06. Yet she doesn’t seem to get nearly the publicity that a Charlize Theron, Jessica Biel or even Kaley Cuoco has garnered. (We remember the issue of BLONDE! that came out after she first won the lightweight belts calling her “ERICA D: THE PHANTOM MENACE.”

Our admiration aside, Erica has been winning because she is that good. An analysis of her fights show fitness, mobility and punching power.

Looking at just her 2008 contests, we find her beginning the year just too rangy, fit and mobil for Victoria Pratt who gets battered to a TKO6 stupor (2/2/08). She then took on a surprisingly classy, well-conditioned AJ Cook on 4/18/08 who gave Ms. Durance a hard contest. Ms. Cook actually won the first half of the fight, but Durance came back to win the fight and the UD10.

On 8/18/08, Ms. Durance took on Katherine Heigl in one of the hardest fights of the year. Erica was actually knocked down twice, but got up and launched an all-out attack on the tiring Heigl in R10, finally battering her into a TKO stoppage.

10/3/08. (Unified Lightweight Title). Durance takes the title away from Kaley Cuoco rocking the champ in R1 and then keeping up the pressure that Cuoco is unable to recover before going down for good in R4.

10/18/08. (ULT) Ms. Durance won her first title defense in a blazing action battle with Charlize Theron. Once again, Durance proved she can take punishment and inflict enough on her opponent to win (TKO5 in this case)/

10/31/08. (ULT) Ms. Durance won her second defense over Ali Larter in a hardworking. Well-fought battle of attrition.

Ms. Durance’s durability is all the more impressive given she has shown a weakness in the past for KO1’s. (She has suffered three of these in her career:  the first to kaley cuoco on 6/5/06. then one to Kelly Brook on 6/23/06. and one to Gena Lee Nolin on 9/23/06.

Still, she has shown a tendency to get into trouble early, but her most recent fights show that if she can keep going, she will rally and win. Perhaps as she did with Kaley Cuoco the secret is to hurt her early and keep up so much pressure she cannot recover.

TRICIA HELFER (Age 34; Height 5’10. Debut:  Overall Record: 26 Wins; 9 Losses; 1 Draw; 2008 Record: 4 Wins; 2 Losses; 0 Draws. FOXFIRE OPPONENT: MANDY MOORE).

Ms. Helfer started the year with 4 wins in a row. The first on 3/7/08 saw her avenge an earlier loss to Angie Harmon with a KO4.  Helfer let Harmon doing to attacking over the first three rounds, then took her out with a thunderclap blow to the chin in R4.

On 5/2/08. Helfer defeated Kelly Brook in a UD10. She used a steady body attack to get the win, though she proved her durability to come back from a R6 knockdown.

6/26/08. Saw Helfer up against Saffron Burrows featuring gorgeous limber walloping from both fighters. Tricia finally ended it with a KO7 in what many called her most electrifying and emotional victories.

7/25/08. Helfer faced a clever boxer in the debuting Padme Laksmi, who clearly caused her problems, but she came back to win the fight with R10 knockout.

After four straight wins, things were looking good for Ms. Helfer, but since then she has suffered two losses. Charlize Theron on 10/3/08 launched body attack from the start that had Helfer wilting in a KO3 defeat. Next she lost to Kelly Brook who did what few have been able to: land a shot squarely to Helfer’s chin and it got her a KO3 win.

Helfer has almost always fought at a lightweight, but her height (5’10) should allow her to face our welterweight Mandy Moore on an even basis. She clearly going to be challenge for Mandy, she might work on landing her chin shots squarely as Helfer does appear vulnerable to them, but she is usually got ay evading such attacks.

SCARLETT JOHANSSON (Age 23, she turns 24 on Nov. 22^nd. Height: 5’4. Overall Record: 12 Wins; 17 Losses; 2 Draws; 2008 Record: 3 Wins; 2 Losses; 0 Draws. FOXFIRE OPPONENT: RACHEL MCADAMS).

Ms. Johansson has been improving in recent years (she began in the FCBA on 7/16/04 with KO2 loss to Jennifer Connelly). This may be due to her unique co-management between HMK and Tech Unlimited.. TU’s Laetitia Casta was seen advising Johansson for her TKO9 win over Jewel Kilcher on 1/12/08. Kilcher had her ragdolled in R2, but Johansson hung in to defeat Jewel with a furious attack to the jugs and head.

Ms. Johansson showed smooth southpaw punching in her TKO5 win over a game Christina Ricci on 2/22/08, but she fared less well against Claire Danes on 3/7/2008. Danes said after the fight that Scarlett had made the mistake of trying to box with her, certainly Danes won a wide UD10 though she could never quite knock her out.

Elisha Cuthbert had no trouble getting the knockout (KO4) against Johansson on 7/25/08. Scarlett did win an exciting opening round exchange with Cuthbert, but Elisha was able to send sheets of punishment into Johansson until she went down in R4.

Scarlett returned to the ring on 10/17/08 against rookie Kim Kardashian. Kim seemed to have some successful working Johansson’s rack, but Johansson was again able to use that smooth and crafty southpaw attack to get the UD10.

It would appear that Scarlett Johansson becomes vulnerable when drawn into boxing with an opponent such as Claire Danes or a fighter who can maintain heavy pressure on her as Elisha Cuthbert was able to do. Rachel should also be prepared for early aggressiveness.

EVA LONGORIA (Age 33; Height: 5’2 ½;  Debut: 10/22/04 Def. Vanessa Marcil (KO4). Overall Record: 17 Wins; 8 Losses; 0 Draws. 2008  Record;  1 Wins; 2 Losses.

FOXFIRE OPPONENT: HAYDEN PANETTIERE.

This has been a disappointing year for Ms. Longoria. Her 2/9/08 KO6 loss featured on one the most picturesque knockouts of the year as Danes’ precision placement and timing of the finishing shot had Longoria corkscrewing into the canvas. She did come back on 3/6/07 to win a TKO7 in a brutal body contest with newcomer Camille Guaty. Unfortunately she was then the victim of a UD10 upset from Hannah Spearett. In fact, it was widely rumored at the time that Longoria had overtrained for the fight and was simply too tired for the actual fight.

We cannot expect Eva Longoria to make the same mistake twice, so we must assume that she will be properly trained for this fight. Knowing Hayden, it will tempting for her to get drawn into the same kind of brutal body contest as lead to Camilla Guaty’s defeat. See might do better following the example of Claire Danes and try clever boxing to set up for knockout.

In conclusion, some HMK opponents could be more difficult than others, but they all have their vulnerabilities and can be beaten. Let each Foxfire contender work toward winning her own fight and not concern herself with the stable vs. score until the end.

Respectfully submitted,

D. Harris.