Reebok Lightweight Title Tournament:

Rd1.

Originally posted by Simguy on 6/3/2006, 12:52 pm.

Heigl in beige crochet bikini, white gloves

Nichols in print bikini, white gloves.

WHERE FOUGHT: Chicago

Quote: “It’s important for the paramedics to be on hand and ready to go for this fight,” Katherine said in all sincerity. “Rachel could be seriously hurt—I want to make sure all the officials are doing their jobs. Extra punches from me can end a girl’s career.”

SYNOPSIS: In the weeks leading up to the tournament, most pundits had this fight pegged as the biggest mismatch on the docket. Heigl had too much experience, too much size, too much power, and to this point, Rachel had never shown the kind of ability  which would suggest she could negate any of Katherine’s physical advantages. Bu8t Rachel Nichols made some serious decisions about who she was and what she wanted to accomplish in the FCBA during training for this fight. When she stepped-to Heigl in the opening moments, it was a fighter and competitor, not as a victim.

By the end of the first round, a stunned arena crowd tried to comprehend the following:  Katherine’s back to the ropes, her nose bleeding, her face and breasts pounded by reckless, gambling all-in Rachel Nichols bell-to-bell assault. When the ref pulled a snarling Nichols off a staring Heigl at the bell, Rachel had recorded a 10-8 round, setting the tone for a never-say-die effort which would force Katherine Heigl to dig down and actually work for her money tonight.

The rest of the way7 was nothing so dramatic: Rachel had bared her heart and soul, had been unable to get Heigl off her feet, and Katherine would spend the rest of the night walking her girl down to exact thudding revenge. But Nichols never gave it up cheaply. When Katherine wanted to come forward, Rachel bounded to the side, refusing battle, When Heigl wanted to rest, Rachel attacked with kamikaze vigour, knowing that she had to commit 100% on every punch or risk instant destru8ction from Kat’s hamhanded receipts. Despite a lithe leg, great fitness, and spirited attacks, Rachel  DID find herself back-on-ropes and suffering throughout the night, and in those moments, she covered up and took her medicine like a trooper. Even wobbly-butt and stunned, Rachel would talk back to Heigl with real defiance: it was the most combative and feisty Rachel Nichols, by far, that FCBA had ever seen.

In the end, the constant pounding pressure of Heigl proved too much. Rachel was shabbily broken down over the second half—stalked along the ropes by a relentless Katherine; jabbed heavily to pecs and shoulders, smashed to her flanks, skull and body as Katherine started to put Foremanesque clubbing lefts and rights together. Nichols would go down to a bludgeoning right uppercut in the 8^th, and after a thumping, one-sided 9^th, the brave Tech underdog was ready to go in the tenth. Heigl marched on Rachel and bludgeoned her to her back in the opening seconds of the final heat, trampling the unconscious beauty with uncontrollable forward momentum—but Nichols had more than made her statement. KO10 Kat Heigl, but spiritual victory for Rachel Nichols as she went out on her shield like a real fighter tonight.

BEST MOMENT, NICHOLS: The opening moments—Rachel stepping in with a gambling right hand, smashing Heigl across the face and putting her on her heels. The sheer shock on Katherine’s face—the instantaneous bloody nose: the clenched-teeth, almost feral fury of lithe Rachel, stepping into the bigger woman and backing her up. Truly a golden moment for Nichols—(sort if a real-life version of Hatcher’s opening strokes against Theron in “Two Days In The Valley”.)

BEST MOMENT, HEIGL: On the scales, wearing dark brown cotton two piece underwear. Katherine flashed the cockiest grin of her career, popping a double-bicep  pose to exploding flashbulbs and raucous cheers, She would rarely look as confident and poised as this during the fight.

Reposted by Archer 6/29/09.