DEBORAH FARENTINO VS KELLY PRESTON
Deb in baby blue lace push up, navy bottoms, small navy puncher's mitts.
Kelly in brown bikini, small yellow puncher's mitts.
UD10 Preston (single point)

Last year, Farentino put together a gorgeous run to earn the informal moniker, "Queen of the Cougars" - fighting with grace and toughness to distinguish herself at the very sunset of her career. Beat up and worn out in her last fight against a very busy Denise Richards, Kelly P was a betting underdog coming in - but against the more methodical, cerebral Farentino, Preston's natural tendency towards caution and deliberation served her very well in this thinking man's exhibition of fighting elegance.

In strategic terms, the fight was won and lost in a surprisingly one-sided and barbaric second - a round in which Kelly assiduously decided to turn puncher in an effort to erode Farentino's perceived technical advantages. Putting it bluntly - Kelly battered Deborah, beating Farentino into stupor along the four sides of the ring and very nearly ending Debbie's night. Farentino survived, and surged to take the next two rounds - but she wasn't the cool, smoothly delivering technician who had pranced to the ring at the beginning of the night. It was 'mission accomplished, Kelly Preston' as Deborah was forced to fight the rest of the way on heart and determination much more than she had intended.

As the women flip-flopped rounds and minutes - each taking her turn on top and dominating the other - a variety of patterns would become apparent. Always and everywhere, Kelly Preston was coming forward - cautiously to be sure, but insistently - constantly taking canvas away from Deborah and finishing most sequences with Farentino's back to the ropes. Debbie worked with a rigid, palm-down hook - steering the punch in thumb-first 'round Kelly's right wrist, then setting down on harsh straight rights to Preston's face. Kelly featured a medium-sweet jab - often bringing it back low, followed by a surprisingly tart straight right of her own: both women scored repeatedly up the middle, swelling each other up nicely. Preston showcased a low, wide, rangy hook to the ribs and tummy of her foe which over the long haul would prove to be an important difference-maker: Farentino's face-punching was accurate and at least as effective as Kelly's, but Preston owned Debbie's body, especially over the latter half of the fight. And Kelly was able to jab-with perhaps the best stick-artist of the over-forty set - denying Farentino her most important tactical advantage by fencing to a draw at range. In the end, the scoring was very close, but unequivocal: Kelly had bested Deborah and exhausted her, fighting Farentino's own fight in the process.

Neither woman would threaten Jessica Biel in a boxing ring - but there is perhaps no more beautiful sight in the sport than Farentino's bytchy snarl when she's fighting hard, trying to beat back an opponent's aggression. And who is prettier working a methodical, tucking hook in behind an opponent's elbow than Kelly Preston? For true fans of feminine competition, this was an exquisite ten rounds of tense, stylish, often desperate fare, fought between women who may never again vie for a title, but who can still thrill an audience with sheer ring presence. As if to underscore the aesthetic appeal of the duo - Kelly and Deborah immediately signed to fight an apartment wrestling match to launch "Forty-Plus Fighter" magazine in the inaugural cover-bout.