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17 December 2011 Bonzo Stable Review of 2011

Page history last edited by Archer844 12 years, 1 month ago

Posted by Bonzo on 12/17/2011, 12:01 pm

BONZO/FLOYDIAN

- STABLE REVIEW 2011 –

Thanks a lot to Archer and the Archive: couldn’t do it without it!

These are the stats (year and career win/loss ratio), a little look-back on 2011 and outlook on 2012, problems, fights to make, and so on. Not a lot of original content, though. But – or so I hope – HOT pictures!

I’m gonna start with a quick look at some of our other – inactive – fighters. There’s Megan Gale – huge, hot Aussie who nobody seems to want to fight. Any ideas?

There’s Nikki Visser – who deserves at least one good farewell fight!

There’s Cori Nadine – the buff fitness model hasn’t been doing anything since 2007, but these numbers are ugly. She’s lost her last nine fights in a row, has won only two fights out of 19 (hey, she did beat Sandra Bullock!) and - call it nostalgia – I’m kind of interested in seeing her one time again. Ideas?

So, now let’s go to Evangeline Lilly, Ashley Greene, Ali Larter, Milena Govich, Katrina Law, Nadia Bjorlin and Amanda Righetti.

Overall, Bonzo’s only held one title this year (and no title shots in any division other than welter) - looking at it from a division-spanning perspective, we’ve certainly seen better years. But there’s no reason to doubt the potential of the non-welter roster. I hope.

BANTAMWEIGHT

EVANGELINE LILLY

2 wins, 1 loss = 67 percent (career: 63 percent)

03/13/11. Def Alyson Michalka (KO6)
06/18/11. Lost to Piper Perabo (TKO4)
10/23/11. Def Julie Benz (TKO7)

Evangeline unfortunately never got close to being in contention for the title this year – for a woman of her success and quality, that’s almost humiliating. But let’s look at the positive: Aly Michalka was supposed to be the new Missy Peregrym, her path from dominating the entire bantam division effortlessly, then moving to lightweight to mess with the big girls, was predetermined – until Lilly stepped in. That was a very proud moment for Evangeline! The loss to Perabo: not so much. Piper’s pretty similar to her in style, and she directly confronted Lilly’s status and backed it up with a brutal win. For 2012, we hope Lilly can stabilize, get more ‘big’ fights and, ultimately, win the title. She’s not becoming younger, but she’s still got what it takes to dominate the division.

Rating: B

ASHLEY GREENE

2 wins, 1 loss = 67 percent (career: 50 percent)

01/13/11. Def Dani Fishel (UD14)
04/01/11. Lost to Rachel McAdams (1 Pt Dec)
04/23/11. Def Jessica Alba (TKO4)

There’s potential in Ashley, and we haven’t quite given her the exposure she deserves to climb up the ladder. But she was competitive with McAdams, beat Dani and Jessica Alba – there’s definitely a newly-found professionalism in Greene’s performance that bodes well for the future. She’s no longer just trying to punch out girls violently, which often ended up with her on her back – she’s actually trying to become another Lilly. I hope some more big bantam names will be interested in Ashley in 2012, and then, well, the idea of Lilly/Greene has been getting interesting – is she ready?

LIGHTWEIGHT

ALI LARTER

2 wins, 2 losses = 50 percent (career: 62.5 percent)

02/20/11. Lost to Rachel Nichols (TKO2)
04/01/11. Def AJ Cook (UD10)
12/09/11. Lost to Adrianne Palicki (KO6)
12/11/11. Def Missy Peregrym (KO11)

Ali’s comeback post-pregnancy was never expected to happen smoothly and without setbacks – but being greeted with a brutal TKO2 by Rachel Nichols certainly wasn’t the ideal of returns we envisioned. Ali has not quite ben back to her usual consistency, and the shocking knockout courtesy of Adrianne Palicki was a hurtful, humiliating moment. But it is the stunning victory over Missy P. that gives us hope that Ali’s not quite far away from her former performance level – she’s going to need to add up a few quality wins, but in 2012, the title is definitely what she’ll be going for. There’s so many great fights that can happen at lightweight, and especially Biel and Strahovski should be at the top of a to-do list.

Rating: B-

WELTERWEIGHT

MILENA GOVICH

2 wins, 2 losses = 50 percent (career: 50 percent)

02/15/11. Def Katrina Law (KO6)
03/02/11. Def Michelle Ryan (TKO7)
06/22/11. Lost to Cassidy Freeman (UD10)
06/22/11. Lost to Charlize Theron (KO7)

Milena’s not a star, and she probably won’t ever be a star, but she’s not a simple journeywoman. She had a very good run at one point, beating the favoured Katrina Law who was supposed to be Bonzo’s best bet on a new welter big-girl winner. Still, the fight against Charlize showed that, whatever her physical strength, stamina and toughness, Milena may lack that special quality that takes fighters to a new level – and the “Golden Goddess” offered a very hurtful lesson in why great fighters are about more than physical stats. Milena lost by KO, and on top of that, got beaten mentally. But that punch is still a weapon – no matter what. She’s also much hotter and prettier than she gets credit for – and should and will get fight time.

Rating: C

WELTERWEIGHT CONT.

KATRINA LAW

3 wins, 5 losses = 37.5 percent (career: 45 percent)

01/01/11. Lost to Sarah Lancaster (KO8)
01/04/11. Def Cassidy Freeman (KO8)
01/13/11. Lost to Nadia Bjorlin (TKO10)
02/15/11. Lost to Milena Govich (KO6)
05/05/11. Def Karen Gillan (UD10)
06/18/11. Lost to Bridget Regan (KO2)
06/22/11. Def Natasha Henstridge (UD10)
10/23/11 Lost to Amanda Righetti (TKO8)

Katrina’s a stunner – just in case you didn’t know. She should be a huge star: she’s smart, funny, cute, hot, talented, nice. She also has an incredible body made for fighting. That’s why – despite what may look pretty disappointing numbers in pure statistical review – she’ll always get fights because she’s incredibly entertaining, no matter whether she loses or wins. Losing to Regan and Righetti shouldn’t be held against her, the Lancaster loss was based on inexperience to close a fight she dominated easily – it’s the losses to Bjorlin and Govich in-stable that have stopped her from going all the way in 2011. But K-Law is destined for big things – so please, if you need activity for a welter, please choose Katrina: we’re open for anything! Cat Bell? Daniela Ruah?

Rating: She’s too hot for a C, so she gets a B-

And a hot video: http://www.ign.com/videos/2011/12/05/babeology-katrina-law-is-stunning

NADIA BJORLIN

2 wins, 1 loss = 67 percent (career: 53 percent)

01/13/11. Def Katrina Law (TKO10)
03/02/11. Def Eva Larue (UD10)
05/20/11. Lost to Charlie Theron (UD10)

This was not a particularly active year for Nadia – though she was able to turn back in-stable hot rival Law. An attempt to repeat last time’s crushing win over Theron turned disastrous, as Charlize handled her with brutal efficiency. Nadia’s afraid of losing steam compared to other Bonzo welters, but she’s got to step it up a notch in consistency and stability-under-pressure. For a top welter and title candidate, she can’t afford a lot of losses like that one to Theron. The crucial problem for Nadia can be described pretty simple: how can she develop a scenario that has HER getting a title shot and not Righetti? She can try that by bypassing Amanda through other good opponents – but she got thrashed silly by Regan and dominated by Theron when she tried that path. Or she can confront Amanda directly: that worked pretty darn well last year. Is that the road to glory?

Rating: C+ (B-?)

AMANDA RIGHETTI

12 wins, 3 losses = 80 percent (career: 69 percent)

01/01/11. Def Cassidy Freeman (KO6)
01/28/11. Lost to Natasha Henstridge (KO2)
02/16/11. Def Natasha Henstridge (TKO6)
02/20/11. Lost to Ch. Ali Landry (TKO7)(T)
03/02/11. Def Estella Warren (KO1)
03/13/11. Def Laura Prepon (UD10)
04/24/11. Def Abbie Cornish (UD10)
05/20/11. Def Stacy Keibler (UD10)
06/18/11. Def Ch. Gena Lee Nolin (UD10)(T)
06/22/11. Def Erica Durance (KO9)
07/17/11. Def Rebecca Romijn (KO9)
09/30/11. Lost to Bridget Regan (KO7)(T)
10/23/11. Def Katrina Law (TKO8)
11/20/11. Def Eva Larue (TKO5)
12/09/11. Def Charlize Theron (UD10)

We’ve had what you may call a luxury problem at the beginning of 2011: just how do you follow up on a perfect year? Amanda herself was probably wondering about that, too, and ended up lacking a bit in concentration in her early fights. Obviously, it was wrong to have doubts, but it’s only natural and since with Bridget Regan in the title seat, there was a good chance the new champ would string together a series of dominant wins and dominate the division herself – Amanda probably just got unfocused and she had to resort to beating Cass freeman with unexpected come-from-behind punching power instead of long-stretching dominance, and then big-hitting, experienced veteran-powered Natasha Henstridge shocked her with a KO2 win. But then Regan surprisingly lost to Landry and an earlier opportunity than expected opened up to get the title back. Unfortunately, Amanda couldn’t repeat the quality of her earlier wins against the legendary brunette, looking a bit out of herself in a very disappointing and frustrating title fight.

That was a crucial moment, a doubtful moment if you want, but it was also a chance where a fighter could prove true greatness – and Amanda responded to the doubts with a seven-win streak and a return to the championship. Some stunning performance ensued – an almost complete shutout of Laura Prepon reducing the big girl heartlessly; a brilliant title fight against dangerous veteran Gena Nolin; a P4P fight at the very height of her powers against Erica Durance. After the summer break, time came to defend the title. We firmly - and still - believe that Bridget Regan was the right choice to make. Of course, Amanda could have sat on her title – we could have easily found opponents that would have probably ensured a much longer title reign, but that just wasn’t our idea of competitiveness. It was an ugly fight: Bridget seems able to turn in her best performances against Amanda, while saving her blunders for other fights. It was Bridget’s night all the way: a stunning, efficient and brutal performance; the most painful moment of Amanda’s year. But yet we still believe that Amanda has overall systematic qualities and consistency that Bridget doesn’t possess – in the long run, this rivalry will show Amanda’s edge. But these are dream super-fights of a highly competitive nature and I’m sure they’ll meet again, in 2012, as soon as makes sense.

Amanda doesn’t let losses turn into losing streaks, though, and that’s why she’s already won another three fights in a row (while Bridget hasn’t been doing anything! Though I’m sure Bazz has a plan there). There’s been a long wait for a fight with Charlize Theron, as it was discussed, arranged, called off and discussed again since 2009. We’re happy Amanda won. It was not a fight that signaled Theron’s somehow on a downhill streak, and we do realize some people saw this as proof Charlize could still theoretically dominate the welter division, but we saw a dominating Amanda performance and incredible resilience when it was needed.

In 2012, aside from the long-standing conflict with Regan, I hope we can work out some fight against lightweights like, as has been suggested, Jessica Biel, or Missy Peregrym or Adrianne Palicki and others when the right moment arises. This was Amanda’s second 80 % win/loss year in a row – why not make it three?

Rating: A