After a sluggish performance last year Melanie Brown opened her 2013 account with a quick if not fortunate stoppage of Laura Pausini on the Lioness Club vs Latin Union stable war just days ago. And with the fight being so short she felt a need for more ring action so when she saw Imogen Thomas getting her eye shut by Kaya Scodelario the path to this grudge contest was wide open. Former bantam champion Thomas rarely suffers defeats and quite frankly was humiliated by Scodelario the other day; didn't take Brown's mocking on twitter very well and accepted the challenge straight away. Perhaps it's a little too early for her to come back to the ring but the rampant Cardiff crowd will surely support the Welsh brunette and we're destined to see if Mel's win over the Italian singer was a mere fluke or not.

Melanie Brown wearing a black bikini with white stripes and red gloves. Imogen Thomas wearing a red bikini with black stripes and white gloves. The fight is scheduled for ten rounds in the bantamweight division.

Round 1:
Imogen surely wants to make up for the brutal loss to Scodelario and attacks her rival straight off the bell; whips a good series on the chest and keeps driving low on the tummy but Mel counters over the top, spikes the Welsh girl on the eye and continues to respond in vicious fashion, snaps her head back, ignores the stomach attack and slams a left hook on the brow ridge. She pushes Imogen back before hammering away at her ribcage. Thomas struggles in close range refuses to seek respite, leans on the older opponent and whacks her around the elbows. Mel keeps her low guard in tact though but fails to make more offensive inroad and settles for a clinch late on.

Round 2:
Cautious jabbing from mid-range mark the opening minute before Imogen leaps forward with menacing hooks on the head but Mel is quick to react and covers up; switches downstairs thereafter and slams leather against Thomas' midriff, clips her chest with a fine uppercut and lands another on the jaw moments later. Imogen stumbles a bit and jumps to the side but gets caught with a left hook on the eye and suddenly the singer pours into her rack with a jabbing series, rocks her on the spot and spikes between the mitts with more vicious hooks. Thomas falls on the ropes much to the crowd's dismay as Brown charges in with more leather on the tummy, has the former champ moaning loudly at the bell and the Welsh crowd doesn't exactly enjoy that sight!

Round 3:
Encouraged by that late surge in the previous round Mel hassles Imogen seconds into the third and outworks her in mid-range, leans on her and closes the distance even further, goes around the elbows and finds success on the ribcage. Thomas goes for some high hooks upstairs but Brown ducks underneath them, buries a big jab on the solar plexus instead and hurts the Welsh glamour girl. Imogen is visibly hurting, bends forward and almost loses her balance alltogether as Mel rips into her tummy with more vicious leather, backs her into the ropes where she cleans out her midsection, snaps the head back with a late right hook on the eye just before the bell to silence the Welsh crowd again. Just no way through for the ex-champ who's allowing the Scary Spice to have it her own way thus far.

Round 4:
Thomas surges ahead from her corner answering a rampant applause from the audience, looks to break Brown's momentum but crashes off the forearms and eats another hook on the eye instead followed by a right jab on the cheek. She wobbles back on her feet again as Mel rips into her guts, has the ex-champ moaning and getting pummelled around the ring as the applause in the crowd is dwarfed one more time. Same old story down the stretch, Thomas gettng bashed to the ropes with a furious display of boxing from the ex-Spice Girl, just hammering away at the Welsh brunette and not looking back, keeping the high tempo and Imogen in trouble with a superior work rate and precision. Final minute; Thomas trapped on the ropes, soaks up midsection punishment as Mel indicates the destruction of Pausini was no fluke after all. That feeling starts to sink in among the audience too and it's not what they came her for!

Round 5:
Brown goes after her rival again, hardly a surprise by this stage, and Thomas simply looks lost out there, has the Scodelario beatdown relieved her of the supreme status among the division so viciously imposed before? She's unable to tame the older girl and struggles to even land noteworthy punches as Mel slices her mitts on repeated basis instead and begins to bruise her face, not quite the way Scodelario shut Imogen's eye just yet but slowly getting there if possible. Brown strikes over the top, has the Welsh brunette moaning all the time now and getting pummelled around the ring; Imogen tries to show some quick feet and dances around the ring thereafter but is still fed with leather, gets pushed to the ropes in the final minute when the stamina is called into question and Mel rips between her arms, gives a nasty cut on the nose and just slices the guard at will now with the crowd watching the destruction of one of their biggest heroines in utter disbelief. Bell eventually saves Thomas from getting her face bashed into a pulp but we're only half-way.

Round 6:
Despite all the punishment Imogen's taken tonight, she still hasn't been knocked down, a big reminder of why exactly she once held the bantam straps and she tries to make something happen. jabs low to Brown's body but that was a careless approach as Mel nails her on the rack with a left/right combo and rips a left hook on the chin moments later, totally exposing Thomas' flaws tonight. She follows with a right on the eye and sinks the former champion on her knees, continues to ravage her chest before slamming another left hook right on the chin with Imogen's mitts shattered apart... THOMAS SPAWLS ON THE CANVAS, just crumbling under the heavy leather and the crowd responds with a massive shriek of pain. Good grief, what a letdown for the Cardiff faithful... Thomas pushes herself off both arms at six looks overwhelmed and struggles for any confidence, avoids Mel's piercing look from the neutral corner and the ex-Spice Girl simply jumps after her and sends more shots on the ribcage, fakes some high attacks and catches Thomas with her arms not low enough, shatters them anyway again and whacks her on the solar plexus. Imogen's just soaking up punishment, gets pummelled back to the ropes in a hurry, She weaves around on her feet in sheer despair but the clock is on her side and halts the action just as Mel rips a left hook on the jaw to leave the local favorite dizzy at the ropes and quite frankly even Olivia Godfrey in the BBU TV booth doesn't believe Imogen can last another three minutes of this frenzy.

Round 7:
Thomas is visibly hurt, her face a swollen mask of pain but Mel gives her no break, clearly wants to finish her off in most brutal way possible and squares up to her seconds into the seventh; strikes over the top, shatters the mitts with ease and snaps Imogen's head back, causes the arms to drop alltogether and now has point-blank range opportunity to bash the brunette's face into a complete pulp... and there she goes... slamming leather all over Imogen's face who's on the verge of getting punched to the orbit.... AND THE REF WON'T ALLOW IT... He jumps in just as the former champ was sliding unconscious on the canvas and that was a huge beatdown all the way through... what a messy end for the Welsh supporters as Melanie Brown leaps into a vicious TKO R7!!!

Post-fight:
Crowd dead silent inside the Cardiff Arena and that was painful to watch in the end with Melanie just rearranging Imogen's face at will and now laughing at the medical staff attending to the fallen Welsh vixen. "Told you, my win over Laura Pausini was no fluke", a visibly excited Brown tells Olivia Godfrey afterwards, "I simply destroyed Thomas in front of her home crowd, I silenced them good and they weren't even jeering at me in the end. They were shell-shocked. They never believed someone can come and punch their favorite girl to the orbit. But that's what I did and well, well, well, I maybe on the Ashes card after all. I'm red hot right now and not gonna stop. If Imogen Thomas couldn't stop me, nobody can!"

Final result: Melanie Brown def. Imogen Thomas TKO7.