When Lisa Maffia was knocked out by Melanie Brown most of the BBU pundits believed the career of the former bantamweight champion suffered a truly terminal blow and called for her retirement. But Maffia neglected these ideas and set up a clash with another former champion, Imogen Thomas, whose winless streak dates back over a year to prove all the naysayers wrong.

It's a sharp contrast to what this fight could have been only two years ago though, instead of settling the bantamweight straps, both girls now fight for survival on a Monday Night billing while the likes of Rosie Jones and Sacha Parkinson enjoy their time in the spotlight. But the BBU apparently hasn't heard the last of Lisa Maffia who remains the third most experienced woman on the roster, entering the ring for the 49th time tonight and just five shy of Samia Ghadie's all-time record. 

Lisa Maffia wearing a black basque top, red knickers and red gloves. Imogen Thomas wearing a red basque top, white knickers and red gloves.

Round 1:
Both girls understandably cagey in approach following a recent string of defeats but Imogen was once labelled as the biggest puncher in the division and she works the single hand with more efficiency, thumps Lisa's midriff and weaves her around back & forth, slips by overhand response and drills the ribcage down the stretch. Maffia doesn't keep the elbows glued to her body and gets pummelled back to the ropes in the second minute, grazes the Welsh girl's cheeks with little effect and is bend to the side after one of Thomas' punches really catches her thick. The response is still at premium and Imogen leans on the singer with more venom, slices the navel before an uppercut switch splits the mitts and connects with the jaw; Maffia sags onto the ropes and soaks up a late facial punishment with Imogen working the straight jabs and a hooking combo on the mouth to underline her early advantage.

Round 2:
Maffia's still on the back foot and allowes Imogen to land vicious combos on her face early in the second; a clubbing left hook gives the singer first threat of a swelling before a right hook pounds her on the nose and woobles backwards. Before she can cover up for an ineviteable follow up Thomas just bangs away at her brow ridge and snaps the head back again, works on the face thereafter as Lisa's guard is nowhere to be seen. A series of crunching hooks sink Maffia on her knees before one punch too many squashes the nostrils and results in immediate bleeding. This sight only fuels Imogen's will to punish her foe and she's all over the older girl's face pumping unanswered hooks through the last minute and leaving an absolutely useless Lisa butt-in- ropes and smearing her own blood across the face while checking for damage. Thomas barks in anger and indicates to the audience she will slaughter her within seconds of the next round and even Denise van Outen thinks that Lisa really should have thought better of this return to the ring.

Round 3:
All signs point to a quick demise from the 35 year old singer but the BBU veteran shows some quick feet and while Imogen rushes her approach and misses a couple of uppercuts to the chin, Lisa can finally respond in a noteworthy manner by slamming her mitts against the brunette's enhanced rack. Close range pounding staggers Thomas who's more shocked at this effort rather than hurt but Maffia slams a flurry of jabs across her face moments later and screams out in anger herself, beats the Welsh brunette for a rapid fire overhand and nails her on the nose... Thomas shrieks in pain and wobbles to the left side, raises her head just in time for a Maffia piledriver that catches her on the temple AND SENDS TUMBLING TO THE CANVAS... Huge turnaround here as Thomas bites the dust and still looks completely shocked at Maffia's antics. She beats the count at seven but the singer's all over her in no time, bashing leather on the chest. Imogen tries to break the close range beating but loses her footing and gets trapped on the ropes as Lisa just bashes away at the body leaving the whole crowd and Denise van Outen in the booth speechless at the bell.

Round 4:
Lisa finds something in her movement and escapes immediate counter from the Welsh foe, has the buxom model weaving in fruitless approach before a swift hook on the temple gives Thomas more misery. She targets the face repeatedly afterwards and exposes Imogen's guard to the point the first lumps on the model's face are seen. Down the stretch Maffia keeps her aggresion and precision, wobbles Thomas back & forth on her feet before switching low for the navel and bending the girl forward. She misses the put away uppercut though and enables Thomas to lock her in a clinch. Ref separates them and Imogen finds the overhand punch to tame the singer's charge, settles into a close range brawl as if she's got no better idea to keep up with the pace, both girls trade facial leather in the dying seconds in a classic flyweight-like exchange but somehow Lisa's nose withstands the barrage and in fact she gives Thomas more swelling come the bell.

Round 5:
The mindless bash resumes in the fifth, both girls jump into a war of attrition and Lisa's precision overwhelms Imogen's core strenght as she whips the Welsh girl to the side with a jabbing series on the head and keeps drilling the face until a moaning Thomas sinks on her knees and drops her arms. More clubbing hooks cut her left cheek open and really open the younger girl's eyes as she spins around in desperate avoidance and prevents Maffia from trapping her at the turnbuckle. But the Maffia hassling continues, menacing jabs swing around the head and in the final minute Imogen's escape stops as she gets banged on the temple and leans forward. Lisa comes charhing in but misjudges her approach and suddenly eats a flying combo on the chest, staggers briefly and is beaten for a quick overhand on the nose.... Thomas opens the earlier wound and now both girls are bleeding out there; Maffia shakes her head as she has breathing issues but it's a terrible mistake as the Welsh vixen springs into an uppercut combo that drops the arms before a put away hook on the eye SENDS MAFFIA ONTO HER BACKSIDE... the singer got caught napping afer that nasal bleeding and fumbled all her momentum but the bell sounds moments later and spares her the count as Imogen stamps her foot against the canvas in frustration... but's she's right back into this fight now!

Round 6:
Beever's coach Denise Lewis is worried about Lisa's repeated nose bleeding. Still five rounds to go and Imogen could easily force a medical stoppage at this rate. Back in the ring first signs of mutal respect between the two hellcats with a knockdown each under their belts are terminated when Imogen jumps at Lisa's face with a hooking series and splits the mitts, pounds away from point blank range and seemingly wants to break the singer's nose like Denise Lewis feared. Maffia can't find the speed & agility in a close range brush and eats several blows to the face which wobble her back and result in more blood coming from her nose. Thomas has her right where she wants and pierces the guard with a vicious uppercut, tags the jaw but follows up with a left/right cross hook on the nose AND SIMPLY THUMPS LISA TO THE CANVAS.. the singer tries to wipe the blood off her face but just stumbles back on her buns, barely beats the count at eight and is lucky the ref somehow refuses to stop the bout. He sends a worryingly vulnerable looking Maffia straight into Thomas' path and the singer can only blatantly clinch herself into survival, eats few piercing jabs on the ribcage though and gets shoved into the turnbuckle as Thomas nearly headbutts her in frustration and sells a shot to the groin right at the bell. Lisa truly looks spend now and on the verge of collapse as the cutmen have to address her nasal bleeding for the third time already.

Round 7:
Another chance for Thomas to finish the singer off, she rushes at Maffia with some clubbing hooks to the face but Lisa's guard withstands the barrage and enables the older girl to fire back from the back foot. Imogen gets caught on the left eye and looks stunned by the resistance again as Maffia leans on her and drills the ribcage to make the arms drop in protection. Instead of a mercy kill, another close range brawl ensues and Lisa refuses to fade away into retirement as she whacks the model on the navel before finding the uppercut on the jaw and a follow up on the brow ridge. Thomas yelps in pain and seeks a haymaker on her own but misses the approach altogether and gets nailed on the left eye at the two minute mark which makes her scream as suddenly it's another bleeding time; Lisa works the spiking hook on that area and turns the Welsh brunette to the side, rocks her with a thumping hook on the liver area and switches high to crash off the eye one more time. Imogen looks vulnerable in the dying seconds, sags on the ropes and soaks up more punishment as Lisa just pulverizes her guard and bounces off the mouth right at the bell to complete another turnaround in this bout. Both girls are really tired but Imogen points to her cntourage that she can't see properly on her left eye...

Round 8:
Extended work to get rid of the swelling on Imogen's eye is cut short by the bell. Meanwhile Maffia for all her nasal bleeding closes her right down and throws a flurry of leather on the wounded spot, she dominates the footwork again and blasts a looping hook on the temple to sink an aching Thomas on her knees before another piercing jab shuts the left eye for good. Imogen shrieks in surrender as she can't see anything from Lisa's right side and the hooks pummel her face into a smoking mess with the ammount of Maffia's ferocity shattering the Welsh defence. Lisa pounds her foe to the Kats' corner and splis the mitts at will now, works the right hand with utmost disdain and simply clobbers a totally dismayed Thomas into a smoking mess... one, two, make that three vicious hook bounce off the swollen shut eye and the Welsh glamour model simply can't take the pounding anymore AND SLIDES DOWN ONTO THE CANVAS... Lisa shakes her glove in delight and screams out at her while the ref begins a slow count.. Thomas uses the ropes to get up at eight but looks totally wrecked and her left eye is completely shut; she's fighting back the tears but has to admit to the ref she can't there at all... ref waves his hands in the air and has to stop the fight, even Imogen doesn't contest this decision and her spirit might have been broken forever by this experience.. TKO8 Lisa Maffia!!!

AFTER: That was a truly gruesome fight between two girls desperately needing a success. Lisa Maffia looked to be down & out twice tonight but dug to all her experience to somehow claw back a victory and in a manner leaving little room for complaints. She battered Imogen's eye into a swollen mess with some extremely accurate punches in the second half of the fight and will surely get a chance at fight number 50 only few months after Melanie Brown had claimed to send her into retirement.

Meanwhile Imogen Thomas' short-term future looks bleak to say the very least. Allthough the former bantam champion showed glimpses of the old magic it wasn't good enough to break the run of defeats which incurred wrath of stable coach Gail Kim. Thomas just couldn't finish Maffia off when she seemingly had her begging for mercy not once but twice. Is the Welsh model flaming out or Gail Kim just can't do the coaching job right anymore? Was the Girls Aloud departure from Kear's Kats last fall a sign of the stables' prospects looking grim? And will Imogen need to follow Roxanne Pallett's way to soften up her upcoming rivals? Because she had her butt kicked by Lisa Maffia tonight and that's a truly horrendous experience for all her fans.

Final result: Lisa Maffia def. Imogen Thomas TKO8.