Claire Danes vs Elisha Cuthbert

HISC vs Lookout! Boxing
(Words: Front Street / Results: Lookout!)

BEFORE:
Cuthbert another girl who thinks she should be fighting for the bantamweight gold tonight, and, considering she beat the champion in a non-title bout her last time out, who could blame her? "Those should be MY belts right now," Lishy says with that gorgeous smile. "But, I can't worry about that at the moment. I have a Hall of Famer in front of me, and, I need to get her beaten. When I do that, I'll have an even better claim to a title shot."

Danes, who'd won a whopping six in a row before losing the straps to VanCamp back in August, has sort of gotten lost in all the craziness with Mishy/'Nessa and the Kreuk/Kunis "loser leaves town" stuff at HISC, but she's back in action tonight and ready to remind everyone just who Crackertown's best fighter is. And, of some other logic, too. "Let's see if I can get this straight. Cuthbert beat Holt. So, tonight, when I beat Cuthbert, doesn't that make ME the girl who should have the next shot at the straps? And. I AM going to beat Cuthbert."

ROUND ONE:
 
Lishy giving up height and reach, quickly to a high guard, looking to work forward into range. Claire having absolutely none of it. Danes, as good a boxer as there is in the FCBA, begins picking off Cuthbert immediately, getting left hands through her guard, stopping her, then landing rights. Cuthbert shows good head and foot movement, but none of it works. Danes hands are just too accurate, and, no matter what the Canadian does, she gets picked off before she can get where she needs to be. As the round goes on, it gets worse. Cuthbert gets frustrated and becomes more stationary, making her an even easier mark for Claire's target practice. By the end of the round, Danes is getting more into her punches and actually backing Cuthbert up with them. It's about as ugly a round as it can get for Lishy, but, it IS only one round, and, when it's over, Danes' lead is but 10-9.
 
ROUND TWO:
 
Second begins the same way the first ended. Danes in total control. Cuthbert can not get into range to land anything, so, she rarely punches, and, when she does, she's short on everything. About a minute in, Elisha tries a right hand, leaves it short, and gets ROCKED by a nasty left hook counter from Danes. Cuthbert's immediately in full retreat as Danes methodically works forward, banging home punches in combination and trapping Lishy against the ropes. Claire then goes to work, firing precision rounds that nail Elisha again and again. Cuthbert is wobbled by a solid right and nearly goes down, then gets absolutely PUMMELLED by a five-punch combination that has the referee about to step in. Elisha holds on, however, keeping the guard high, jabbing back in spots, running clock. The bell arrives with the curvy Canadian cutie still standing, but Danes has another wide victory and the lead is 20-18, but looks much larger.

ROUND THREE:
 
Cuthbert changes her level. She's working out of a crouch now, hands in earmuff. Her legs are back and she's able to move well as she works forward. She's using the high guard and low head to get past Claire's defenses, get in close, and get her shell on target, leading to the first two-way exchanges of the fight. Claire's scoring plenty of her own in close, though not as much as Lishy, but, add in the points she's getting as Cuthbert works forward, and you have a good, two-way round. It's very close throughout, but, as it goes on, Cuthbert gets more and more comfortable with what she's doing and, as a result, is able to get more done. She's getting past Claire's glove faster, and getting more done, especially to the body, when she does so. Danes is still getting hers, mind, but, when the bell rings, Cuthbert's pulled out a close one and gotten on the board, making the score 29-28 for Claire.

ROUND FOUR:
 
Lishy back in that crouch, but Claire adjusts her angles and begins getting enough leather home to slow Cuthbert again. Like in the second, Elisha struggles to close and takes plenty of shell in doing so. She's resolute, however, doggedly coming forward, keeping the head and feet moving, determined to get to spots where she can bring her power to bear. And she does. And she does. In a big way. Well into the third minute of the round, a round Claire's controlling, Cuthbert gets to a spot. And brings the power. She staggers Danes with a short right hook, sends her stumbling back with a follow-up left, then DROPS her with a straight right hand! Cuthbert moves to a neutral corner quickly and watches. But, any hopes that she's ended this are dashed quickly. Claire is up at seven and the referee waives Lishy forward. There's little time for a clean up, but Cuthbert does add some finishing touches to the round, and, when it ends, the 10-8 result has put her up 38-37.
 
ROUND FIVE:
 
Claire is clearly still buzzed as the fifth begins, and the Canadian takes full advantage. Cuthbert is more aggressive than we've seen her at any point in the fight. She's not exactly walking through Claire's punches, but she's much less cautious about them, sensing that, with her legs still not right, the power those shots normally hold aren't there. And, without that power, Claire can't keep Lishy off. The result is that Cuthbert spends almost the entire round in Danes' grill, backing her up, working her body, landing solid shot to the head, and generally treating the former champion pretty shabbily. Danes is game, firing back in counter, but Elisha is dominant. From bell to bell, she's in control, piling on more and more as the round continues. By the final bell, Cuthbert's tossed a shutout and extended her lead to 48-46.

ROUND SIX:
 
Elisha right back at Claire, closing, crowding, thumping. And now Claire is thumping back. Her legs seem to have recovered, but she's not using them. She's standing in the phone booth with Cuthbert and giving back everything she gets. And Lishy's loving it. If Claire wants to fight her fight, well, the Canadian thinks that's a lovely idea. Only, Claire fights it pretty well. And, what we have, instead of the one-way battering Cuthbert laid on Danes in the fifth, is a brutal, two-way slugfest that involves both women landing heavy shot, both being backed up by the other, and both having their chins and legs tested in a big way. It's crowd-pleasing stuff, if you don't consider the HISC corner part of the crowd, because it spends most of the round wondering why one of the best boxers in the FCBA is standing toe-to-toe slugging. Wondering at loud volume. Danes must hear. But she does not listen. She stands. And she fights. And, when the bell rings, she also, albeit narrowly, claims the round and cuts her deficit to 57-56.

ROUND SEVEN:

The HISC corner spends the time between rounds beating Claire's ear. She hears. She does not listen. She does not do what they order and start boxing Cuthbert again, trying to keep her at range and pick her apart. Instead, she steps forward to meet the shorter blonde and goes to work. Out the door go Danes' twin advantages of reach and boxing skill. As her corner keeps reminding her. Using several words of only four letters each. Claire has gloves on. So, the finger she raises in response is only figurative. But, raise it, she does. If Lishy wants to trade leather, Claire is going to TRADE LEATHER. And that's exactly what the two fighters do. Again, the crowd loves it. Loves watching heavy shot land, heads snap back, sweat fly. And the fighters are clearly enjoying it, too. It's no longer about points. It's about if you can stand here in front of me and take what I'm throwing at you. Claire can. And so can Lishy. Again, when the bell rings, it's close. And, again, it's Claire. After seven, we're all even at 66.

ROUND EIGHT:

Toe to toe again. Immediately. The fighters simply meet and get to work. And work, they do. Because it IS work. It's sound. It's measured. There's plenty of setting up punches, creating openings, and good defense with both head and shoulder movement and hand movement on display. But there's also plenty of leather flying, and plenty of same finds the target, snapping back heads and backing both fighters up a step on occasion. Then, one such bomb lands perfectly and CUTHBERT IS DOWN! It's a right hook to the chin that does the damage and Lishy drops to her hands and knees. Now, it's Danes in the corner watching, and, like Elisha before her, if she was hoping for an end of things, she's disappointed. Cuthbert gets to her feet at eight and the referee waives Claire forward. Danes is surgical. She backs Cuthbert up again and again with a hard, accurate jab that splits her guard. She drops nasty rights behind Lishy's gloves an instant after the lefts hit to back up her head. Sweat flies as Elisha's head snaps back again and again. Then her head SWIVELS after a vicious right hand and DOWN GOES CUTHBERT AGAIN! This time it's not to hands and knees. This time the blonde puddles at Claire's feet. And there she stays, unmoving, as  the count passes her by. Elisha is OUT! And the winner by KO8 is Claire Danes!

AFTER:
Cuthbert brought around in the proverbial stages. Still on her stool long after Claire has spoken, answering a question that had to have been on a lot of minds. "There's only one thing better than beating a girl. And that's beating her at her own game. After the fourth, when she knocked me down, I figured I'd taken her best shot, so, why not get in the trenches with her and show everybody that, not only can I outbox her, I can outslug her, too. And, that's exactly what I did. You know, it's pretty cool to show you're superior in EVERY WAY to a girl. In fact, it's VERY cool.”