A day of paffening

Québec City – We go ringside near the end of the Fight for Minds card that features violence for a good cause. The announcer and Veronica Lillegard, president of the Synapses foundation for brain trauma and mental health, are already in the ring.

Ring announcer: “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Vidéotron Centre for the main event of the evening. Ten rounds of three minutes each in the Lightweight division.”

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Ring announcer: “Introducing first and fighting out of the red corner. She is wearing purple and white and is coached by Sylvie Chouinard. Her professional record stands at 8 wins, half of them by way of knockout, and one loss. She is a former Canadian Featherweight champion… ranked number 8 in the Lightweight division… from Kelowna, she is Heather ‘The White Swan’ Barrrrrrrkerrrrrrrrr!”

Heather’s move to the French speaking province of Québec, and her wins, has already won over many hearts. She gets solid applause from local boxing fans.

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Ring announcer: “Her opponent across the ring fights out of the red corner. She is wearing white and red and is coached by Arne Stein. She has a professional record of 13 wins, five of them by way of knockout, and one loss. A former German Lightweight champion from Hamburg, she is Maya ‘Cannonball’ Cerciiiiiiiiii!”

Although the applause is weaker, Maya makes a nice impression as her strong tomboy body and pretty face make a perfect pose.

Heather thinks: “My God, is that woman gorgeous.”

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Hungry for violence

Referee Chantal Gagné brings them to the middle of the ring for the final word before the bell rings.

The usual feeling out process is pretty short. They trade jabs and each get a feel of each other’s leather, and they crave further action. Maya is a little stiffer than the White Swan when moving around the ring, so the Canadian feels at ease circling around the German.

The first solid strike comes early. The purple haired woman fires a jab, a right and a descending second right hand to make Maya cover up. She then steps forward to slip a crunchy left to the body, guiding her glove inside the visitor’s elbow to find the lower abdomen.

Heather’s purple leather makes a bright smacking sound and the crowd gets lively. “Go for it Heather!”

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The porcelan-skinned beauty builds a little early momentum by testing the darker woman’s imperfect defenses. A couple of additional clean shots on target should help build a healthy lead and make an impression on the Québécois judges.

Before the first minute is over, Maya feels the need to fire back before falling behind. She holds her ground in the middle as Heather presses with combinations. The Canadian fakes the jab twice before taking a step in to unleash the Heathercut. Maya drops back a tad while leaning to the left for a short motion leading to a compact left bolo punch on the counter. PISH!

Heather: “Urgh.”

Maya: “That was a sexy grunt.”

The White Swan growls in response.

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Satisfying sounds

The White Swan gets tagged a gain by a follow-up right hook on the cheekbone, and it stings. She drops back and circles around the German, bobbing and weaving to avoid a few incoming punches.

Heather thinks: “This won’t be easy. Chick can hit.”

The Canadian bites on her mouthpiece as Maya the Predator comes after her. She steps back and sideways while throwing to contain the aggression.

Heather thinks: “Damn, she won’t let me breathe and it’s only the first round. Aren’t we supposed to feel each other out here?”

The red devil doesn’t relent and the adoptive Quebecer has to let her hands to go relieve pressure. As the girl in red and white comes in with the intent to take the body with a heavy-duty right, she drops back once again. She unloads a darting jab that lands flush, in the middle of Maya’s face.

The paffened visitor grunts.

Heather: “Yours sounds better than mine, really.”

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The German is coming

Maya won’t be easily denied. The two pugilists enter the second half of the round with the Bengali-Turkish-German using her imposing presence to seize the initiative. This is potentially the most difficult encounter since she got knocked out by Akane Watanabe, and she wants to make the most of it.

In that final minute, she is the one setting the pace and taking Heather places inside the ring. A bobbing Canadian resorts to torso movement to make shots miss, but hand passivity eventually has a price. Maya spots a gap between purple gloves as the White Swan is leaning to the right. She promptly dishes out a mid-range right hook that deforms Heather’s left cheek. Pish!

Sylvie: “You’ve got to defend better! Use those strong legs!”

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The former Canadian champ finds this first three-minute round adverserial, but she loosens up by daring to drop her right hand for comfort. It works. Heather is content with moving around, dodging shots and striking with the jab to maintain distance with the German.

Clack clack clack. Ten seconds left. Maya fakes a left to the body before throwing a right hook upstairs. Heather already has the downstairs zone covered by her low right, and she leans backwards to the left. White leather flies a couple of couple of hairs away from her right cheek bone. So close that she felt the motion of the glove even though it didn’t touch her.

Heather thinks: “Oof.”

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Shove it

The final seconds yield little more before the bell rings. The contestants head back to their corners.

Heather listens to her trusted coach as she takes deep breaths to prevent fatigue.

Sylvie: “Good start, but she came back into it quickly. One small adjustment with that stance from the last minute. Pivot on your left foot and paw with that right hand. Shove it in her face with your hand open. Use it to mess with her vision and balance. She’s a body puncher, so you can twist and turn while leaning down with your body to control her.”

Heather: “Yeah.”

Sylvie: “Stay loose. If you let her come at you and lean down, she’ll go downstairs to hurt. We don’t want that. I want to see grace, Heather. You have it. Channel it. Let it flow.”

Heather: “Yes.”

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Across the ring, Arne is pretty happy with what he saw, but he has some demands.

Arne: “Not bad. I think you won that round but you didn’t catch her downstairs. That’s our bread and butter. Don’t spend so much time headhunting because Heather can move well. She’s not the most physical girl and you’ve got that incredible body to bully her.”

She nods, looks up and takes another deep breath.

Arne: “I want a compact stance. Stand your ground and go in. Hands up against your chin and using your upper body to push forward. I want pounding shots downstairs. Apply yourself and give it time. Do this well and you’ll break her down.”

She nods again.

Arne: “You’ve been very eager in that first round, but I want you to be methodical. We still have nine rounds, so there’s no hurry to look for a knockout.”

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Heather Barker
Heather Barker
A religious, caring and ambitious woman from Canada, now based in Marseille. One of the most tenacious boxers in the sport.