After the beatdown at the end of the last round, Tanille Taylor manages to get back to her corner with some of her dignity still intact. Her coach has her stool ready for her so she can sit and recover for a moment.
Scott: “You okay? You need me to get the ring doctor?”
Tanille: “No. I’m okay. I need a moment, though.”
Scott: “You just got taught a lesson in there. I want you to remember this moment. This is why you apply yourself in those fitness drills, because you did not have it at the end. She did, though. That’s why she battered you.”
Tanille: “I punched myself out.”
Scott: “And she nearly punched you out.”
One fighter on her feet, though she’s unlikely to be the winner of this encounter, is soaking in the adulation of the crowd.
Sonia thinks: I gave it everything. I didn’t have enough, but there was a level in class between me and Tanille, but a difference in fitness between us too. I have to improve, but I proved myself here too. The crowd knows it.
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Official particulars
Laila: “Welcome back from commercial. We now go to the center of the ring for the official decision. I’d expect that this one to be unanimous for Tanille Taylor as she controlled the vast majority of the rounds and knocked Sonia Fox down.”
Ring announcer: “Ladies and gentlemen, after eight rounds of boxing, we go to the scorecards for the official decision. All three of our ringside judges have it 78-74 for your winner by unanimous decision… and still undefeated, ‘The Prodigy,’ Tanille Taylor!”
There’s a somewhat muted reception for the winner, who doesn’t exactly try to showboat either in her usual effusive way.
Tanille’s record improves to 9-0, while Sonia’s drops to 7-3. Because the US title was not on the line, she remains United States champion.
Sonia thinks: If this had been a ten-rounder…
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Courting controversy
Before getting to the interview, a media person has a quick word with Tanille. They give her the plan and the talking points for her interview with Laila. But Tanille Taylor is about to go off script.
Laila: “I am here with tonight’s winner, Tanille Taylor. Tanille it was all going as planned for a while, but you had some difficulty late in the fight. Talk me through what happened there.”
Tanille: “Nah, it was just me giving the crowd something exciting. This opponent wasn’t going to go down for the count unless I hit her with a hammer, so I injected a little drama in the fight.”
Laila: “You got a bit carried away, I think.”
Tanille: “I had it all in hand.”
Laila thinks: The ego in this kid can barely fit in this solar system.
Laila: “Let’s go back to the early part of the fight – you really showcased the best of Tanille Taylor – is that what we can expect next time from you?”
Tanille: “Of course, that and more, Laila. I always bring excitement to the ring, but if they keep matching me with these girls that aren’t challenges, I’m just going to play around and see what happens. It’s all I can do to keep things entertaining.”
Laila: “What’s next for you. Do you want a rematch to prove you could handle Sonia Fox?”
Tanille: “Nah. I’m tired of this ‘slow build’ crap. I’ve got the talent to be the best, so I want the best. And I don’t care what weight class either. Hee Jung Park, Zohana Patel! I want one of you. You’re the old guard – I’m the young lion. And this lion wants to EAT!”
Laila: “You hardly have the ranking for such a fight.”
Tanille: “It’s all good. See, they know, and I know the fight game is about securing the bag – and there’s no bigger money fight in the division than against the undefeated American badass right here – Tanille Taylor. They’ll come to me. You watch. And if the fight doesn’t happen, you know its because they are scared.”
Laila: “A big call-out by Tanille Taylor! Tanille, its always good to see you in the ring. Next up we have our co-main event.”
Sonia thinks: All that and I don’t even get an interview?
Sonia is about to leave the ring when she feels a gentle touch on her shoulder. It’s Laila Ali.
Laila: “Hey. Sorry about that, but they only wanted me to interview her. It’s the business. They are in the Tanille business, not the Sonia Fox business.”
Sonia: “Don’t you think that’s unfair?”
Laila: “No one said it’s fun being a road warrior. But that’s the path you have to take if you don’t have a major promoter behind you. Just keep plugging away, and you’ll get your moment. People took notice of you today, that counts for something. This was a win for you.”
Sonia: “Thanks. I’ll keep grinding.”
Twitter reacts
The reaction from social media was swift, with various fighters in the top 5 of the rankings chiming in on the action, all of them praising Sonia Fox, and/or downplaying Tanille Taylor, in varying degrees.
As for the fighters specifically called out by Tanille. Well, they didn’t mince words either.
She may not have won the fight, but she did win the respect of fans and even some top quality boxers on social media! That is probably the most Sonia has ever wanted considering where she was before this bout. As for Tanille, someone saying they allowed themselves to look bad on purpose is never a good answer and now, it seems social media is calling the prodigy out as overrated instead of overachieving. I find the Kayleigh tweet the most interesting as that would be a cool fight to imagine! Two undefeated boxers and people want the both of them to lose. Opportunities might be available for the US champion than she initially thought, while Tanille struggles to make a clear case for a championship fight as she wants to rush the process instead of trusting it. This might make biased promoting of her by DAZN become buyers remorse later if Tanille is not careful.
Sonia got her moment on TV. It’s something. She proved that she’s not a pushover. You can tell she got some respect from her colleagues.
And Tanille’s not exactly getting the love from her colleagues. Can’t imagine she’s getting invited to too many fight camps. Sonia however? She seems like a tough fighter with some talent, thats the type of fighter you might want to have in camp with you.
Kayleigh v. Tanille? That could happen, I suppose, but Kayleigh’s got more ambition than taking on someone that isn’t quite highly ranked. Down the line? Could happen.
Wow so the bitch still wins and doesn’t even show any respect for her opponent either. And what’s worse Sonia doesn’t even get an interview at all.
Tanille really playing it off to add drama my fucking ass. I agree with Sonia if this was 10 rounds she would have definitely knocked her prodigy ass out. Even Tanille coach knows she should train more.
I do feel sorry for Sonia though, but it was nice to see Laily give her a compliment for a good fight, now if she keeps up with her training I’m sure she’ll become an even better fighter, she already had the strength and stamina to keep going for long rounds. Really hope we see her again soon ❤️
And maybe we will, even other boxers have respect and give her props for her fight, they all know she could have won that and Is the better fighter.
And what the fuck is she dumb?! She is no way in hell on Hee Jung or Zohanas level. Hell she’s not on any other fighters level. Everyone that complimented Sonia on social media could beat Tanille.
Now I’m actually pissed off even more that Emma lost to this fucking hype job 😤
And I can’t believe I’m gonna say this but as much as I want to see Kayleigh get knocked out, seeing her knock out Tanille would be pretty damn satisfying, it would satisfying if anyone did it.
But still crappy fight result for Sonia but she proved she was a better fighter and probably more people will know about her more ❤️ Looks like I have another favorite fighter to see in the ring again 😉
Also one more thing, who is the other fighter on social media? Don’t believe I’ve seen Wambui in action before or even seen her at all.
We have found someone more hated than Kayleigh. 😀
Tanille’s, frankly, a bit delusional. She thinks that talking big will get her the big money fights that she wants, but she’s really just burning a bunch of bridges. At least some people might pay to see her get beat up, lol.
Sonia learns that it’s a tough game – When you aren’t the fighter being showcased, the media won’t give you much credit. It sucks, but that’s unfortunately realistic.
The thing about Tanille, is that when she’s going full speed, she’s a heck of a fighter – she just lacks the commitment.
We will see Wambui shortly. Rankings update up next 😀
Yeah it’s weird, Kayleigh is over confident and undefeated as well, the only difference is that shes not as ridiculous as Tanille. And she actually does make the commitment in boxing.
Yeah Tanille is fast with her hands and what else, her fighting Zohana would be a stupid idea. This is the same girl that beat Alesia and that’s saying something cause Alesia is also a world champ and dangerous at that.
Looking forward to the Ranking update, but still hope V gets back in the ring soon to start winning
I want more than anything for someone to show Tanille that she’s anything but all that and a bag of chips! Especially since her ego is so inflated that it could float the fella’s house to South Africa in the Disney-Pixar film “Up”.
There might be a top tier fighter willing to risk their record against Tanille now. Before it was a bit risky, but now, it might be worth being the one that ends Tanille’s undefeated run.
I loved your analogy of Tanille’s ego 😀
As most expected, Tanille gets the result but Sonia earns a moral victory. Denied a rematch, she’ll have to find another way to improve her fortunes. Especially with the promoter and broadcaster not even giving her the chance to talk on the air.
Ouch 😆
Tanille has an internal narrative. Fighters need have to believe in themselves. Without confidence, there’s no way to become a champion and make real money. However, that mental state will make some slip towards denial when facing facts. That’s what she does when failing to recognise that she was perhaps one round away from getting knocked out by a fitter opponent.
While Tanille doesn’t see the facts, other fighters do.
Virani ‘The Snake’, Kayleigh ‘The Golden Girl’ and Wambui ‘Who’s that chick?’ all praise Sonia.
The ones who get called out are quick to point out that if you wanna face them, you gotta do 10 rounds. Hee Jung doesn’t even see Tanille as an opponent. Zohana says “let’s go” with the longest duration allowed, with the underlying promise to show how it’s done!
Questions for the future: How can Sonia capitalise on what she’s done on the night? Will Tanille listen to her coach or eventually join the graveyard of talents that didn’t make it due to lack of dedication?
Yep. A moral victory for Sonia, but she’ll have to suffer it alone. The TV time is for Tanille and Tanille alone.
Tanille’s got confidence, but she also has TOO much confidence at the same time. All she had to do in the postfight was say some stuff about how this was an off night and she’ll come back better. Instead she swings for the fences, and gets smacked down not by the boxing media that’s been supporting her, but by her colleagues, who have no time for the young upstart.
Man, can you even imagine Tanille vs. Zohana? Could be fun for a few rounds, but once Tanille ran out of steam it would not be pretty – Zohana is way more vicious and deadly than Sonia was.
Questions remain for both fighters – can Sonia parlay this moment into something substantial? And will Tanille heed the wake up call?