A back and forth round comes to a brutal conclusion

Takara Oshima rises slowly from her stool at the start of the round.

Takara thinks: I have to get at her, hurt her and finish her quickly. I don’t know if I can take one more clean punch. I still believe.

Emma thinks: Pick your spot, but let’s get her out of here.

With two fighters looking to perhaps end the fight in this round, it’s no surprise that the fireworks come early.

The breakthrough comes from the more desperate fighter. After a bit of an awkward exchange in the middle of the ring, Takara is the first to react and her right hand beats Emma’s left hand to the punch. Red leather collides solidly with the chin of Emma – the best punch Takara has landed in some rounds.

Laila: “There’s a punch out of nowhere! Oshima caught McGale flush! McGale might be hurt!”

The Featherweight champion of Canada is indeed wobbled and the Japanese fighter unleashes everything on Emma, trying desperately for a stoppage that she clearly needs to win the fight. Emma fades into the ropes as the onslaught goes on.

But Emma’s guard remains tight. She won’t allow Takara to land that next hurting punch that would really put her in trouble. Takara’s best shot is a good punch to the body, which does fold Emma a bit, but the Peach endures.

Laila: “Oshima is really going for it! She’s got McGale in the ropes and she is firing away. Nothing seems to be getting through and Oshima is missing a lot more than she is hitting.”

Tables Turned

The barrage from Takara fades away. The Japanese fighter has taken too much damage during the fight to maintain a high tempo for too long. She tried to get the finish, but she could not.

Emma thinks: Now’s my chance, she’s breathing hard.

Emma gets off the ropes and grabs on to Takara. She uses her strength and momentum to turn Takara into the ropes, reversing their earlier position.

Laila: “Clever from McGale! She escapes Oshima’s barrage. ‘The Love Muffin’ looks a bit tired in there, can ‘The Peach’ take advantage of a punched out opponent?”

With Takara now against the ropes, Emma goes to work. An exhausted Takara tries to punch her way off the ropes – her legs just simply don’t have the energy to escape the ropes easily.

All that just makes her an easy target for Emma, who is patient and calm as she looks to find that finishing punch or punches.

A quick jab that lands on Takara shows how faded the Japanese fighter appears to be.

Emma thinks: She’s totally ready to go. Just need that one punch.

Sandra: “Attack!”

Emma needs little encouragement. She piles on the pressure, firing a few weaker punches to get Takara to react and put it in her head that she needs to escape. The Japanese fighter knows that she needs to get out of the corner and back to the middle of the ring. She decides to try to sneak out to the left. Wrong move.

Emma’s right hand looks to the tired Japanese warrior as a punch to the body, so that’s what she protects. Emma’s sweeping right hook was always destined for Takara’s head and that is what it connects with. Her head snaps around with the power of the Paffen powered right fist.

PAFF!

Laila: “Massive punch from McGale! She got every bit of that one!”

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That right hand is too much for the beleaguered Oshima. The lights go out almost immediately, and her legs lose strength. The canvas is the clear destination. But being tangled up with the ropes gives Emma one more chance to leave her mark on the former world challenger, catching her under the chin and snapping her head back.

Sandra thinks: This girl needs a more vicious nickname than ‘The Peach’ she’s a natural finisher.

Laila: “McGale gets in another shot as Oshima goes down!”

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Down Hard

Completely out of it, Takara tumbles nearly out of the ring, coming to rest on the small section of the ring outside of the ropes. Her left leg remains strung over the bottom strand of the rope. Takara is in a sorry state as she finally comes to rest.

Emma raises her hands high as she prepares to go to the neutral corner. She knows this one is over, but she savours one last look at her downed opponent.

Emma thinks: She’s completely gone, wow.

Laila: “Oshima almost falls out of the ring! I think she’s out!”

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Referee Monique Deschamps may make odd decisions from time to time, but not this one. This one is straightfoward. Takara is down and she is not moving.

Monique: “She’s OUT.”

Laila: “There will rightly not be a count, and McGale has brutally KO’d Takara Oshima here in Round 7. Wow, talk about a total statement win from a fighter. McGale was a class apart from Oshima, who had her moments but got her lights turned out in absolutely thunderous fashion by Emma McGale.”

Emma climbs the turnbuckle in the neutral corner and lets out a yell of delight.

Emma: “YESSSSSSSS!”

Emma thinks: Fuck yes, this feels great. What a win! I knocked a former world title challenger clean out!

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