Building Blocks

Laila Ali hosts Women’s Boxing Wrapup with a quick update from all the goings around in the Featherweight division. As usual, watching from home is Virani MacVicar and Emma McGale.

After recapping some of the more prominent divisions, Laila turns her attention to the Featherweights and Super Featherweights.

Laila: “First up, we have a continental clash as American champion Sonia Fox takes on the Australian champion Vicky Groves in a contest of champions down under.”

Emma: “Vicky’s still going. Good for her.”

Virani: “She draws decent crowds down there, I bet she does okay. Probably took this long to recover from you knocking her senseless.”

Emma: “Yeah, that was a good knockout, wasn’t it.”

Virani: “Remember when you used to be nice?”

Emma laughs.

Laila: “In what was a crowd pleasing eight-round fight, it was Sonia Fox who started the stronger, working well in close range with the tenacious Aussie fighter.”

Laila: “Groves tried to stage a comeback in the second half of the fight, and she did have her moments. But as has become a trend for the hardworking Sonia Fox, she kept up a solid pace and that eventually wore down Vicki Groves. She finished the seventh and eighth rounds strong, claiming a clear decision on the judges’ scorecards.”

Virani: “Sonia’s a fighter to avoid. She can take a punch and she is in great shape – she can go on to the very end.”

Emma: “She kind of reminds me of me. Just lacking a little bit of something special.”

Virani: “She’s not as cute as you?”

Emma: “I was going to say I have better coaching.”

Storm Rising

Laila: “Next up we have a prospect on the rise as Leanne Storm faced off against Jessimin Reed.”

“It was a tight contest for the first few rounds, but in the fifth, Storm staggered Reed with a right hand and wasted no time in finding the finishing punch, a scything left hook that found a home on the American’s chin.”

Laila: “Reed hit the canvas hard after taking heavy shots from Storm, who has been establishing herself as quite a power puncher through in her rise through the ranks.”

Virani: “She’s a puncher, but she’s not one dimensional. You have some similarities.”

Emma: “I wish I had hair like that.”

Virani: “I meant in the ring…”

Emma thinks: Good job, sis.

Laila: “Reed showed great heart by getting off the canvas, but there was no indication that she was in shape to defend herself and referee Clarissa Starling made the right call in waving the fight off.”

Virani: “Poor Jessimin. Good boxer, but absolutely no chin.”

Emma:Carla Flores and Tanille Taylor and now Leanne. Yeah, she can’t last against good fighters.”

Virani: “And people say I have a mediocre chin.”

Emma: “Well, you have been knocked out several times.”

Virani: “Let’s not compare.”

Lightning Strikes

Laila: “Our last match from Featherweight was a matchup of two ladies who desperately needed a win as Renee Heroux traveled to England to take on Sybil Graves.”

Emma: “Can both of these ladies lose?”

Virani: “Renee looks like a stick figure, and Sybil is just a nightmare. I agree, I hope they both lose.”

Laila: “Sybil started early with good pressure, but the bombs from Graves never really found the mark to shake Heroux, as the Lightning Wolf showed unexpected grit against the feisty Brit. This was for some, an unexpected result for some who had completely written off Heroux.”

Laila: “The Lightning Wolf took over by the middle rounds, showing off the fast hands that she’s been known for in her undefeated streak. The Frenchwoman didn’t allow a brawl to take place and she was outlanding Graves very clearly, using her height and reach to dominate the affair.”

Virani: “Yeah, but if Sybil ever did connect, she’d probably send Renee down. Remember her against Michaela Sommer? Sad performance.”

Emma: “Is it so easy to go up against Michaela?”

Virani: “I seem to manage okay. Two and 0, baby!”

Laila: “And as the fight hurtled towards a conclusion, we saw the Heroux that racked up a big knockout rate while fighting in France. The long levers of Heroux saw her land some brilliant power punches from a distance. Graves was rattled late in the fight, but she held on to the hear the final bell. Heroux stops her slide towards obscurity and seems like she has revitalized her credibility. Graves seems like she will be a gatekeeper for the division, at best.”

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Laila: “Now moving on to the Bantamweight division…”

Virani: “That’s my cue to exit.”

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