Mutual retribution

Thea Karras builds a lead against Emma McGale

Fresh off getting advice from their corners, it’s time for hostilities between Emma McGale and Thea Karras to resume in the second round.

Thea fights with confidence, having settled into this well. She stays on the front foot to deny Emma chances to get into the areas where she is the most dangerous. When Emma tries to slide in and get into close contact with Thea, the social media starlet does everything she can to prevent The Peach from getting to the territory that she has the advantage in.

As Emma goes low to move inside, Thea also steps in to meet her, but she uses her larger frame to lean on top of Emma, using her weight to make sure Emma can’t do so much as even throw a punch.

That sort of action draws the ire of referee Victoria James, who is keen not to allow Thea to gain an advantage through illegal means.

Victoria: “Break! Thea! No leaning on her!”

Laila: “Karras’ gameplan to deal with Emma inside appears to be simply to shut her down before she can even get going. Victoria James isn’t going to let her just lean on Emma, though, which will come as music to her ears. She needs to keep on the grind.”

Thea keeps the momentum during the second round, unleashing the creative offence and quick hands to keep Emma guessing where the next salvo of leather is coming from.

Thea’s cleverness and quick feet gives her excellent angles from which to attack. The Greek fighter keeps Emma busy with a couple of light attacks to the head and then shifts her weight to throw a punishing right hand to the ribs of Emma.

Having not expected the blow, Emma tries to cover up but the punch avoids her guard and the impact makes her groans in pain.

Laila: “Karras has Emma on the back foot and she’s mixing her punches well, light punches mixed in with heavier punches to have The Peach never completely sure what is coming next.”

enlarge

Emma’s aware that this round isn’t really going all that well, and although she’d like to change the momentum of the round, she’s also wary that taking a risk may lead to getting caught with something heavier.

Thea comes forward, unloading some quickfire punches, and Emma leans back to avoid the first part of the salvo. Thea keeps coming forward and is able to connect with a right hand as Emma simply runs out of ability to bend away from the punch. It’s not a super clean connection as Thea is just about able to reach at full extension, and Emma is moving away from the punch, but it’s a connection nonetheless.

Laila: “McGale is finding out why 12 others have fallen to defeat at the hands of Thea Karras. She’s an uncompromisingly quick and creative fighter that can put you on the back foot and keep you there with ease.”

Emma’s patient with her boxing in the second round. She knows Thea is setting the pace, so she tries to disrupt and work on getting Thea’s timing down.

After Thea slows for a moment after launching a couple of combinations, Emma senses her time to strike. She throws a soft jab and then steps into a huge overhand right. Thea, unexpectedly flatfooted against the sudden attack, gets caught by Emma’s red glove catching her clean. Sweat flies from the head of the Greek fighter as the biggest punch of the fight so far lands.

Laila: “Big shot there from McGale! She hasn’t been very active this round, but she’s traded quantity for quality and Thea is clearly a little shaken from that shot. A big message sent by The Peach. Karras isn’t laughing that punch off.”

enlarge

Thea’s certainly rattled, but the undefeated Las Vegas native is more than canny enough to escape the rest of the round mostly unscathed.

Emma thinks: Lucky girl, I had you seeing stars.

Thea thinks: There’s that power. I don’t want to be on the other end of that.

Round 3

The third round begins. The feeling out process is truly over and done with. Each boxer knows what she’s dealing with when it comes to the opponent.

Having not clearly won a round so far, Emma feels the need to put pressure on the undefeated local girl. Thea’s defensive instincts and strong footwork manage to keep the aggressive Peach at bay, despite her best efforts.

Though she carries the action, she can’t quite get the big punch that would continue her momentum from the last round. She does come close on occasion – catching Thea backpedalling – but the Greek fighter manages to use her shoulder and her body positioning to negate what could have been a decent impact of Emma’s red gloves.

Laila: “Karras is under pressure but handling it fairly well. This has been a very good test for the undefeated Karras, and outside of a couple of moments, I’d say she’s controlled the majority of the fight. McGale isn’t going away, though.”

With Emma trying to get in close and land hooks, the two end up engaging in close quarters combat. Thea embraces the challenge of fighting Emma in the area where she’s the strongest. The two ladies get up close and personal, and although Emma is stronger, she is constrained by an active Thea Karras who gives as good as she gets and doesn’t shy away from the tough stuff.

She even gives Emma a taste of her own medicine by using her own shoulder to disrupt the interior scrap. All Emma can do is hang on and get the referee to force a break.

Sandra: “No hold, Emma! You’ve got to keep working!”

Laila: “Karras doesn’t seem afraid of getting in there with Emma McGale. Although she’s probably gotten away with a little bit on the inside, that’s pretty much par for the course. Emma might have finally found someone who is capable of standing her ground against The Peach, who has been dominant in close in her last few fights.”

The Uppercut

As the last 15 seconds of the round approach, Emma finds herself backed into the ropes after blocking a few jabs from Thea. The Greek fighter takes advantage of the small hesitancy, shifting her weight and throwing a powerful uppercut. Thea’s fist meets Emma’s chin and the number two ranked Super Featherweight’s head is jolted upwards from that crisp uppercut.

Laila: “Karras caught McGale with a crunching uppercut. She put McGale under her spell with some slow jabs and then shifted into a quick punch that caught Emma totally flush. McGale has struggled with the uppercut, especially against Mechelle Gauthier.”

enlarge

Emma thinks: That one caught me good. I’m hurt.

Emma’s not quite ready to go down, but her senses are a little scrambled after that uppercut. The Peach circles away, but not fast enough to get away from a very interested Thea Karras who wants to continue to put the hurt on perhaps for an early knockdown or even a finish.

Under pressure, Emma weaves in the ropes with her guard up as Thea tries to throw head shot after head shot. White gloves collide into red gloves, but none make convincing contact with the reeling English-Canadian.

With seconds remaining, Thea shifts her aim and throws a wicked right hook that punishes Emma’s ribs. Landing in a similar are as Thea’s excellent punch from the second, this punch also draws a pained groan from Emma.

With time ticking away, there’s not nearly enough time for Thea to capitalize on her success of the last few seconds in any meaningful way.

DING!

Laila: “An intense end to the round as Karras had McGale on the ropes both literally and figuratively. The Peach will be happy for the rest and respite.”

Emma is relieved to hear the bell and makes her way back to her corner. Thea gives a small shake of her head before heading to hers.

Thea thinks: I should have done more there. I got her good.

Thea’s corner

Darius: “Good work in there. That could be 3-0 rounds for you, or it could be 2-1 for you. Either way, exactly what we wanted to do.”

Thea: “Thank you. Had her hurt there at the end, too.”

Darius: “You could have done more damage, but you don’t have the patience. You had to be clinical, but you just fired away. That might have gotten a stoppage in your first fights, but here the referee is not going to be stopping it unless you are landing clean. You weren’t.”

Thea: “I got too excited.”

Darius: “Okay, we’re still building a lead here – I need you to keep doing it. I don’t think she’s going to take this laying down.”

Thea: “Though she will be laying down on the canvas.”

Darius: “Only if you listen to me.”

Thea: “From your mouth to my fists.”

Emma’s corner

Sandra: “You good?”

Emma: “Yeah. She hurt me with that uppercut and my legs went a bit.”

Sandra: “Pardon me for asking, but how the fuck do you have shoulders like that and get bullied inside by that scrawny chick. Those muscles for show only?”

Emma: “Fuckā€¦y”

Sandra: “You know, I don’t want to hear from you right now, so I’ll just keep talking. I want you to start using the tools and techniques we spent that last few weeks working on. Get inside, and make it hard for her. You’re letting her be a princess in there. I want this to be ugly on the inside – she fouls you to keep you from getting momentum – you foul her back. Push her, grab her, hit her in the back of the head. Anything to let her know she’s in a fight!”

Emma: “Okay.”

Sandra: “And if you are going to take a punch to land one of your own, you have to commit. Otherwise, you’ll get hit and get nothing back, and that’s a shit trade. Okay? We need to start winning rounds, so get on it, Ms. McGale.”

Emma: “Yes, Ma’am”

Previous post

Next post

Emma McGale
Emma McGale
A self admitted boxing nerd and friend of Virani. Especially powerful and dangerous working from in close Super Featherweight contender.