Sweet revenge

From underdog to upperdog

Question marks are hanging over Sarita Waris’ head as she rises up from the stool to begin Round 3. She goes into the action trying to answer them with combinations.

The talented young Finn shows better fundamentals right away with sharp, accurate shots. Well aware of her opponent’s ability to knock chicks out, Melina Kaplan opts to protect herself. She feels the hard fists inside the blonde’s red gloves hitting her defense, with the occasional contact with the side of her head.

After a vicious three-punch combo to the head, Sarita sees Melina holding her hands up but the elbows aren’t tucked in. She digs in with a left to the abdomen. It crunches the German’s insides.

Esther: “Waris lands a thunderous body shot while trying to regain lost ground.”

Anna: “Kaplan is a little passive here. This is not a recipe for building on Round 2’s outcome. Bad habits are coming back.”

Sarita Waris Melina Kaplan 17-1
Sarita Waris Melina Kaplan 17-2
Sarita Waris Melina Kaplan 17-3

A few more seconds of that makes a temporary coach speak up.

Alesia: “COME ON. FIGHT BACK!”

The purplehead steps back momentarily to process the order. She figures that the best way forward is backward. Let Sarita use the momentum to commit before hitting back.

The girl in purple and white even offers a bait. She crouches a little, with her hands up, to invite the attack. The red and gold opponent comes in with a right hand meant at sweeping the chin. Melina pivots to the right and comes back in with a short, trailing right cross.

PISH! The application of purple leather, landing squarely, is felt as hard by the punchee’s jaw as the puncher’s knuckles.

Sarita Waris Melina Kaplan 18-1
Sarita Waris Melina Kaplan 18-2
Sarita Waris Melina Kaplan 18-3

Fight for time

Alesia: “SHE’S HURT! GO AFTER HER!”

Anna: “You heard the shout from ringside. Sarita Waris needs to buy a little time to shake it off.”

There’s just one thing. The market is closed. As soon as the Princess of Darkness tries to back away, The Ace throws herself forward to cause even more strain. While the first flurries are unsuccessful, they produce the desired result. Sarita fails to run away fast enough. With her opponent too close, she leans back in a desperate attempt to avoid an incoming right hook.

Too late. PAFF!

“Oh yes,” thinks Melina as she witnesses her opponent’s pain and hears cheers from around the ring.

Sarita Waris Melina Kaplan 19-1
Sarita Waris Melina Kaplan 19-2
Sarita Waris Melina Kaplan 19-3

New instinct

With a hurting starlet in front of her and a crowd egging her on, Melina discovers a cruel instinct she never had before. Not knowing what to do, Sarita missteps while turning the left and loses her balance.

All targets are exposed and the German can pick which one to hit. In a great position to unleash a left hook, she gets a little closer and lets it fly.

SMACK! Her gloved fist lands clean, in the jaw.

Esther: “Waris is drowning in deep waters! I’m not sure if this fight is going to get past the third round marker.”

Anna: “A brutal left hook delivered with full force by Kaplan’s knuckles. The hardest part of a human fist collided perfectly, from the proper angle.”

Sarita Waris Melina Kaplan 20-1
Sarita Waris Melina Kaplan 20-2
Sarita Waris Melina Kaplan 20-3

Extra mustard

Sarita begins her fall. Instead of throwing more punches desperately, Melina resets her position. She makes a full pivot to the right, plants her feet and twists from toes to glove to put her entire weight behind a short right hook.

Timing and placement come together to catch the blonde with an additional knuckle sandwich – with plenty of mustard in it.

PISH! The crowd goes wild at the sight of the inevitable knockdown.

Esther: “Scenes in Berlin! Melina Kaplan is giving Sarita Waris a beatdown!”

Anna: “What a reaction from Kaplan once she hurt her. Clinical.”

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Kaplan Kapow

Melina hurries to the neutral corner with the knowledge that the fastest referee in the Wild West isn’t the type to give long counts. The official faces the downed boxer and gets to work, dishing out the count in perfect sync with clockwork.

Akane: “One… two… three… four… five… six… seven… eight… nine…”

All the Finn can manage by that point is being on her knees and feeling dizzy.

Akane: “Ten. OUT!”

Esther: “The biggest upset of the year so far in women’s boxing has been scored! Melina Kaplan treats herself to a clean knockout against Sarita Waris. Anyone who put money on this pony got quite a ride, and a solid payout. Should that right hook have a name? The Kaplan Kapow?”

Anna: “My gawd.”

enlarge

A confused Sarita has Maxim tending to her. At the same time, a pair of happy Germans are celebrating.

Melina: “Woo hoo! What a feeling.”

Alesia: “What a finish, too. Congrats, babe.”

The winner takes her improvised coach captive into the tightest of hugs – without facing resistance. Victory gives you the freedom to do almost anything you like in a moment of joy.

Veronica: “At 1:57 in Round 3, we have a winner. By KNOCKOUT. A round of applause for Melina ‘The Ace’ Kapppppppplaaaaannnnnnn!”

The winner gets an ovation in return for a stunning performance.

Sarita Waris Melina Kaplan 23-1
Sarita Waris Melina Kaplan 23-2

A wish

The Box TV crew hits the ring for a little chat.

Esther: “Melina Kaplan. You just stopped a Top 5 contender to the Super Lightweight title. How does it feel?”

Melina: “What a night. Sarita hurt my feelings when making fun of me online. Revenge is sweet! She’s really good but the left hook to the liver in Round 2 damaged her pretty badly. You can’t fight great when you’re too hurt to put on the moves. That was the turning point and I was clinical to drop her again in Round 3.”

Esther: “What happened behind the scenes to explain this? Work on skills?”

Melina: “Of course. Alesia is the best fighter in the world and she knows how to pass knowledge on, but there’s a lot more to it. Ally made me feel important and capable. I had a sense of belonging to an elite boxing club, and solid sparring partners who made me stronger. Ally even got me this cool custom gear and I don’t want to take it off yet. She also set expectations for a result and told me clearly when I wasn’t delivering. All together, it gave me the strength to fight back hard and win. Stuff I wasn’t confident enough to do in the past.”

Esther: “Can you expect this relationship to continue?”

Melina: “We haven’t talked about that. Our job was winning the match, and she made no promises. Ally has her own career to pursue, but you know what? Thinking out loud. Working at Halmich Academy felt so perfect. I’d move to Munich next week if I were lucky enough to be picked up by the head coach. I guess I hope to have caught the eye of the big cheese! I’m allowed to dream, right?”

Esther: “After that demolition derby, I’d say so. Can you state your ambitions?”

Melina: “Someone from the elite gave me the chance and I showed something tonight. I’d like to build on it. I don’t think it’s a crazy wish, and I’m ready to put in the work.”

Sarita Waris Melina Kaplan 24

Embarrassment

Next is the defeated pugilist. She’s not about to have fun facing questions.

Esther: “Sarita Waris. A boxer that you insulted online stopped you within three rounds. Embarrassed?”

Sarita: “Huh… well. Yeah. I ridiculed her and she beat my ass. I can’t double down and say that it looks good. I have no other choice than offering an apology for the taunt. Sorry, Melina.”

Melina: “Apology rejected. She called me a no-hoper, so it means she got knocked out by a no-hoper. She’s in the rearview mirror.”

Esther: “What went wrong? Too much confidence?”

Sarita: “I’m still the most talented of the two. Let’s be clear about that! But she threw herself at me in the second round and I didn’t handle it well. That liver shot took my legs away. I wasn’t 100% after that. Not an excuse. That sort of punch is unforgiving.”

Esther: “What perception do you expect from the boxing world? You’ve had big wins but also spectacular losses in the last couple of years.”

Sarita: “People will think what they want, and I have no control over that. I have enough fights left in the contract to bounce back, and I’ll talk about the lessons to learn with my coach. Just gotta ride it out. I’ll be back and no, my personality won’t change. Haters gonna hate anyway.”

Sarita Waris Melina Kaplan 25

A little post-match tweet is in order for Melina.

retweet Retweeted by Alesia Schumann
Melina
Melina Kaplan
@melinafights
How it started…….. how it’s going ♤
Berlin
Twitter for Android
52 replies 434 retweets

In private, the bosses at Final Bell are chatting once again.

Veronica
The Schumann sisters… Wrestling a bear sounds like a better idea than to provoke them.
21:46
Heidi
Too wild. You can’t stop them. Melina popped up on the radar and this might be new business. She looked great and the crowd absolutely loved her. Regina?
21:51
Regina
Limited talent but Ally got a result out of her. Let me think about this, OK?
21:54
Heidi
You got a few days to make up your mind.
21:57

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Melina signing
Sarita Waris
Sarita Waris
Hailng from Salo, Finland, the “Princess of Darkness” has knockout power, supreme belief that she is the best and a remorseless bad girl attitude.
Melina Kaplan
Melina Kaplan
A sweetheart from Weimar, Germany, who has gone from journeyman to a prospect at Super Lightweight.