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Post by realview on Nov 26, 2020 16:45:32 GMT
Real View Special edition Hello ladies and gentleman, on Tuesday the first round of the BBU welterweight number one contenders tournament kicked off, we review each fight here on a special edition of the Real View.
Now of course there will be spoilers, so we advise you if you haven't read the fights themselves to go do so, they are fun bouts and we will be talking about the fighters, the way the fights went, etc.
This is what we will have on the show: *Melissa Satta vs Natasha Barnard* *Leah Francis vs Nicola Mimnagh* *Emma Frain vs Alina Vacariu* And *Rozanna Purcell vs Vogue Williams*
Remember the last Real View of the year will be this Sunday, keep your eyes open for the latest BBU PPV that will celebrate the ten year anniversary of the BBU.
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Post by realview on Nov 26, 2020 16:46:48 GMT
Part 1: Melissa Satta vs Natasha Barnard The first quarter final bout saw the Italian stunner Melissa Satta and South African Natasha Bernard took on each other, Melissa was the tournament favourite as a former title challenger herself, Natasha though was the one in better form going into the fight beating Amy Willington last year.
Neither spoke much to the media in the build up, keeping their heads down in training knowing they were in for a tough time, shown when they looked each other over just before the opening bell.
Both kicked off things on the front foot, strong jabs smacking into cheeks as they moved around the ring, Melissa showed her skill set off with her upper body movement, beautiful combos slowly building up as the round went on.
After that Natasha would kick off strong, the opening minute of round two and three saw Bernard pushing her back, Melissa though caught her out with a hook that allowed her to show her dominance, leading to Natasha being put down late in the third with a beautiful hook.
While Natasha did get up, two rounds later she was put down for the count, hooks battered the face of Bernard as Melissa showed her no mercy, with that Melissa advances to the semi finals looking in good shape.
For Natasha of course this was a painful lose, not just physically as she had prepared hard but wasn't ready it seems for the step up in competition, her biggest flaw seems to be her boxing IQ as she didn't read Melissa's attacks well enough to protect herself.
For Melissa well she has the added pressure of the number one tag in the tournament, so far she looks like she can handle it, she seems the most complete fighter in the event but at this level one punch could take everything away from her.
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Post by realview on Nov 26, 2020 16:48:17 GMT
Part 2: Leah Francis vs Nicola Mimnagh This was the most anticipated fight going into this round, both women had made it known they wanted each other, the bad blood was on show with both making it clear they aimed to knock the other out cold.
Form wise Leah arguably was heading into the tournament with the best run of results, some absolutely brutal knockouts to her name as she came in full of confidence that she would be the one coming out of top of this event.
For Nicola, well a more mixed set of results, she is seen as one of the best pure boxers in the tournament, while not massively experienced in terms of actual fights, as someone who has boxed since being a teenager, she has the tools to be a force in the division if she could put it all together.
While Leah gamely came out in the opening three rounds looking to take the fight to Nicola, she found herself by the end of those rounds getting pounded back as she wasted too much punches on arms of her opponent or worse, simply hitting thin air with wild hooks.
The discipline shown by Nicola in those rounds was beautiful to watch, with her hard work seemingly starting to pay off as she put down Francis for a count of five in the fourth by a double jab followed by a left hook clean on the jaw.
But never count out the tough English lass Leah, who maybe in a preview of Euro 21 when England face Scotland, the Scottish fighter had thrown everything at her, Leah though kept on coming and coming, till shockingly the tables started to turn around.
Liver shots took some of the fight out of Nicola, before in round seven she was turned around by a hard right hook across her face, down went Mimnagh like a sack of spuds to the canvas, where she started shockingly down for the count in a hell of a come from behind win for Francis.
Who is has to be said has a feel of a certain "Bronze Bomber" she has that one punch knockout power to frighten the daylights out of any opponent, there are question marks on her boxing ability as she doesn't really create openings herself, she needs opponent's to come at her to really score those power punches.
For Nicola she will be stewing at home, this was a great chance to further her career, she looked sublime through the opening five rounds, problem is as we all know that it's how the fight ends that matters, for all her hard work it led to simply pain.
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Post by realview on Nov 26, 2020 16:49:33 GMT
Part 3: Emma Frain vs Alina Vacariu Emma Frain was an interesting entree to the tournament, debuting in a high stakes affair against the hard hitting Alina Vacariu had pundits talking, wondering if we could be in for a shock as not much was known about the rookie.
The biggest thing we knew about her is that she is friends with Leah Francis, the two had been sparring in the build up, with an interesting story being what would happen if those two met in the final?
For Alina she couldn't care about anyone's friendships, this was purely about her proving herself the dominant up coming force in the welterweight division, she has had a hell of a year showing up in the BBU and FCBA as she is truly in demand.
As they started fighting, it looked a little like Emma wasn't taking the fight that serious when she hit Alina across her boobs, grinning as she stepped back, Alina looking all business as she simply battered Emma back to finish that round.
It must have started to dawn on Frain when Vacariu put her down in the second with a right straight into her stomach, the English fighter was up at seven but was looking rattled as Alina was simply bashing her right up the middle of her guard.
As you can guess the fight didn't last much longer in the third, Emma was beaten around the ring till another right to the body had her sobbing on her knees, not bothering to beat the count as she looked relieved not to be under assault any longer.
It is hard to tell how good Emma is since she debuted against one of the best welterweights in the world at the moment, problem I have was she looked like she lost focus easy, learning quickly why that is a mistake as Alina simply beat her like a drum.
For Alina you can call it a nice warm up for the remainder of the tournament, she has the skills to win it all, right now for me her and Melissa are the final two I see, though Leah and the winner of the next fight we are about to discuss with have something to say on the matter.
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Post by realview on Nov 26, 2020 16:50:33 GMT
Final Part: Rozanna Purcell vs Vogue Williams A rematch between these two Irish beauties was always likely to come, the fact it was in this tournament added some extra spice, these two simply do not like each other one bit.
In their first fight Rozanna was frankly schooled by the older Vogue, taken off in brutal fashion by Vogue in just four rounds, Rozanna was of course making the claim that she had vastly improved since then, only one way to find out right?
It was deju vu at the start, with Vogue simply outboxing Purcell with sniper like punches, Vogue's hand speed has always been her main weapon, it was looking like it might have been the different again.
But Rozanna to her credit had been studying Vogue, shown by her counter punches as she read the attacks of Williams, pounding her straight through her guard by pinpoint punches of her own.
Then switching gears in the third, seeing her punched hurting her bitter rival as Vogue simply couldn't handle the pressure coming at her, a right hook made her kiss the canvas for an eight count.
Things got infinitely worse in the fourth as Vogue couldn't slow down the Rozanna charge, with Vogue being sent down this time out as a light by another clean right hook that nearly turned her right around.
It was a nasty finish for Vogue, who had some pundits hinting she should retire, I think it is a little soon for that but she needs to sit down with coaches to discuss frankly what is going wrong because she hasn't improved since beating Rozanna, as if she thought she had made it with that one win.
For Purcell well she has a tough semi final ahead of her against Alina Vacariu, that should be an interesting clash as they match up well in my eyes, Alina will be the favourite but Rozanna will be tough to beat.
Our favourite for the tournament is Melissa, I think she beats Leah with her superior boxing and her own hard punches, she seems the best all rounder left in the field, though any of the four could be facing Damaris Lewis for the BBU welterweight title any day soon.
That's all we have time for folks, we hope you enjoyed our posts, thank you so much for taking your time to read them, we will be back for the official show on Sunday, so keep your eyed peeled for that as it will be our final edition of the year.
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