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Post by realview on Jan 8, 2023 11:22:09 GMT
Real View Intro: Hello ladies and gentlemen; it has felt a lifetime since I did one of these. So hopefully I am not too rusty at this. I want to say a belated happy new year to all the wonderful BBU fans to start. Thank you for your support to the board.
Right so as always with our first show after awards season; we will be looking back over the last twelve months of the BBU. Seeing what the big headline stories of the divisions were and what marquee moments filled our screens. With drama aplenty in the celebrity boxing world. We will see what fun we had.
As usual we will break that down into four segments of three month intervals. So let's get this started.
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Post by realview on Jan 8, 2023 11:22:36 GMT
Part 1: January to March 22 As usual when we enter a new year. There felt a refreshing air to everything, feel that something big was going to happen. It wasn't too long before we got our first major bout of the year at the first PPV. Over the months leading up to it, two undefeated fighters were making sure the other knew they wanted a crack at breaking their streak. The fact the BBU bantamweight title was in the mix added to the tension. Sophia Thomalla had won the belt not too long before she took on Maisie Smith. You could feel the hate between them as this was a true grudge fights. As you can expect from two undefeated fighters, both boxed strong from the start. Back and forth action till late in the fight Sophia found answers to the aggression of her foe. Forcing a stoppage by the referee in the eighth to break Maisie's unbeaten run and her title challenge.
On the same card we also got the first fight involving a Diamond Elite Boxing stable member. The stable had caused a stir with its announcement as Tamara Ecclestone made it known that she wanted to rule the roost in the BBU. Cara Delevingne was sent out to bat first, beating the ACB lightweight champion Holly Valance in a non title affair. Still an impressive win that had Tamara excited, in the preceding months we also got the debut of Sophia Peschisolido. Along with a few other fighters.
February was a big month for the BBU. On the PPV alone we had Holly Hagan winning a shot at the flyweight title by beating Marnie Simpson. Olympia Valance retained her ACB bantamweight title, as Holly Peers won the BBU lightweight belt off Miranda Kerr and we got the so far unique JMDD bout between Kate Upton and Tamara Ecclestone. Both stepped into a barn and fought it out for pride.
It should be noted that over this period we also saw the debut of Bianca Atzei. Who by the end of March alone was five undefeated in her career. Of course those who saw our awards show know we picked her as our rookie of the year. 2022 saw one of the great rookie years with her in the BBU history. Expect this year to possibly see Bianca turn her success into gold.
March again was a hell of a month if you enjoy seeing title fights. Over the first three months of last year we had a lot of them. With five title fights on the March PPV! The big news from the event were Holly Hagan getting the BBU flyweight title off of Ivana Baquero's waist. In another loss for the Girls Friday stable their ACB bantamweight champion Olympia gave the belt up to Elisha Herbert in a stunning loss by knockout in the fifth.
We would be remiss not to finish off our first section if we didn't talk about the annual St. Patrick's Day brawl. Last year saw Nadia Forde and Laura Whitmore wage war before sharing a drink together. Nadia came out on top with a fifth round knockout. She was nice enough in victory to get Laura a consolidation drink to show no hard feelings for busting each other up with their bare fists. I wonder which two Irish beauties will get the call for this year's edition of the tradition.
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Post by realview on Jan 8, 2023 11:23:05 GMT
Part 2: April to June 22 After such a frantic start to the year. You'd think things would slow down, no they did not! With big drama in the JMD division to finish a very busy April off with Catalina Otalvaro winning the BBU diamond encrusted bra from Charlotte Church. Who probably wish the calender hadn't turned from 21 as she went from an impressive year holding two titles, ending up with none by April 22.
On the same event Holly Peers beat Yasmin Verheijen in a cracking scrap. By the end though Holly was firmly on top. Erasing doubts that her victory over Miranda Kerr to win the BBU lightweight belt was a fluke.
May would see Jorgie Porter kick things off by knocking out Lily-Rose Depp. Jorgie seemed like she would have a quiet year judging by starting with Lily-Rose. Well you can probably guess we are hinting that wasn't the case. No spoilers just yet from us.
The May PPV was another gluttony of title fights. Four in total headlined the card. None more so then the fight you the BBU fans voted as the fight of the year. Which saw Hailey Clauson finally show she was more then a bridesmaid, getting the spotlight firmly on her by defeating Kate Upton in a JMDD war to win the BBU title. The emotions were clear to see on Hailey's face. 2022 was firmly the breakout year for Clauson.
June started off with a mini stable war between the Lioness Club and Frankie's Foxes; as you can guess with a stable war. It was fought with plenty of passion from both sides. The Foxes would take arguably the upset win in the final bout when Jade Thirlwall defeated Mandy Capristo.
The big news coming at the end of the month after another hectic schedule saw a change at the top of the Welterweight division. Josephine Skriver would dethrone Karen Gillan to take the BBU title home. Finally defeating her frenemy to achieve her dream of winning a title.
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Post by realview on Jan 8, 2023 11:23:31 GMT
Part 3: July to September 22 Right away in July we got an upset, Lily-Rose Depp showed she was more then just a punch bag for the stars. Knocking out Nadine Coyle to the shock of many. Nadine probably even now wonders what happened that night.
Beyond that as always July is crossover month. Seeing ACB/BBU and FCBA fighters all going at it is a sight. Super fights over the month. One of the most personal fights saw two young guns who arguably could become the faces of their bantamweight divisions. Maisie Smith and Natalie Alyn Lind trash talked hard in the build up to what was a war. Natalie emerged victorious to return to the FCBA head held high but Maisie certainly gave her something to think about.
August was an interesting month with super fights and clashes that nobody probably thought would happen. Kate Upton and Rebecca Romijn fighting it out was probably in the second category. With them developing a feud after Kate had defeated Josephine Skriver in the FCBA the month before. The clash of two greats of their eras saw Rebecca hold her own against the nigh on twenty years younger Kate. In the end though Rebecca couldn't hold on as Kate blasted her out in brutal style.
On the super fight front we got a rare champion versus champion affair. Josephine defended her BBU Welterweight title against the ACB Welterweight champion Jesinta Campbell. It had a grudge element to it as Josephine had been the lone person to beat Jesinta. She doubled down on that fact to show she it wasn't a fluke the first time around.
September was certainly a month for traveling, in just the first two weeks there was action in Holland, Australia, Spain and of course the UK. There was a time where the BBU was basically based in only a few countries, now we are truly becoming a global affair.
On that months PPV we saw the brutal first round KO of Helena Mattsson by Valentina Fradegrada. Along with Jorgie Porter earning a BBU flyweight title bout by defeating long term rival and former stablemate Roxanne Pallett in a grudge match. While it was one of the rare events over the year where a title didn't change hands. With the year entering its home stretch.
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Post by realview on Jan 8, 2023 11:23:55 GMT
Part 4: October to December 22 In what was a relatively quiet month considering how busy the rest of the year was. October saw more hate fuelled fighting between long time enemies Jessica Schwarz and Alesha Dixon. Who headed to Germany after fighting the month previous. Jessica would come out on top of the battle of Hall of Famers. Leading to well.. go look up the bout for all the drama that unfolded there.
Due to issues that effected the October PPV; we actually got two PPV events in November. Starting on the first of the month with the big news being Jorgie Porter after over a decade of fighting in the BBU won the flyweight title from Holly Hagan. Both beautiful women stood their ground but Jorgie willed herself to victory.
While in the same month we got a very rare BBU defence in America, with the FCBA getting to see how great Hailey Clauson is when she defeated Hannah Ferguson to retain her BBU JMDD title in a cracking bout. If it were in the BBU it would have been a contender for fight of the year.
Then we finished the month off with Catalina Otalvaro defending her JMD title against Michelle Keegan. Michelle fought hard but couldn't last the pace. While I still think physically Michelle is undoubtedly one of the best pound for pound. Mentally with all the hardships in the ring she has faced. It is starting to get a little worrisome shall we say.
Now we are into December. As the lights went up from the world to celebrate the holidays. There was plenty of fireworks, along with plenty of gifts given in the form of fists over the period. Things certainly didn't slow down though.
The debut of Ivana Knoll being a big part of that. To think that the World Cup would create a star by her simply being in the stands and showing off her beauty. Ivana would lace up the gloves as I believe the first Croatian fighter in celebrity female boxing history. (Though I am happy to be corrected on that fact). She would defeat Ann-Katherin Brommel, Sayuki Matsumoto and Izabel Goulart in short order. Before like her football team she ran out of steam against Belen Rodriguez. Still expect Ivana to do big things in possibly both the lightweight and JMDD divisions, judging by the spotlight she has received, I also expect there to be plenty jealous of her success and being pushed as hard.
We have to finish on the bumper Boxing Day card. One of the biggest events of the calender year. It didn't disappoint with the quality of contests. All the three titles on the line were defended with arguably the biggest fight being Jorgie Porter and Cheryl Cole for the BBU flyweight title. Both stalwarts of the BBU meeting to settle a long held score. Jorgie defending her belt successful in another emotional moment for the bubbly blonde.
That's all we have time for folks. As always thank you to everyone who took the time to read these posts. We hoped that you enjoyed them. We can't wait to see how 2023 plays out here in the BBU!
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