Post by BBU TV on Sept 22, 2016 17:09:25 GMT
Anna Woolhouse is the newest member of the BBU TV reporting panel and while she still adapts to the female celebrity boxing reality, here are her thoughts from the recent Girls Friday's trip to Sydney.
First thing that needs to be noticed is that Girls Friday send most of the new names on their roster to tackle the ACB-based fighters (former flyweight champion Emily Atack being the sole exception) while the local contingent was dominated by veteran girls who simply didn't enjoy much exposure lately and seemed happy to accept any challenge coming their way. One would have thought that Emily Browning would be making plenty of noise in both BBU & FCBA over the past two years but for whatever reason, she's probably the most underrated flyweight in Australia right now!
The fight card details:
EMILY ATACK vs ISLA FISHER
This was a good fight to open the card, Emily's a former champion but quite frankly, she's not even the top girl in her own stable anymore. She's survived the Girls Friday ownership change but playing the past champion card will only get her as far as this. Isla Fisher was never a top name in the ACB and aged 40, she probably went for the easy money. Sure enough, she looked all out of sorts after just one round and no wonder the Brit knocked her out before the second bell. A complete blow out which probably tells you more about how weak Isla is these days rather than how good Emily wants to be. A record-boosting score for the blonde but she's fooling no one with it! Even the PageThrees models would laugh off her performance given the chance!
Winner's grade: Emily Atack C+
IVANA BAQUERO vs EMILY BROWNING
No offense to what followed this flyweight clash but this was the Fight of the Night performance from both girls. Ivana's a new name in town but already pushed Jenna Coleman of all people like crazy on her BBU debut. Then she busted up Michelle Heaton in a stay-busy contest and now she managed to hurt - both mentally and physically - Emily Browning who's supposedly the top ACB name around the world. The girl has FCBA experience but the lenghty spell on the sidelines simply let her down against one of the most promising BBU rookies we've seen this year! If Emily fought the other Emily (see above), she would have won! But Ivana's poised to make a lot of noise in the near future and might threaten the Jenna Coleman title reign on this side of the Atlantic. Well done to both of these girls and while I'm sure Ivana will see plenty of action, I just hope Emily doesn't vanish from the face of the Earth for the next 12 months or something! BBU needs this girl to stay active!
Winner's grade: Ivana Baquero A
MAISIE WILLIAMS vs PENNY HIGGS
I just wonder if Maisie will be living off her victorious debut vs Emilia Clarke for the next five years or something? She's lost the rematch already and probably never knew who Penny Higgs actually is. And Higgs is one of the very few girls that beat up the AWUBA super bantamweight legend Dannii Minogue who herself caused havoc in the BBU flyweight division over the years. Plus Higgs is a pro dancer so she can avoid all the youthful leather rush Maisie would throw at her. Quite frankly I think the BBU is lucky Penny's not as active as some of the other girls from Down Under, she's 33 so not yet on the cougar side and well, if she ever decides to make a full run at the BBU title, she can turn some heads here in the UK! I wonder what's Ola Jordan doing these days? I think these two dancers match-up pretty darn well even though Ola gives away four inches in height!
Back to the fight, well, Maisie was always short-stacked against a woman who's taller than her and punches twice as hard! Penny doesn't get the full A mark only because she seemed a little lost on her comeback. But if she adds more fights to her record, she will be unstoppable! You've heard it here first!
Winner's grade: Penny Higgs A-
POPPY DRAYTON vs ZOE VENTOURA
Someone told me that Poppy and Olympia Valance will battle it out for the Girls Friday bantamweigt supremacy whenever Kaya Scodelario is poised to flirt with the FCBA. Ex-champ Clara Morgane is just a tad too old to make an impact like Poppy & Olympia anymore so it's gonna be fun watching these two fight for the Main Events in the future. Of course Valance got the nod this time but she was fighting in her home country after all. But back to Poppy, yes, her looks can deceive a person or two but not me! Those bubby faced creampuffs can spring a lot of upsets down the line and well, Ventoura was just another case of being ring-rusty on her comeback. Poppy didn't exactly steal the show Ivana Baquero-like but did more than enough to wear her older opponent down and duly knock her out. I'm just disappointed with Zoe, she was only a fraction above Isla Fisher here and a genuine no-show. I don't see a bright future ahead of her anymore (unlike Browning & Higgs).
Winner's grade: Poppy Drayton B
OLYMPIA VALANCE vs NATALIE IMBRUGLIA
I was stunned to learn that Imbruglia hasn't retired from the ring yet but she just might do that after this epic beating she took from Girls Friday's hottest bantamweight prospect! There was some grudge background between the two camps I'm not exactly familiar with, apparently Melbourne girls aren't that popular in Sydney but other than that Tara Moss seemed like a really nice girl when she fought Mel Sykes back in July. Is that all gone now? Someone needs to tell Tara that she made a cardinal mistake letting Natalie in on a bantam/light tweener like Olympia! Even though she's effectively a rookie, she still had plenty available to make Natalie's night one to forget and well, nobody should be surprised by the end result! Natalie might be best advised to stick to flyweights at this stage of her career but perhaps she can't make that weight anymore!
For the sake of Olympia's future I award her the KO of the Night Award and well, I hope to see her in the ring soon! But this time please make sure you're not picking off some cougar scrubs who should be long retired, okay (winks).
Winner's grade: Olympia Valance B+
GIRLS FRIDAY VS ACB FIGHT NIGHT PART 1 FROM SYDNEY: ROLL OF HONOR:
Fight Of The Night: Ivana Baquero Def Emily Browning TKO8.
Performance Of The Night: Ivana Baquero.
Knockout Of The Night: Olympia Valance (KO3 over Natalie Imbruglia).
With regards,
Anna Woolhouse
BBU TV Junior Reporter
First thing that needs to be noticed is that Girls Friday send most of the new names on their roster to tackle the ACB-based fighters (former flyweight champion Emily Atack being the sole exception) while the local contingent was dominated by veteran girls who simply didn't enjoy much exposure lately and seemed happy to accept any challenge coming their way. One would have thought that Emily Browning would be making plenty of noise in both BBU & FCBA over the past two years but for whatever reason, she's probably the most underrated flyweight in Australia right now!
The fight card details:
EMILY ATACK vs ISLA FISHER
This was a good fight to open the card, Emily's a former champion but quite frankly, she's not even the top girl in her own stable anymore. She's survived the Girls Friday ownership change but playing the past champion card will only get her as far as this. Isla Fisher was never a top name in the ACB and aged 40, she probably went for the easy money. Sure enough, she looked all out of sorts after just one round and no wonder the Brit knocked her out before the second bell. A complete blow out which probably tells you more about how weak Isla is these days rather than how good Emily wants to be. A record-boosting score for the blonde but she's fooling no one with it! Even the PageThrees models would laugh off her performance given the chance!
Winner's grade: Emily Atack C+
IVANA BAQUERO vs EMILY BROWNING
No offense to what followed this flyweight clash but this was the Fight of the Night performance from both girls. Ivana's a new name in town but already pushed Jenna Coleman of all people like crazy on her BBU debut. Then she busted up Michelle Heaton in a stay-busy contest and now she managed to hurt - both mentally and physically - Emily Browning who's supposedly the top ACB name around the world. The girl has FCBA experience but the lenghty spell on the sidelines simply let her down against one of the most promising BBU rookies we've seen this year! If Emily fought the other Emily (see above), she would have won! But Ivana's poised to make a lot of noise in the near future and might threaten the Jenna Coleman title reign on this side of the Atlantic. Well done to both of these girls and while I'm sure Ivana will see plenty of action, I just hope Emily doesn't vanish from the face of the Earth for the next 12 months or something! BBU needs this girl to stay active!
Winner's grade: Ivana Baquero A
MAISIE WILLIAMS vs PENNY HIGGS
I just wonder if Maisie will be living off her victorious debut vs Emilia Clarke for the next five years or something? She's lost the rematch already and probably never knew who Penny Higgs actually is. And Higgs is one of the very few girls that beat up the AWUBA super bantamweight legend Dannii Minogue who herself caused havoc in the BBU flyweight division over the years. Plus Higgs is a pro dancer so she can avoid all the youthful leather rush Maisie would throw at her. Quite frankly I think the BBU is lucky Penny's not as active as some of the other girls from Down Under, she's 33 so not yet on the cougar side and well, if she ever decides to make a full run at the BBU title, she can turn some heads here in the UK! I wonder what's Ola Jordan doing these days? I think these two dancers match-up pretty darn well even though Ola gives away four inches in height!
Back to the fight, well, Maisie was always short-stacked against a woman who's taller than her and punches twice as hard! Penny doesn't get the full A mark only because she seemed a little lost on her comeback. But if she adds more fights to her record, she will be unstoppable! You've heard it here first!
Winner's grade: Penny Higgs A-
POPPY DRAYTON vs ZOE VENTOURA
Someone told me that Poppy and Olympia Valance will battle it out for the Girls Friday bantamweigt supremacy whenever Kaya Scodelario is poised to flirt with the FCBA. Ex-champ Clara Morgane is just a tad too old to make an impact like Poppy & Olympia anymore so it's gonna be fun watching these two fight for the Main Events in the future. Of course Valance got the nod this time but she was fighting in her home country after all. But back to Poppy, yes, her looks can deceive a person or two but not me! Those bubby faced creampuffs can spring a lot of upsets down the line and well, Ventoura was just another case of being ring-rusty on her comeback. Poppy didn't exactly steal the show Ivana Baquero-like but did more than enough to wear her older opponent down and duly knock her out. I'm just disappointed with Zoe, she was only a fraction above Isla Fisher here and a genuine no-show. I don't see a bright future ahead of her anymore (unlike Browning & Higgs).
Winner's grade: Poppy Drayton B
OLYMPIA VALANCE vs NATALIE IMBRUGLIA
I was stunned to learn that Imbruglia hasn't retired from the ring yet but she just might do that after this epic beating she took from Girls Friday's hottest bantamweight prospect! There was some grudge background between the two camps I'm not exactly familiar with, apparently Melbourne girls aren't that popular in Sydney but other than that Tara Moss seemed like a really nice girl when she fought Mel Sykes back in July. Is that all gone now? Someone needs to tell Tara that she made a cardinal mistake letting Natalie in on a bantam/light tweener like Olympia! Even though she's effectively a rookie, she still had plenty available to make Natalie's night one to forget and well, nobody should be surprised by the end result! Natalie might be best advised to stick to flyweights at this stage of her career but perhaps she can't make that weight anymore!
For the sake of Olympia's future I award her the KO of the Night Award and well, I hope to see her in the ring soon! But this time please make sure you're not picking off some cougar scrubs who should be long retired, okay (winks).
Winner's grade: Olympia Valance B+
GIRLS FRIDAY VS ACB FIGHT NIGHT PART 1 FROM SYDNEY: ROLL OF HONOR:
Fight Of The Night: Ivana Baquero Def Emily Browning TKO8.
Performance Of The Night: Ivana Baquero.
Knockout Of The Night: Olympia Valance (KO3 over Natalie Imbruglia).
With regards,
Anna Woolhouse
BBU TV Junior Reporter
