Helen George vs Nicola Roberts

Helen George vs Nicola Roberts
(Frankie's Foxes vs Lioness Club)
(4-1, 4 KO vs 12-15, 10 KO)
Results: BBU; Story: Vassago

BEFORE: Bantamweight title picture remains very crowded but Helen George has proven she can be ruthless enough to steal all the elite headlines in her own right. If only she had beaten Nadia Forde twelve months ago; that was the one that got away! It's redemption time for the blonde Brummie tonight as she targets the very popular Nicola Roberts who might not threaten entering the divisional title anytime soon but remains one of the best gatekeepers around the league. 

Helen has made a name for herself as a dangerous swarmer but Nicola owns the supreme experience and has seen plenty of these "cocky bytches who are loud and not much else". It's not exactly reality TV levels here with George but she truly wants to become the first ever BBU champion from the Foxes stable - now that Jade Thirlwall's flyweight challenge has stalled - and she plans to achieve that goal any which way possible! Pre-fight arrogance is just a part of the whole package!

Helen George wears a light blue sports bra with black trim, black hotpants and white gloves. Long blonde hair tied in a braid. Nicola Roberts wears a red sports bra, white hotpants and black gloves. Long auburn shade hair in a loose bun at the back of her head. The fight is scheduled for ten rounds in the bantamweight division.

Round 1:
Helen eyes a swift destruction of the redhead and gallops into her stride from the early going however Nicola stuns with a counter-punching route and withstands the quick fire assault from the charging blonde. Helen struggles with precision as she tries to smack Nicola up the middle only to find the singer's guard holding fort. Moreover she gets picked off to the body which allows Nicola to stretch her elbows in a spell of sustained pressure while Helen wobbles onto her heels and fails to resume the aggressive drill while swinging from the back foot. Nicola doesn't own the devastating punch and settles into tracking the actress down into the corner where she hauls in more promising body shots to underline her batter than expected performance.

Rounds 2 & 3:
This is Helen's first fight of the season and since Nicola isn't about to fold like a drunken tart here, the lack of regular action appears to be hurting the blonde's execution. She keeps bouncing off the singer's high guard and comes in a split second late for every connection... Nicola easily enforces the mid-range stance during each of the two rounds and prefers to rack up the numbers instead of seeking that one-punch haymaker difference. That was never going to work due to lack of outright power supply but she frustrates the blonde a lot with supreme footwork that George cannot match. Helen gets a little careless while trying to stun the redhead in close range but eats a cross hooking menace over the top and remains stranded in mid-distance with Roberts dancing around her almost untouched.

Round 4:
Helen blows her gasket and delivers the aerial strike that almost catches Nicola out cold within the initial tangle. A booming hook skims off the ear but Helen stills finds her target when she buries a right hook in the singer's chest which renders her breathless and finally available for close range domination. That was George's plan all along here but she gets a little careless now that she has Roberts in her sights... she reels her onto the ropes but the jabbing drive still bounces off the forearms too often and even a spooked Nicola escapes her foe along the ropes showing her supreme mobility - or lack thereof from the Brummie girl. Roberts manages to avoid this close range trap but only cuts thin air in her response while George hassles her down all over the place albeit without any meaningful success.

Round 5:
This is one for the purists now as Nicola's dominant mobility finally forces Helen into changing her tactics. She can't smoke the singer away through a power supply blast so she tries to please the judges with some fancy action and a display of arrogance. She dances around the redhead with her gloves glued to her waist alas Nicola will never fall for that trick so the action slows right down and Denise van Outen wonders whether the Foxes actually have a plan here how to overcome the singer's stubborn defense? Because if plan "A" was to hit it hard and plan "B" to hit it even harder - none of that stuff has worked for Helen thus far and it's a miracle she hasn't tried some dirty tricks by now. Maybe that lenghty spell on the sidelines plays a bigger role than all the pundits expected? Whatever the case, it's Nicola who then lands a proper double combo on the jaw late as the sleepwalking pace caught George off guard right at the bell.

Round 6:
Helen's visibly annoyed as we begin the second half of this bout but she finally breaks through with steady jabs to leave Nicola ducking away from the punches rather than actually throwing them. The former Girls Aloud member gets outworked in the center of the ring and for once makes a bad turn as Helen rips a left cross on the nose which makes the redhead squeal in pain. Another big shot catches her on the jaw and wobbles onto her heels which allows the Brummie blonde to cash in with a left/right combo on each temple. Nicola trips backwards again and fails to escape a vicious hook on the nose that dumps her onto the ropes. Helen leaps right at her and dissects the earmuff cover as Nicola's unable to trade strikes in slugging fashiona and gets trapped underneath the heavy onslaught wholesale. She swivels on her feet back & forth whereas George runs riot with the head-hunting assault and tears a small cut under the left eye deep into the final minute to underline her best three minute spell of the night yet!

Round 7:
Nicola reverts back to her footwork forte but seems a little sluggish now and fails to escape Helen's high-octane jabbing effort that opens up the holes through the middle. George connects with the singer's jaw to glue her to the spot before a rare shot to the liver catches her completely off guard. Ugh! Nicola tries to clinch the charging blonde but eats an uppercut drive on the jaw moments before Helen swings one from the hip to burst a hook into her mouth proper... AND DOWN GOES ROBERTS!! She couldn't embrace this series anymore and Helen yells out at Lioness coach Mel B. who pounds the turnbuckle in frustration. Nicola has had a hard time recovering from knockdowns before and she looks a bit hollow in the eyes when she gets up at eight. Helen jumps straight at her and dismantles the high guard with ease throttling the aching singer back to the ropes where she digs deep into her midsection to fold the redhead into spasms... Add a couple of nasty uppercuts on the jaw and Nicola goes all fish-tailing here which allows the blonde to blast one last hook on the right brow ridge... ROBERTS GOES DOWN AGAIN and this time she slumps against the ropes with her eyes closed so the ref waves off the count at five already! KO7 Helen George!!!

AFTER: The Foxes' bantamweight title hopeful took some time before delivering the power supply but once she did, Nicola's troubled punching resistance got quickly exposed. No wonder Helen's manager, Frankie Cocozza grins like a Cheshire cat in the VIP lounge! Helen gloats for a moment over the fallen Nicola but admits to Denise van Outen that wasn't her best performance by any means: "I know Helen Flanagan will laugh at this but I don't care! I hope she beats that Polish tramp next month so we can decide just which one of us is the superior Helen around this league! There's no place for the two of us and boy, I look forward to punching those saggy tits of hers soon! Wish me luck!" (giggles).

Kimberley Walsh on twitter: "Stupid blonde hoe! It's not over!!!" #GirlsAloud #LionessRule #HelenGeorgeSux

Final result: Helen George def. Nicola Roberts KO7.