Saldano vs. Rodriguez - Queens of the Ring

Carmen expected Lorenza to come at her hard. She didn't. She came at her brutal.

Her stance was solid, tight, a perfect defense, but it didn't matter. Honestly, it wouldn't have mattered if she was covered in an actual turtle shell. Lorenza would have just cracked it in half, just like she was doing right. Her punches had insane power, the sort of strength you expect from a boxer in the first round, never the penultimate. Each blow was precise, hitting dead on, and following one after the other in staccato succession. Such a strong offense was a defense in itself, like a storm of punches, impossible to push through without the holiest of timing.

Carmen waited. Her knees wobbled. He front ached, the force of each punch seeping through, stronger by the minute. She just had to wait, get the timing in, and...

Now.

She opened up her guard, looking to send out a jab and knock Lorenza back, stop her dead in her tracks. A solid counter, and it might have worked if she actually had depth perception. But with her left eye still covered in haze, she was shooting blind, underestimating the speed of Lorenza's assault, and a thunderous blow cracked against her face and knocked her flat as the crowd roared around them.

Lorenza huffed and puffed, getting more and more winded as she pounded away at Carmenâ€s turtle shell. Her wrists were starting to ache terrible, as were her fingers, and she was worried that if she kept on punching so recklessly she might break something, the way Carmen had broken her wrist. But Lorenza refused to slow down for even a second. She slammed her white leather gloves into Carmenâ€s ears and into her sides, again and again and again.

She knew Carmen was going to try to fight back at some point, and, sure enough, she would pop up in the middle of Lorenzaâ€s flurry of blows to try to ward the Mexican champion off. Carmenâ€s jab, though it was not perfectly aimed, still hit Lorenza in the stomach, just a few inches from her broken rib. It hurt, but not as much as the punch which Lorenza threw at the same time. The mighty right hook slammed into Carmenâ€s face and knocked her flat on her back. Lorenza took a step away from her downed opponent and raised her arms in the air. The crowd roared. Her fans were calling out “Knockout!”

Again, while Lorenza appreciated their support, they were being a little too eager in awarding her the victory. At the refereeâ€s urging, Lorenza would back up a little more, giving the downed Carmen some space.

Good news? Carmen's vision had cleared up. Bad news? She was starting to become intimately familiar with the taste of the mat.

That last blow spun her around dropped her on the canvas, face down, literally kissing the ring. She was still conscious. Still able. That blow hadn't knocked her into La-La Land like before. But it had put Lorenza ahead in terms of points, she was sure, and since this was getting closer to the wire, that was getting more and more important by the second. Lorenza was, like always, too crazy to stay down, and Carmen was suffering from the same affliction.

"1...2..."

"Get up!" She looked up and saw Army slapping the ring again, egging her on. "All the time's you've knocked me on my ass, you can't take this bitch? Come on!"

Carmen chuckled under the guard as their father gave him an elbow in the side for cursing, but the little pep talk did help. She was Rodriguez. Rodriguezs don't always win, but they never stay down.

"3...4..."

She pounded the mat and pushed up, making her way to shaky feet as the referee ceases the count. They exchanged looks and she gave her a quick nod, showing she was still good to go.

The bell rang and Carmen immediately went back into the shell - her eye was cleared, sure, but she was banking on Lorenza not knowing that. She stood there, beckoning Lorenza to come over and finish it with her hurting wrist, trying to make the pot all the more tantalizing. It was a gamble, since Lorenza could hang back and just wait for Carmen to come. After that knockdown, the pressure was on Carmen to take the fight, not her. But if she thought Carmen was still vulnerable, she might move in for the kill once again. And if she did that, if she took the bait, Carmen would pop out of the shell just before she came in range and move into her southpaw stance, sending out a left cross to catch her by surprise.

Lorenza shifted her weight from one foot to another anxiously as the referee began the count. The way Carmen was moving, though, she was not out yet. She wasnâ€t even dazed, like she had been when knocked down in the fifth round. She got right back up, ready to fight. Lorenza grunted, nodded, and put her fists up, no less ready than her opponent to continue this war of blood, sweat, and leather.

Once she got back up, Carmen immediately retracted into her shell, still acting like a turtle, trying to protect her bloody eye from Lorenza. The Mexican boxer would not ease up now. She needed to pound on Carmen as hard and as long as she could, before the womanâ€s eye cleared up and she started fighting back again. Lorenza moved forward, gloves up, ready to continue her relentless assault on Carmenâ€s head and her sides.

She half expected Carmen to try to surprise her by popping up out of her shell, but she did not expect her opponent to switch to a southpaw stance. The left cross slammed into Lorenzaâ€s jaw, staggering her and forcing her to take a couple of steps to the side before she could steady herself. Growling, Lorenza would come back and throw a left jab at Carmenâ€s face, intent on retaining her advantage.

Carmen had only fought three southpaws in her whole career, and only one of them had stuck to it as their main mode. Each time, it was a royal pain in the ass. Her father had trained her to be ready for them, but it was still jarring. You spend your time training for dealing with an orthodox stance. When you shadow box, that's what you imagine. When you work on a heavy bag, that's what you imagine. Then, suddenly, the entire script gets turned upside down. Dealing with it is a distraction, and one you don't want or need in the middle of a fight.

That was the sort of feeling she was trying to give Lorenza, anyway.

The surprise punch worked like a charm, smacking her in the face. Not quite as powerful as her right cross, but a force to be reckoned with all the same, which Lorenza probably figured out as she stumbled back. Carmen took a step forward as Lorenza did the same, striking out with a quick left jab - fortunately, the Southpaw stance gave Carmen a much more deft jabbing hand than usual. She couldn't put too much power into it with the wrist hurting, but she tried to parry the jabbed away with a swipe of her forearm, then powering forward with a right jab of her own before Lorenza could bring her fist back in, looking to strike dead in the center of her face.

It might not hurt much, but it would send a message and maybe rile up Lorenza even more than she was already was. Definitely a good thing.

Lorenza was a little bit taken aback by Carmenâ€s sudden switch from an orthodox stance to a southpaw stance. She knew why Carmen had done it, of course—that broken wrist. Switching to using her left hand as her main weapon in this fight would help to mitigate the damage on the right.

It made sense. If Lorenzaâ€s wrist had been broken, she probably would have taken a similar course of action. But just because it made sense from a strategic perspective didnâ€t mean it wasnâ€t as annoying as fuck for the former world champion.

That left cross had robbed her of her momentum. Lorenza was going to do everything she could to retain it. Half of this ninth round was gone, but there was still half a round—a full sixty seconds—to fight. She came forward and threw a left jab at Carmen—one that was deflected rather easily by the Puerto Ricanâ€s leading right arm. Before Lorenza could bring her left glove back in, Carmen had lashed out, her black glove smacking Lorenzaâ€s face, forcing her to take a step back. She shook her head and wrinkled her nose after taking the hit. It had hurt, but it had mostly just been frustrating.

Lorenza would stay in close, taking a step forward again, making sure to put her left foot on the outside of Carmenâ€s right foot. Now that Carmen had changed stances, the two boxers mirrored each other, and Lorenza wanted to be the one to control her opponentâ€s movement. After planting her feet, Lorenza would throw another quick jab with her left, and would then swing a right hook right at Carmenâ€s jaw.

Right on the nose. Carmen half-expected it to make a honk.

Sure enough, it hadn't done any real damage, but it was a good test of what her right could do in jab mode. Less stress, but still quite useful, and if she could get the timing right, she could make up for whatever she was holding back and still deal good damage. What's more, it managed to stop Lorenza in her tracks, and with the clock winding down, that was a delay neither of them could afford.

There was an added bonus of it making it easier to parry jabs, too. With their bodies mirroring each other, every jab Lorenza threw would have to get past the right before it made it to Carmen's face, and even with their similar heights and close quarters, that was a long way to go without being knocked aside.

Lorenza seemed intent on making the journey, though, as she shot out another jab. Carmen shot out her right again, knocking the punch aside, and this time she tried to follow up it with something a little more substantial - a right hook, coming from the side and smacking Lorenza in the ear. A little tricky with the wrist, but worth it. She would just have to be careful not to go too far.

The advantages of the switch weren't Carmen's alone, though. She was still a bit off with it, too, and Lorenza benefited from it when her own hook, a deadly right, connected with Carmen's jaw, as clean a shot as you could ask for. Carmen staggered to the side and bounced off the ropes, before quickly regaining enough footing and sense to get her stance back up. Even a single vulnerable second would be lethal.

Lorenza considered switching to a southpaw stance as well, but decided against it for the time being. While Carmenâ€s change in stance was frustrating her as she tried to adapt to it, she couldnâ€t say for sure that switching to southpaw herself would make things better. No, it was best to stay the course. She was still fighting in her usual stance, after all, while Carmen was forced to adapt to a stance that was awkward and unnatural.

The unfortunate thing was that Lorenzaâ€s jab was now all but useless. With Carmenâ€s right side forward, she could easily deflect the jab with her leading arm, and even if it slipped through it would come from a less-than-optimal angle.

But Lorenza could still use her right hook to deadly effect, which she did by slamming it into Carmenâ€s chin and sending the brunette stumbling into the ropes. At the same time, a right hook from Carmen smashed into Lorenzaâ€s ear, and the former champion would take a couple of steps in the opposite direction, towards the center of the ring, before steadying herself. She watched as Carmen bounced off the ropes. Hoping to catch her foe unawares, Lorenza would rush at Carmen from the side, throwing a quick left jab at her foeâ€s face, then following it up with another hard right hook.

The switch was throwing Lorenza off, but Carmen would have to do a lot more than that to win, here - she needed Lorenza on her back, squirming around like the little perjura she was getting fond of calling Carmen. And with the seconds tick-tick-ticking away, her chances were slipping. No more preparing, Lorenza was more than tender. It was time she got served.

Carmen bounced off the ropes and found another jab waiting for her face, coming in quick as Lorenza rushed her. She managed to tank it, though, and she had enough presence of mind to guess what was coming next. Something high. Something painful. Lorenza did love her knockout shots. Probably - probably - a right hook.

The decision was made in the blink of an eye, and Carmen's body reacted one blink later, ducking down and letting the right hook sail over her head, giving Carmen a lovely middle to play with.

"C'mere."

She jerked to the side and sent out two punishing hooks as she went - the first, a liver blow, meant to drive the liver out of Lorenza and tickle her organs. The second, a rib shot, meant to make the first shot even worse and break those ribs clean - if they weren't, already.

It had been virtually an even exchange, but Lorenza would try to take Carmen by surprise, rushing at her Puerto Rican opponent as the woman bounced off the ropes and throwing a left jab at her face, followed by a right hook intended for the side of her head. Lorenza wanted to knock her rival down again.

But she was becoming, perhaps, a little too predictable. After three or four left jab/right hook combinations, Carmen had caught on. The jab was blocked. That Lorenza had expected. It was the hook that would pack the real punch. But when she threw it, she hit nothing but air. Her eyes widened—as much as they could widen—just as Carmenâ€s first hook slammed into her wide-open midsection, pounding into her liver and sending it bouncing around inside of her belly. At least, that was what it felt like to Lorenza. “Ungh!” she groaned, taking a step back. Carmen wasnâ€t done. The womanâ€s next punch hit Lorenza right above her broken rib, and elicited an even louder cry of pain from the former champion. The rib was broken completely clean. One of the ribs next to it felt as if it might have been cracked, as well.She stumbled backwards, gloves coming down to her midsection to protect it and to assess the damage done.