Saldano vs. Rodriguez - Queens of the Ring

Carmen moved in for the kill, like she'd been trained to do, like she'd done countless times before. You see a weakness, you go for it. It was almost pure reflex. Her fists punched themselves.

That wasn't necessarily a good thing.

Lorenza wasn't the only one crying out in pain - with every punch, Carmen's own truths grew louder. She almost didn't realize it at first, so locked into the pattern, so focused on drilling her right into Lorenza's stomach that the pain was oblivious to her. But it didn't last. The pain in her wrist was returning with a vengeance, and every blow was taking it out of her, even if she was taking more from Lorenza. Fighting a round with a broken wrist against Lorenza Fucking Saldano wasn't a happy thought, like going into football game with only half of a team. She had to end this and end it now.

Harder. Harder. Carmen put her soul into these punches, the sort of force that made a guard meaningless. Her tendons stretched and snapped, sending paroxysms down her arm. But Lorenza just would not go down. She endured. What would it take? Why couldn't she just fall like everyone else, like humans were supposed to? What-

The bell rang and Carmen backed off, and holding her wrist close as they both cried out. No trash talk, this time - she just moved on back to her corner, Shooting a harsh glance Lorenza's way as she went.

"Carmen!" Her brother made his way to the ropes and helped her down as their father slid the stool in. He gave her some water, lettting the icy cool flow through her. "What is it? Break your fist?"

She took a gulp and shook her head. "Wrist." She spoke between gasps, still trying to catch her breath from that last minute push. "Even when I'm winning, she's still taking me apart. Crazy, little-"

"Sssh, sssh." Their father silenced her with a few pats of the towel on her face. "Army, the eye is getting bad again,"

Army took out an ice pack and pressed it to her face, getting a sharp hiss from her as the cold did its work, numbing her up. "I think my wrist is busted - not going to be able to do much with it. If I try and give her a straight or a hook or-"

"I know, I know." His face hardened, solid thought going through him. "Switch. Switch to Southpaw."

If Carmen could raise her eyebrow, she would have. She knew how to fight as a Southpaw, he'd trained her for that, but it wasn't something she did often. Against less experienced fighters, it was a good way to throw them off. But someone with Lorenza's skill wouldn't be thrown that easy. She could adapt, maybe even counter it with a switch herself, and make her pay. "Risky..."

"I'm not saying it won't be. But you should still be able to use the right for feints, maybe even a jab if you're careful. Take the pressure of it, but keep it useful. And if you do it midway through the round, you might surprise her."

"Might." And she might get her head bashed in, too. But he was right - there wasn't much choice, really. She wasn't winning this fight one-handed. "I'll try."

He gave her a strong slap on the shoulder, drawing her gaze straight to his eyes. "Don't try it. Do it."

She locked eyes with his for a good moment, silent, blank, before answering him with a firm nod. "Right."

Again and again, Carmenâ€s gloved fist slammed into her exposed stomach, pounding on her fractured rib and eliciting loud cries of pain from Lorenza. Her eyes begin to water, and she willed herself not to cry as she fell back against the ropes, legs nearly buckling as she was pummeled.

It took her several punches before she realized that Carmen was crying out in pain, as well. Lorenzaâ€s first thought was that her opponent was mocking her. Listening to the other womanâ€s screams, she soon realized that that wasnâ€t the case. She knew Carmen very well, and she was certain that those screams of pain were genuine. Carmen had a broken wrist. It was plain as day. If Lorenza had been in a more advantageous position, she would have tried to exploit that. But right now she herself was the one who had a weakness being exploited.

One or two more punches and she would have fallen again. But the bell rang, saving her. She brought a glove down to her stomach, rubbing gently, wincing as each touch sent a jolt of pain streaming through her midsection. Very slowly, she made her way along the ropes to her corner.

“Fuck!” she groaned, spitting out her mouthguard into her cutwomanâ€s waiting hands. The blonde disposed of it, then immediately went to work trying to reduce the swelling on Lorenzaâ€s face. If she couldnâ€t, the former titleholder would be blind in one eye, it having been swollen shut after that relentless pounding from Carmen.

Her coach came around and knelt in front of her, feeling at the spot on her belly which Carmen had targeted. Lorenza whimpered at first, then growled loudly. “Fuck!” she hissed again.

“Do you think you can keep fighting with a broken rib?” he asked.

“Yes!” Lorenza spat. “Iâ€m not going to throw in the towel. Iâ€ve had ribs broken before. Iâ€ve had this same rib broken before.” She raised a glove and pointed over at the opposite corner. “She was the one who broke it!”

“That was the tenth round,” her coach reminded her. “Honestly…youâ€ve never had an injury this bad with two rounds still to go in the match. I worry about you.”

“Fuck it, man, Iâ€m fine,” Lorenza replied. “This is bad, but I am going to win.”

Her coach nodded and got back up. “I know you are. Just, if youâ€re on the defensive…protect that rib like it was a second face, okay?” He motioned to the cutwoman, who was just about finished cleaning up Lorenzaâ€s face. “Tara, see what you can do about the rib before the next round starts. Just…anything you can do to make it hurt less.”

The bell rang and Carmen came out with a moderate pace. Not too fast, but not sluggish. This was going to be the pivotal round, she could feel it. She had to do two opposing things at the same time: keep the pressure on Lorenza, but take the pressure off her dominant fist. The chances were good that Lorenza knew about the wrist, and even if she didn't, she'd figure it out soon enough. She didn't get to be the champion by letting details like that go. She would be expecting the punch to come from her good hand, and she would be right...at first. Let her think that. Get her into a rhythm. Then shatter it like the hammer of God himself.

Two rounds to go. Four minutes. 240 seconds. An eternity. The universe was made in less time.

Carmen entered Lorenza space with a sudden burst, shoes squeaking as she slid in, and threw out a lightning jab to the face, following it before the next second with another one, lower, going for those bad ribs. She would be tight, protecting them like her life depended on it, the blows might not even come close. But that was fine with Carmen. She just wanted to see how dedicated Lorenza was to protecting them.

Stoned faced. Staring hard back at Lorenza. No smirks. No grins. No mirth. Eyes looking for even the slightest hint of weakness and giving none away.

Lorenza stood up and took one last deep breath in her corner. Her cutwoman slid her mouthguard back into place. Lorenza gave her team members a look, then a nod. She pounded her gloves together and turned around as the bell rang, stomping forward to engage with Carmen yet again. She could feel in the air how pivotal this round was bound to be. The margin separating the two of them on the judgeâ€s scorecards had to be razor thin. This round could prove to be a tipping point.

Lorenza came out in a tight stance, gloves held a little lower than usual to defend her aching stomach. She danced forward towards Carmen, trying to read her opponentâ€s body language. She knew the brown-haired boxer had hurt her wrist. She had probably broken it. Lorenza would do all she could to force Carmen to use that hand, whether it be for punching or for blocking. She would put the pressure on Carmen to defend her injured area, which might just relieve the pressure on herself and her rib.

Carmen leapt forward, starting off with a jab to Lorenzaâ€s face. The former champion would hop back, trying to dodge the blow. The glove, unfortunately, still connected with her face, snapping her neck back; but her retreat had managed to deaden the force of the blow. Carmenâ€s next punch was aimed for Lorenzaâ€s stomach. Lorenza brought her white gloves down and absorbed the jab, managing to keep the black glove of her opponent away from her bad ribs.

It was Lorenzaâ€s turn, now. As soon as she had blocked Carmenâ€s second punch, she would lash out with a lightning jab of her own, a right-hander aimed for Carmenâ€s chin. Then, she would throw a left hook at her opponent. She might have been aiming for Carmenâ€s side. Or she might have been trying to throw a punch at Carmenâ€s bad right wrist. Either way, she was hoping to elicit some reaction out of her opponent.

The first jab was a success - sort of. It hit, but Lorenza was so far out that it might as well have been a love tap. Her ten year old brother could have taken that punch in stride, whiffing off her chin with an unsatisfying, pithy little smack. The second one fared even worse, its force swallowed whole by Lorenza's glove, killed in the crib. Sure enough, Lorenza was all about keeping that side locked up tight. She just had to be patient - that's what cracking locks was all about, right? Time and precision.

Lorenza returned fire immediately, throwing out a jab with the same tight speed that Carmen had out into hers, a white leathered bullet going right for the chin. Carmen took it in the face and ate every bit of it, snapping her head to the side, caught unaware by how quickly she changed her block into an effective strike. It was such a smooth move, you could almost be forgiven for thinking they'd planned it out beforehand. Lorenza's abilities bordered on prescience.

But Carmen had a little crystal ball in her head, too, and her prediction was come true - Lorenza saw Carmen's weakness, too, and she was coming in from the side. Was she aiming for the wrist? Hard to tell. That was a small target, but if she got a solid hit, she could shut down what Carmen was planning before she even tried it and cut her effectiveness in half. A tempting target, impossible to ignore.

Then again, that was how lures worked, didn't they? Draw the finish in with something tempting, let him start the feast, and he's on the dinner table before he knows what happened. And Lorenza was definitely nibbling.

Carmen moved away from the hook as it came in and ducked, letting it pass over, skimming off the top of her head like a barber's razor. Looking to hit her in the sweet spot, she jerked up before she had even finished the movement, coming around with a left jab and shooting it over Lorenza's hook, going for a counterpunch. Just because she was using her left as a main weapon didn't mean she couldn't get some fire in it, especially if she used Lorenza's momentum against her.

Lorenza had managed to defend her weak point. Now it was time to see if Carmen could defend hers.

The former champion launched a lightning-quick jab towards her opponentâ€s face. It hit, just as Carmenâ€s jab had hit her. Unlike Carmenâ€s jab, Lorenzaâ€s hit with full force, snapping Carmenâ€s head back so hard that Lorenza could have almost sworn she heard Carmenâ€s vertebrae protest the sudden motion. She would follow it up with a thunderous left hook, trying to slam her white glove into Carmenâ€s wrist to really hurt the Puerto Rican boxer.

But Carmen could see what was coming, and she was just too fast. Lorenzaâ€s eyes widened—as much as they could with the swelling—as Carmen ducked low beneath her punch. Then, Carmen came back up, throwing a left jab over Lorenzaâ€s arm before the Mexican boxer could pull her gloves back into her guard. Her opponentâ€s black glove slammed into her stomach, pounding her bad rib. Lorenza could almost feel the bone moving further out of place inside her body. She stifled a scream, but could not help but groan as she backed up a step. “Ganh!”

She hesitated, and took a deep breath. Screw the pain. She could handle it. She needed to keep taking the fight to Carmen. She could not let her rival get the better of her like she had in the last round. By her mental estimation, they were almost exactly even on points. Losing another round that badly would spell the end of Lorenzaâ€s hopes for victory. Summoning her will, she stepped forward again with her right foot, swinging a powerful right hook towards Carmenâ€s face, then bending low to attempt to slam a quick left jab into Carmenâ€s stomach.

Ah, the counterpunch. There was always something indescribably satisfying about landing a good one. Coming out of nowhere, surprising the target, getting them to use their own movement to increase the power. Just felt right.

The punch cracked Lorenza in the ribs, full on. Not nearly as bad as a straight would have been, but with Lorenza's middle breaking down, she wouldn't need to do much to get some serious returns from hitting it. Jabs would be more than enough, at least for the first minute.

It wasn't enough to make Lorenza skittish, though. The Tijuana Tiger was hurting, but far from declawed. and very few things were worst to deal with than a big, pissed off cat.

She moved back in, fearless, and swung in with a right hook that was so powerful Carmen swore she could hear the wind whistling off it. She ducked her head behind the guard, managed to take some of the force off with a shoulder roll, but it still cracked the side of her face and sent her to the side. She regained her footing a moment too late, with a quick jab smacking her in the bread basket and earning a grunt for Lorenza. Carmen's ribs were better off than her, but they wouldn't stay that way for long if she didn't watch.

Carmen took a quick step back and started to jerk forward, readying her left for another jab, but she held back as her vision reddened - that hook has done more than just hurt. Army had done a great job as a cutman, but there was only so much even the best could do, and she'd reached that limit. Blood was starting to cloud the corner of her eye.

She stayed back and moved into a cross-arm defense, protecting her head. With any luck, it would be enough to hold on for a little while, at least until her vision cleared a bit.

Lorenzaâ€s right hook to Carmenâ€s face hit the Puerto Rican right in the ear, and Lorenza had the satisfaction of seeing her opponent stagger backwards once again. But, just like that, Carmen seemed to gain a second wind, her body shifting as she began to come forward. Her left fist moved, and Lorenza braced herself, putting her gloves up, ready to defend against another hard jab from Carmen. This was the way it would be, then. The two of them, in the middle of the ring, trading punch and counterpunch, staggering each other and rallying, taking turns adding new bruises to each otherâ€s ruined bodies until either the bell rang or one of them went down for the count.

That was the way the match seemed to be going, until Carmen inexplicably aborted her left jab, clammed up, and stepped back again. For a second, Lorenza would just stare at her opponent, waiting for the brown-haired bruiser to drop the act and initiate another attack.

But then, Lorenza saw the small red fleck in a sea of white—blood beginning to pool in the corner of Carmenâ€s eyes. Lorenza blinked and looked again, and, yes, without a doubt, Carmenâ€s eye was bleeding. Lorenzaâ€s last punch had managed to rupture something, and now, she had a definite advantage. Carmenâ€s vision had to be very poor right now.

“Ha!” Lorenza growled, taking one step forward, then a second, closing with Carmen again in a flash. Her footfalls were loud as they beat upon the canvas. She drew her right arm back. Then, she would launch it forward, letting it travel downwards in a narrow arc. She was aiming for Carmenâ€s solar plexus, hoping that, with her arms crossed in front of her face, the woman would be unprepared to defend her midsection from this powerful blow.

It was kind of hard to tell because Carmen could barely see Lorenza's beady little eyes under the misshapen mass that used to be her brows, but Carmen was sure the Mexican masher was giving her the stare, looking right at the bloody streak on her eye. There was no hiding it, so Carmen didn't even bother. It could have only been more obvious if she put up a sign and rang a dinner bell.

Sure enough, Lorenza went in for the kill.

She reeled back and Carmen braced her feet, tightening the block as well, expecting raw power to come straight at her face. That was the prime target, after all. Her hurting wrist was up there. Her bleeding face was up there. It's exactly what Carmen would have went for, which might have been a big part of the reason Lorenza didn't go for it.

No, instead she went low, going for the small gap in her cross-arm's defense. Carmen tried bring it down to protect, but she was too late. It struck and struck hard, feeling like it went through her stomach.

She gagged and stepped back, staggering a bit before she put her foot down with a hard stomp. She lowered down,hunching her back and going into turtle, pure defense - for the time being, she was basically Lorenza's sandbang.

Lorenzaâ€s choice of target had surprised Carmen. She could tell. Carmen had been expecting her to throw a punch up high. That was where her broken wrist was. That was where her swollen, bloody eye was. It would have made sense. But Lorenza had saw an opportunity to blow a hole in Carmenâ€s stomach with a punch to her solar plexus, and she had taken it. The sound of Carmen gagging in pain was heavenly for Lorenza. She needed to hear that. She needed to hear her opponent hurting so that she could ignore her own agony and continue her drive for the victory.

The punch to her stomach forced Carmen to fall back several more feet. Lorenza would be right there with her, giving chase and wanting to offer her opponent no chance for any relief. As Carmen lowered herself, hunching over, putting her gloves over her face, presenting only the top of her head to Lorenza, the former champion would begin pounding on her opponent as quickly as she could, throwing lightning-fast left and right hooks into Carmenâ€s back, her sides, and the sides of her head, trying to deal as much punishment as she possibly could. The noise of the crowd grew louder. Some of Lorenzaâ€s fans were even calling for the referee to stop the match, saying that it was obvious Carmen couldnâ€t fight back against their champion anymore.

Lorenza knew the match would not be stopped. She knew that Carmen wasnâ€t done. She just kept on punching, growling with each blow, her wrists beginning to protest, her breath becoming more ragged as she expended an immense amount of energy trying to pound Carmen into pudding and send her hermanita to the canvas.