Lorenza Saldano vs. Carmen Rodriguez - ¡Guerra!

Thank God for small favors. Carmen wasn't sure what she hit, but she hit something, and it felt like a solid blow at that. An eye, if she was lucky - they were going to get swollen up pretty fast in this fight, and getting a head start would be nothing but a good thing.

It didn't make Lorenza let go, of course. Nothing would be that easy, especially not today. But it did make her switch things around a bit, standing up and taking Carmen with her. Carmen breathed easier as she switched to a headlock, keeping her in place but giving her some air to work with. Not idea, but workable, and she would need every breath she could get.

Lorenza didn't sit on her laurels, though, as she made good use of that newly freed arm. Carmen only saw the hook coming a split second before it hit. Not enough time to prepare. Not even enough time to wince. The hook landed straight on and Carmen's vision blurred for a moment as she sagged forward with a ringing head.

For a moment it looked - and felt - like she was about to fall into Lorenza's grasp, but she wasn't quite done yet. She managed to plant her feet before she could fall away and jerked back, slamming the back of her skull into Lorenza's face, then pushing back hard and trying to drive Lorenza away from the center of the rings.

"Come on, come on!" She half-muttered , half roared while she thrashed about with all the grace of a caged animal.

Lorenzaâ€s fist slammed into Carmenâ€s face again, and the Puerto Rican boxer seemed to sag in the Mexicanâ€s headlock as the punch landed right in the middle of her face. But she still didnâ€t go down, and this time, Carmen was in a position to fight back. She planted her feet and jerked backwards, slamming the back of her skull into Lorenzaâ€s face, flattening the Mexicanâ€s nose for a second as she would stumble back towards the ropes.

Her headlock was now held very loosely, but Lorenza was not done with her opponent yet. Carmen might escape from this hold, but assuming that she could and would, Lorenza was going to leave her with a parting gift. She drew back her left arm again. “Go down!” she insisted, hissing at her opponent before bringing that left fist around for another punch right smack dab in the middle of Carmenâ€s face.

And another punch exploded in Carmen's face, just as crippling as the last. The only saving grace was that Carmen was able to tense up and prepare for it, but it still hurt like hell and made Carmen see red - literally. Lorenza opened up a cut on her brow and sent blood streaming down Carmen's nose, with a few drops making their way into her eye. She winced, growling in the hold as she struggled. If this kept up, she wouldn't have much of a face left when Lorenza was done.

It was a desperate time and it called for a desperate measure. Carmen thought back to the Olympics, watching the judo competitions. She was hardly an expert in the art, but some of the moves seemed simple enough to do, and right now she had her mind on one in particular: the shoulder throw.

She grabbed hold of Lorenza's arm, made sure both of her feet were planted, then thrust her hip back and jerked forward, pulling the tigress with her and looking to toss her clean over, put her down hard on her back. It probably wouldn't even hurt all that much, but it would get her out of the damned hold, and that would have to do for now.

Lorenza pulled her fist away and saw the red blood of her rival staining her knuckles. The cut on Carmenâ€s brow was leaking, droplets of blood dripping down her face. This time, there wouldnâ€t be a team in either of their corners to repair little injuries like that one. They would just pile up, cuts on top of bruises on top of welts.

Lorenza held onto her opponent tight, trying to keep the headlock locked on. But when Carmen planted her feet, grabbed Lorenzaâ€s arm, and thrust her hips back, Lorenza would find herself tossed over the other boxerâ€s shoulder and slammed down onto her back on the mat.

“Oouhf!” Lorenza grunted as she hit the canvas hard. It stunned her, and it hurt a good bit, but it was not crippling. She was, however, in a dangerous position, flat on her back with her opponent standing over her. She would quickly roll over onto her hands and knees, trying to grab onto Carmenâ€s legs to either bring her down to the mat as well or restrict her movement.

Okay. Lorenza had gotten first blood. Maybe not the best way to start the fight off, but Carmen intended to make up for lost ground, and when her toss worked and the Mexican Mauler got flipped on her back, she figured now was a good time to start. She was wrong.

She took a second - just one second - to wipe the blood out of her eye, and by the time her vision was cleared, Lorenza had already flipped over to her stomach and was moving back on the attack. Carmen went down as she grabbed her leg, throwing out a wild punch to Lorenza's head as she fell, but all the same, fall she did.

The top of her head hit the ropes on the way down which just made the trip all the more pleasant, but after spending the past minute in Lorenza's grasp, she wasn't about to let a headache like that put her on the defensive again. Scrambling, she tried to wrench her foot out from under Lorenza and kick her in the face. Or the head. Or the shoulder. Or whatever was available to be kicked, she wasn't picky.

Lorenza, in desperation, managed to grab onto Carmenâ€s legs and pull her to the mat. For her troubles, she received a powerful punch right to her jaw from her fellow boxer. Lorenza grunted, but would succeed in her task of bringing Carmen down alongside her. Carmenâ€s head even hit the rope on the way down, which should sting a little. It seemed that Lorenza had been able to make the most of a bad situation and retain the advantage for herself.

But Carmen would not give up, and Lorenza was not quite on the path to victory just yet. The Puerto Rican boxer managed to wrench her foot free of Lorenzaâ€s grasp, and immediately lashed out with a hard kick that happened to strike Lorenzaâ€s chin. The Mexican boxer yelped, her head snapping back, spittle flying as she would let go of Carmenâ€s legs and roll over a few feet across the mat, rubbing at her jaw as she would eye Carmen wearily.

That kick would have been painful without the boots backing it up. With them on, Carmen could only imagine what it felt like to Lorenza, but she wagered she wouldn't have to imagine for too much longer. Was bound to happen to her before the night was up.

Carmen sat up and rolled to a crouch, looking straight at Lorenza, then up a little bit, past the ropes, outside of the ring - that's where she needed to be. The ring was familiar territory for both of them, bringing the fight outside might help throw Lorenza off her game a bit, use the environment against her. Of course, the same could prove true for Carmen herself, but that was the fun of it, really. Besides, she wanted to take a better look at this place, and what better way to start the tour?

She jumped forward, practically pounding Lorenza and landed on top of her. She didn't go for a punch or anything, she just grabbed hold of her the shirt and rolled to the side, tumbling with her fellow boxer and trying to make them both fall out of the ring. Preferably with Lorenza taking the blunt of a fall, but if not, she'd just have to deal with it.

As Carmen looked at her, Lorenza would stare at her rival back, her slate grey eyes daring the brown-haired brawler to come after her and try to press her newfound advantage. Lorenza intended to turn the tide of the match back in her favor, and intended to do it quickly. She would watch as Carmenâ€s gaze drifted upwards, trying to figure out exactly what the Puerto Rican boxer might be looking at.

Lorenza didnâ€t put up too much resistance as Carmen leapt on top of her, grabbing onto her shirt and rolling them towards the edge of the ring. They slipped under the bottom rope and fell. Lorenza was perfectly fine with taking this fight outside of the ropes, if that was what Carmen wanted. Lorenza was the one, after all, who had experience on the streets, and by all rights she should be able to gain the advantage in a street-like setting. As they fell, she would try to turn her body as much as possible so as to make Carmen hit the concrete floor hard, too. Even if she could share some of the damage with Carmen, Lorenza smacked into the unpadded floor hard, her chin slamming into it, causing her teeth to rattle and snap against each other. Her shoulder hit hard, too, sending small waves of pain up her arm.

Down, down, down they went, as Carmen was introduced to a factor that had never really played a big facotr in her matches up until this point - gravity. The world seemed to slow down as they tumbled over the edge and she saw the ground race quickly towards them, but that didn't mean she could move any faster. All she could do was close her eyes and hope the landing didn't hurt too bad.

It did.

Carmen had the good fortune of not landing on her head, but the shoulder wasn't that much better for such an impact. Her arm flashed with white hot pain, then numbed up as she rolled off it. Functional, but not pleasant. It looked like Lorenza fared worse, though, taking a hit on the chin when she fell. Carmen had no intention of improving that state.

She rolled back beside Lorenza, reared up to her knees, and threw a vicious shot right in her stomach, following up with another blow - same arm, same power, same precision - right to the middle of her chest.

Lorenza hadnâ€t hit the ground like this for more than half a lifetime. As brutal as a boxing match could become, it was still, to some extent, sanitized, structured, and safe. Now, they were out of the ring, nothing was off-limits, and anything could happen.

Carmen rolled away, obviously in pain as well after both of them had landed hard against the cement floor in that fall. The Puerto Rican boxer had obviously not suffered the same sort of impact that Lorenza did, however, and, while Lorenza was stunned from that jarring blow to her chin and shoulder, Carmen rolled back over to her, getting up onto her knees. Lorenza would try to shift herself away from her rival, but Carmenâ€s punches came as fast as lightning, slamming into Lorenzaâ€s stomach first, then her chest. Lorenza grunted in pain with each punch and coughed up spittle, bringing her own arm down to shield her softer parts as she would turn over onto her knees, literally turtling up on the floor as she caught her breath.