Lorenza Saldano vs. Carmen Rodriguez - ¡Guerra!

Carmen kept expecting a referee to come in and admonish Lorenza. She was so used to them hanging around the ring that she didn't even really notice them anymore, like they didn't even come into existence until someone screwed up. Old habits died hard, and no matter how much she wrestled or even got used to fighting no-holds barred, she was still a boxer in the core.

It was just good graces that Lorenza wasn't able to press the advantage, as Carmen was wide open for a few solid seconds, totally vulnerable. She wouldn't be able to enjoy that all day, though, and with Lorenza back on her feet and with something to prove, she knew it was about to get seriously dangerous. She needed a wild card.

Carmen straightened up, but instead of going back into her stance, she grabbed hold of the heavy bag and swung it towards Lorenza. Big, cumbersome, slow - it wouldn't hurt her, even if it did hit, but that wasn't the reason Carmen pushed it. It was a distraction, and assuming it was distracting enough, it would cover her attack perfectly

Carmen moved in behind the bag as it swayed forward, then popped out from behind it and closed in on Lorenza, starting her campaign with a right straight directly into Lorenza's chest.

Lorenza was up on her feet again, hurting but very much still in the fight. She got up to her feet just soon enough to see the last corner of what could have been an opening go by as Carmen straightened up and once again put a determined look on her face. Had Lorenza been fresher, she might have been able to get in that window and dish out some real punishment to her friend and rival. But she needed those few seconds of recovery nearly as much as Carmen did.

Lorenza dropped back down into her fighting stance, ready for whatever happened next. She didnâ€t expect that to be a heavy bag swinging ponderously towards her, but she would roll with it, catching the bag with both hands and pushing it straight backwards, hoping to push it into Carmen.

She almost managed to do it, too, but Carmen popped out from behind the bag right before it would have hit her, appearing much closer than Lorenza had thought she was. Carmenâ€s punch struck home, her knuckles slamming hard into Lorenzaâ€s chest and forcing the Mexican boxer to stumble back, belatedly putting up her guard.

It was a crazy move, but this was a crazy sort of match - the ruse work, and Carmen was able to close the distance with the bag for cover. Her fist found its familiar target in the middle of Lorenza's chest, sinking in deep and knocking her back. Lorenza's guard came up before she had a chance to finish the job, going on the defense.

Carmen started to hold back and wait for an opening to present itself, but a little bell rang in her head, reminding her, once again, that this wasn't like boxing. She didn't have to wait for an opening, she could make one, and with her hand uncovered that was a lot easier. She could do something she could never do in a boxing ring: grab.

She threw out a jab...or what looked like one at first glance. Instead of hitting Lorenza's guard, her hand opened up and reached between Lorenza's arms, pushing at the elbow and trying to force it open. If it worked at all, it wouldn't be open for more than a second before Lorenza tightened up, but that was just enough time for her to send out a straight with her dominant hand, once again targeting that chest.

Lorenza backed up, breathing a little heavier after taking that shot right between her breasts. She was on the defensive for the time being, her guard up, waiting to see what kind of move Carmen would try to make before she would commit to anything herself.

Carmen came after her, throwing a jab right at Lorenzaâ€s guard. The Mexican boxer dipped her head slightly, keeping it behind her arms, ready to absorb the blow and then retaliate with a few hard punches of her own.

Her forearms absorbed no impact, however. There wasnâ€t any impact to absorb. Carmen grabbed onto Lorenzaâ€s arm and pried open her guard—something that she never could have accomplished in a traditional boxing bout. Lorenza would immediately move to snap her arms back together to protect her head and chest, but not before Carmen hit her with another straight right to the chest. “Ungh!” Lorenza grunted loudly, staggering backwards again, trying to disentangle herself from Carmen.

"Gotcha!"

Carmen let out a short laugh as the punch connected. She still had leagues to go before Lorenza was finished or even close to it, but she had held onto the offense pretty well since they hit the floor. Maybe this wouldn't be a hard. Maybe she'd be able to ride the tide all through the match. Maybe she'd be able to fly be emitting rainbows from her ass.

Whatever the case, she had the advantage now, and she was going to milk it for all it was worth. Carmen kept the fight tight as Lorenza fell back a few steps and started to bob and weave, going into a movement Lorenza would be very familiar with. The Dempsey Roll was effective when she used it in the ring, breaking Lorenza down in a similar position. She was taking a risk, here - there was a strong chance Lorenza would be more prepared than last time, maybe counter it. But it was too good a chance to ignore.

She threw her weight into a right hook, putting devastating force behind it, then twisted around and came at her from the left with just as much power, twin sledgehammers aimed at the sides.

Lorenza had been forced onto the defensive for most of the match—at least since the two of them had fallen out of the ring and hit the floor. Still, she had managed to get in a few shots. Debilitating shots. Carmen was by no means ahead on the theoretical scorecards that the imaginary judges were filling out as this match went on. It was still a dead heat, at least in Lorenzaâ€s mind.

As she held her guard up, here came Carmen once again. This time, Carmenâ€s approach was very familiar to Lorenza. The way the Puerto Rican boxer bobbed and weaved from one side to the other—she was trying to get Lorenza with her Dempsey Roll. It was a good trick, but not one that would work time and time again on a knowledgeable fighter like Lorenza Saldano. The Mexican smirked. Here, she had an opening. An opportunity to put Carmen on her back foot.

As Carmenâ€s right hook flew in towards Lorenzaâ€s side, the Mexican boxer would move her arms left and down, absorbing the blow, letting it push her to her right side. She wouldnâ€t fight that push. As a matter of fact, she would ride the force of Carmenâ€s punch, moving far enough to the side so that Carmenâ€s second punch, a left hook, would pass in front of her. Moving quickly around to Carmenâ€s left side, Lorenza would strike fast, throwing lightning right and left jabs at the side of Carmenâ€s head, trying to hammer her opponentâ€s skull and force her onto the defensive.

Lorenza was smirking. That should've been the first clue that something was wrong, but Carmen was so wrapped up in the moment that it barely registered.

The first hook landed well - too well. It was almost as if she were moving with the punch, riding it out and taking away from the impact. The contact was there, but it felt hollow, like eating something without the fat. No substance, no energy to it. By she swung again, and error struck her like lightning as she sliced through the air, her side exposed, vulnerable, with Lorenza in perfect position. She saw it coming. She knew what was about to happen. She just couldn't do a damn thing to stop it. "No-"

Lorenza's jabs felt like straights, and it didn't help that she was still locked in the Roll's movement, making her swing right into the blows and increasing their strength. She wasn't even sure how many times Lorenza hit. Four? Five? It was just a blur of pain, and it was enough to knock the sense clean out of Carmen, the sheer surprise of the attack piling on top of the pain and leaving her sensless.

She fell, dropping to one knee as she went wide-eyed, her mind too clogged to even attempt a proper defense.

It was not all too often that Lorenza could revel in the success of such a flawlessly executed counter performed against such an elite, such a worthy opponent. But as her fists hammered into Carmenâ€s head, the motion of the Puerto Ricanâ€s roll only increasing the force of the impact, Lorenza knew that she had just changed the whole flow of the match. Carmen dropped to one knee in front of her, stunned. Lorenza panted, slightly winded by all the sudden movement. Her mouth was hanging open as she panted, but the corners of her lips were slowly curling upwards into a wide smile.

“Sí…¡sí!” Lorenza would grunt at her grounded rival. Now was the time for her to really make Carmen hurt. Clasping her hands together, Lorenza would bring them down like a hammer in between Carmenâ€s shoulder blades, trying to keep her rival completely stunned and incapable of fighting back. If that hit, Lorenza would then grab Carmen by the hair and yank on it hard, trying to drag Carmen across the floor, heading for the locker room. There were more ways to hurt Carmen in there. Things to bang a head into that would earn the decisive knockout.

Carmen wasn't looking at Lorenza, too stunned to do more than contemplate the floor for a few moments. But she knew the tigress was smiling. It's what she would be doing.

Carmen couldn't even guess where the pain was coming next, but she knew it was coming and coming soon. Sure enough, her shoulders lit on fire as Lorenza dropped the bomb on her, flattening her in an instant and leaving her sprawled out. If this had been in the ring, the fight would probably be over right there, since Carmen would have been hard pressed to get back up from that before ten seconds. But this fight was going until a real knockout - Lorenza had more damage to deal, and she had far more to take.

Carmen had considered going bald for this fight, and she was mentally kicking the crap out of herself for not giving it a second thought. She didn't have all that much to start with, but it was enough for Lorenza to latch onto and drag her along the floor, her body limply going along with it. But she didn't come quietly.

"Fuck!" She screeched, gritting her teeth as her scalp was pulled with her entire body weight behind it, lacking the strength to get her arms up and take the pressure. "Ow, shit, get off my hair, puta! Owowowowo-"

Wherever Lorenza was going, she wasn't taking her there by simply grabbing her hair. Not that Carmen was in any shape to resist - no, there was another problem. Her hair would only tolerate the strain for so long, and sure enough, something gave - her strands, to be exact. A clump of hair got pulled straight out of her scalp, and Carmen's face smacked right on the floor. "Son of a shit..." Her hand went up, weakly nursing the torn patch on her head.

Lorenza encountered no resistance from her rival as she struck her with a hard, double-handed axe blow to her upper back. She watched Carmen sprawl forward, slamming into the floor with some force. If this were a boxing match, Lorenza would have won it right here—of course, if this were a boxing match, her axe handle blow would have been highly illegal.

The Mexican boxer wasted little time in grabbing onto her rivalâ€s hair and pulling her back up onto her hands and knees, beginning to drag her towards the locker room. Once they were there, Lorenza intended to slam Carmenâ€s head into a locker or something, over and over again if necessary, until she was knocked out.

She didnâ€t intend to rip out any of Carmenâ€s hair. That was a mistake. When the few strands of brown hair tore away in her hair, Lorenza would look down at them in surprise. Then she would look back down to Carmen, who had once again smacked into the floor. “Lo siento, mi hermana,” she would say, as she would reach down towards Carmenâ€s head again. “I didnâ€t mean to do that. Maybe you should eat more protein or something. Keeps your hair strong.” This time, Lorenza would grab onto Carmenâ€s head directly, wrapping her hand as wide as she could around her foeâ€s skull as she would keep pulling her.