USA Vs Canada - Yvette King Vs Zoey Waters

Yvette King:

This match was more than just winning. Yvette knew that simply by the way the AFW marketing department had spun the match. Rather than advertising a normal boxing match, some marketing Exec somewhere must of pointed out that one of the fighters tonight hailed from the United States, and the other hailed from Canada. What ensued afterwards was a rigorous marketing campaign, dubbing this fight as the United States Vs Canada. Yvette was far from pleased about this. Her last match had been against a Mexican former world champion. Now she was fighting against a Olympic boxer. What was it with the AFW and giving her matches against opponents who were of a much higher calibre than her. She had so far, failed to win a single match here, but the third time was usually the charm... or bad things come in threes. Depends what outlook on life you have.

Backstage, Yvette was sitting in her locker room, physcing herself for what this match was going to bring to her. Her opponent was slightly taller than her and would have a minor reach advantage, something that was going to force Yvette to play a more offensive stance tonight. The reach could of only been a single centimetre or more, but that was a big difference in the boxing world. Interestingly, they both weighed exactly the same. So no weight advantage there. They both also seemed to rely on speed, but It seemed her opponent had fine tuned her boxing technique to a far more advanced level than Yvette. What all this spelled out in Yvettes mind, was that this match was going to be a repeat of her match against Lorenza last time: Yvette was going to excel and perform to the best of her abilities, not making any crucial mistakes, but she would lose simply because she was outmatched and outclassed in every category.

There wasn't any more time to ponder on things though, the stagehands had informed her that she was up. Standing on her feet, she checked her golden boxing gloves one more time. She was going to make sure that she was ready for this. Taking a final deep breath, and swinging her arms round in a circle, Yvette made her way across the backstage area and out onto the ramp. It seemed the crowd was out in force tonight. The advertising had done its trick then, the event was most likely being broadcast in both home countries. In other words she had the entire weight of a nation on her back. No pressure. She would stride down to the ring, gloves down as she kept a steady, focsed and consistent pace. The ring wasn't too far away, but she could make out what the commentators on the table next to the ring were saying. She could hear their words, going on about how Yvette was essentially an armature boxer who was fighting a world class Olympic boxer. Yvette wanted to make them eat their words, but they were right. This was going to be another mammoth task for Yvette. Climbing up to the ring, and slipping in between the ropes, Yvette would raise her arms in the air, gaining a huge cheer from the crowd. It seemed that a large portion of the crowd were at least supporting her. Even if hardly any of them knew who she was.

After listening and absorbing the crowd, taking in the sheer number of spectators into her head. Yvette would stroll over to her corner and lean against the turnbuckle. Now was the moment of truth. The time that Zoey made her appearance, and the start of the beginning of the end. Or maybe Yvette was being far to pessimistic and underestimating her abilities. Right now. She couldn't really tell which actually applied to her.

Zoey "The Swift" Waters:

Zoey Waters spent most of her time shadow boxing in the backroom. The dim light cast a shadow of her fast movements, the Canadian brunette was no stranger to being put under pressure. She moved like a dancer, a leaf in the wind as her footwork and hands flew effortlessly like art. The only sound she made were the squeak of her navy blue boxing shoes and the rhythm of her exhales every time she threw a punch.

She was an Olympic level boxer and that alone might scare her opponent but she was no fool. The term came with certain truths about her prowess but it also revealed her weaknesses as a boxer. As an Olympic boxer, she was fast, technical, a good defense and good at scoring points. However, Olympic rounds were shorter and matches consisting of a handful of rounds. Knockouts in Olympic boxing are extremely rare because of the small time actually fighting compared to professional fights and the headgear. Power and having a knockout punch were things not stressed in Olympic boxing and did not fit into her style. On paper, it may look to others she was the favorite but in truth, this was closer than one would think. She got knocked down in the first round against Lorenza and it showed how one mistake was enough to end her.

She let out a breath as she was called up to the ramp where she would make her appearance. She walked forward and heard the Canadian anthem being sung by half the crowd which made her laugh. The promoters were really selling this Canada vs USA thing. She climbed up the steps and disrobed from her shiny blue robes.

It revealed Zoey's trademark baby blue sorts, sports bra and matching gloves. The brunette was pretty with her blue eyes and fit figure.

Zoey threw a lightning fast flurry in the ring showing off her devastating hand speed and flawless footwork as the Canadian anthem concluded causing half the crowd to explode with cheers. She threw up a fist for the crowd before returning to her corner. Looking across the ring, she winked at Yvette and gave her a smile.

The other girl looked pretty and the two of them had a similar build. She wasn't sure but Yvette seemed a little nervous but was doing her best to master her emotions. She admired that but that wouldn't stop her from making the blonde kiss the mat.

As the crowd grew restless, the female ref called both of them to the center of the ring. The two boxers stood toe to toe, Zoey would stare into her opponent's eyes as the ref barked out rules and she nodded when she asked if they understood. Finally, the ref asked if they wanted to touch gloves and Zoey would offer up her gloves in a sign of sportsmanship.

"Best of luck Blondie but don't expect any mercy from me. You know what they say, weak country, weak boxer, means weaker woman." She said smiling hoping her opponent would exchange some banter from the crowd.

There was no denying the fact that Yvette was nervous. This was going to be her third match. A loss here was going to put her into a loss streak and that wasn't good at all. Her confidence had been waning somewhat after the last two results and the last thing she needed was to be facing an opponent who was super confident. Sadly that did seem to describe Zoey well. Based on her entrance alone, she seemed to like confidence. It seemed like nothing was going to daze her one bit.

Yvette would quietly observe Zoey as she entered the ring and showed off an impressive display of speed and skill in her punches for the crowd. Yvette was trying hard to keep an eye on her footwork while throwing her punches. It seemed like she could almost switch stances with ease. This was going to prove problematic as Yvette was a southpaw, and a southpaw only. She couldn't change her stance or perform anything special like that. This was another wall that she was going to have to somehow climb.

Soon after Zoey had finished indulging the crowd in her shadow boxing, Yvette was called forward by the ref. As per usual the referee would go through the rules. She should of been laying more attention, but instead she was too focused on staring down Zoey. She had to do whatever she could to try and win a physiological edge on her. When the ref had finished her drivel, Yvette would touch gloves, except she would thrust her fists our hard to come into contact with Zoey's. As the underdog she had a lot to prove and she planned on bringing it to her. Listening to her words, Yvette was tempted not to say a word, but it did seen rude not to. "Look. I am not interested in that. I will just let my gloves do the talking. You aren't going to be leaving this Ring conscious. If I had it my way you wouldn't be leaving the ring alive."

With her words spoken, the ref would send them back to their corners. When in the corner, her coach inserted her mouth guard. Yvette bit down on it to make sure it was snug. She then did a few last minute stretches and swings of the arm, making sure her left punching arm was orepped and ready for war.

"Those tough words coming out of an 0 and 2 Taylor Swift look alike." Zoey shot back as she bashed her gloves together as she used her teeth to tighten the knot around her wrist. "Or should I say 0-3 after I make you kneel at my feet like the loser you are."

The ref asked them to back away and she readily complied and both fighters retreated to her corner.

Zoey smirked adding to her air of confidence as she watched her foe warm up. She quickly realized her foe was a lefty. She changed up her stance to mirror hers to confuse her. Most boxers were right handed and most Southpaws were used to fighting against orthodox stance fighters. Being able to switch stances, Zoey wanted to make her opponent feel as uncomfortable as possible by trying to make her own strength a disadvantage. Although not blessed with knockout power, she was ambidextrous and didn't really favor a side. It was slight advantage but in boxing every advantage meant the difference between winning and losing.

The bell rang and Zoey came forward and circled around her blonde opponent cautiously, eyes focused on any openings and angles she could create. Circling counter clockwise, she would feint a sudden step in the opposite direction as if she decided to start circling the other way suddenly. Instead, she continued in her original directions and try to throw a double right jab around her opponent's gloves and hit her in the ear trying to create an opening.

Okay that hurt Yvette. Not the fact that Zoey had called our her record, but the fact she called her a Taylor Swift lookalike. Now she was going to get it. Before Yvette could say anything she had been sent to her corner. Soon after the bell rang Yvette would move out to face Zoey.

Zoey was a fast opponent. Before Yvette could do much she had already started the process of checking her. Yvette decided to stay in the centre and turn to keep facing Zoey, might as well let her expend her energy moving around. Her fight with Lorenza had taught her something about fients. When it looked like Zoey was going the other way, Yvette backpeddled a step out of caution. Her hunch was right as Zoey launched her own attack at her. Thankfully the punches found nothing but air, but as soon as the punch was swung, Yvette close the gap herself, trying to take advantage and throwing a left hook at her gut, followed by a tight jab yo the face while she was vulnerable.

Zoey was shocked to say the very least that despite her speed, the blonde read her double change indirection. It left her vulnerable as Yvette's dominant hand dug into her stomach which she nearly made her want to double over. "Ugh!" The impact itself made her short of breath and hurt more than she thought it would but she bit down on her mouth guard and got to work. Underestimating Yvette would be a mistake, the girl was better than she thought. She wasn't slow nor were punches easy to brush off and she had decent technique. From what she could tell, she was a well rounded boxer who didn't possess any glaring weaknesses, her least favorite opponents to fight against.

The Canadian girl slipped the jab by using good head movement and moving to her opponent's right side where it would be difficult to follow up with her left hand while her right hand was still retracting from the jab. The brunette stepped forward with her left foot, pivoting hard while her upper body torqued in a wind up to throw a solid liver shot to the side of her rib cage in the form of a left hook. If she landed the left hook, she would follow up with another left hook upstairs trying to tag her opponent behind the ear.

Yvette had done well off from the bell. Despite Zoey’s attempt at trying to bog her down early in, Yvette had remained agile enough to ward off the attack. Sadly Hough her own attacks had mixed results. She was glad that her stomach punch had worked, slightly winding her and hopefully setting her up for the real punch that Yvette had wanted to throw. It was not going to be however, Zoey danced her head to the side blissfully, leaving Yvette heavily exposed as she noticed the Canadian girl saunter off to the side. Before Yvette could recoil the punch properly she felt something slam into her side. A force that caused her to cough from its power and location, her breath began somewhat staggered, but it was the throbbing pain In her side that was the issue.

It was OK though. It had to be. So far it had been one shot each and right now, despite the pain, Yvette was confident that she had given as good as she had got. That was going to change now though. It seemed Zoey was adamant to make sure that Yvette got off worse, a punch hammered Yvette in the side if the head, rocking her completely. She would grunt, struggling to maintain footing as she took a step back. Her guard though automatically raised as if on instinct. Boxing had taught her these things. Taking a step back with your guard down was a dangerous game to play

Zoey grinned landing her double left hook combination, she circled around facing her American counterpart on light feet. The brunette had a lot of tricks of her sleeve and she knew the more she used them, the more her opponent would be able to anticipate them. Zoey could not hold back any tricks and decided to do damage and frustrate the girl early so she could either win by points later or make her opponent make a stupid mistake that would leave her on the canvas.

She winked at her opponent as she began showing off her foot work, shuffling her footwork forward and backward, switching stances and changing angles. The Canadian girl performed the patented Ali Shuffle trying to get the girl to look down and began throwing jabs at her opponent's guard, the last jab she left extended to use her glove to blind her opponent. She would come in with a left uppercut to the body to get the girl to lean forward when she retracted her right arm that was blinding her. The girl would follow up with a left uppercut to her opponent's jaw once her opponent was hunched over to deliver pain.

Yvette could not allow herself to get into trouble this early into the match. Zoey was the sort of opponent that from what Yvette had seen, wouldn’t hold back an inch if you have her the chance. Sadly for Yvette, Zoey seemed to have gained the upper hand during the opening seconds of the round and if Yvette didn’t turn it back around, then this fight was going to become very one-sided. Yvette would keep her guard up, but she noticed that  Zoey was moving her feet around loads, changing stances at a incredible pace. Was she trying to show off? To make matters worse, Zoey was peppering her with jabs. The jabs weren’t a problem. She tightened her guard and absorbed the blows. She couldn’t see anymore fancy footwork, but the punches were now less of an issue. So when Zoey tried to blind her, it didn’t work. Yvette had blinded herself by keeping her guard and body tight.

There was one positive to this though, when the jab hit her body, the guard was able to slow the Punch down, reducing its power. It still hurt, but it didn’t rick her as much as Zoey would have hoped. And when the uppercut cane it was met with Yvette’s elbows. Her guard was still strong, a move like that was foolish this early in the fight. Yvette took a gamble, taking a step back she would lower her guard, now that she was out of striking distance. She would then go back into the fight, throwing a left jab at her ribs, followed by a right hook to the side of the head.

Zoey blinked, this girl was not reacting the way she had originally thought. Her uppercut smashed into her foe's elbow as her opponent turtled up. The Canadian girl blinked as her foe stepped back and threw a solid jab into her stomach. She winced feeling her opponent's glove dig into her gut nearly causing her to cough out her mouth piece.

She leaned back and narrowly avoided her opponent's lead hook as the leather scraped across the tip of her nose. She planted her back foot behind her to regain her balance and raised her guard. The brunette lowered her left hand as if she was going for another uppercut to the body. However, she stepped in with her lead foot widening her stance as she would extend her arm in a straighter curve and fire a long uppercut at her opponent's face.