Nicky Gunnery vs Madison Kelly

Match Type: Standard Boxing
7 Rounds
3 minutes

Nicky wasn't completely sure why she chose Japan to kick off her professional boxing career. She had a few options available to her; the Olympics chief among them, but the prestige of aiming for amateur gold didn't outweigh the idea of spending a few more years decked out in headgear. No, she was not looking forward to that. The other options didn't seem all that appealing either. She turned down the local British promotions, the Irish leagues, and didn't pay any mind to the Euro circuit. She was going to be fighting the same girls she fought in amateurs and she wanted fresh competition.

She supposed she also wanted a fresh start away from Home: no dad telling her what to do, no expectations just waiting around the corner. She was a foreigner here in a land that spoke a tongue she barely understood, and there was a strange comfort in that kind of anonymity. Nobody knew her. Nobody cared. Nobody came in with a preconceived notion.

She was free to build up her own image, her reputation, her own legacy... not the one she was forced to live for all those years.

... Guess she DID know perfectly why she ran all the way to Japan.

and today, on the brink of her debut for the AFW's Momentum brand, she was going to start leaving her mark.

Spoiler:

As her music blared and her name was screeeeeeeeeeeamed across the stadium, Nicky walked out to polite but lukewarm applause. The audience response didn't daunt her and she raised a glove up as she walked down the ramp, the British flag draped across her shoulders like a cloak. She wore a predominantly black sports bra and a pair of blue-red boxing shorts with her name proudly blazed across it. The last amateur belt she worn across her bare, taut belly.... and hopefully soon to be replaced by something a bit more prestigious. She slipped through the ropes, raised her glove again, and did a single circuit around the ring before settling into her corner.

She didn't really know who her opponent was. Some Australian broad allegedly, but she didn't care. She was here to fight, dominate, and win... and that was exactly what her opponent was going to be facing down.

Madison Kelly had been a hot prospect when she had been recruited to Momentum. It had been a chance to break away from the smaller division back home and blow up as a star where all the combat sports talent seemed to gather, converging at AFW here in Japan. They had believed in her enough to toss her into the deep end of the pool with a massive tournament of people who, at the time, were being advertised as the next big thing on the boxing scene. She had been skeptical of her inclusion, but more than willing to give it her best shot.

Which had ended early into the second round. It had been a humbling and embarrassing experience, one that had put her on the back foot. It wasn’t just the loss that haunted her, it was the woman she had been knocked clean out by. A cheating bitch… but one that burrowed her way directly into Madison’s skull and now lived there in her mind as a permanent resident. The way she moved, the way she talked… the woman had licked her. Who does that? With a growl Madison slammed her locker, shouldering her robe. She was alone tonight. Arlon was back home so it was just a cut man and a coach provided by momentum in her corner. It would be lonely out there without her surly mentor swearing and treating her like a kid again… She really missed him.

Theme:

As she made her way down to the ring, the reception was surprisingly warm. It might have been the pageantry of having a full rope with the hood up and a team in her corner. The robe itself was slick green hue with golden trim and the work “Tinkerbell” emblazoned across the back. She carried herself with a faint smile, and a spring her step but some of her luster had been lost after being on the shelf for so long. She made her way carefully up to the ring, dipping between the ropes as a member of her corner suspended them in either direction to make it easier to slip inside.

Once she had slipped into the ring, Madison drew back her hood and gave her short hair a small shake out. A member of her corner reached in, helping her slip out of the robe, taking it to their corner as the boxer stepped out to meet the referee to be patted down for foreign objects. All clean.

Her eyes fixated on the blond across from her, letting her brain switch itself on to the right mindset. This woman was the person she was going to have to put down tonight. She drew in a deep breath, making her way to the center of the ring, keeping her footsteps light and er movement constant in small shifts, trying to make sure her blood got bumping early.

“Hey.” She offered a simple greeting with upnod, idly tapping the knuckles of her green gloves together. “Let's have a clean fight.” Madison said quietly, just barely louder than the crowd. It was a rather plain statement but there was a hard edge to her words, almost like a warning. If there was any confusion in regards to how serious she was, her now stoney gaze was proof enough she meant business.

Both girls found each other's eyes at the same time, and Nicky was happy to return Madison's stare with her own. It wasn't an unfriendly stare on either side, but they both held it all the same, Nicky trying to get a feel of her opponent. The staredown only continued as both girls were called forward to meet in the centre of the ring. Nicky made her way over, her feet light and her chest tight. Despite her usual mental exercises to cast away the fear and the doubt and the anxiety, the weight of her first fight in Japan was a heavy one.

"Hey." she answered right back, eyes still focused on her opponent's. She bore her no ill will, but she couldn't take the challenge in her eyes lying down. She was going to finish her and she wanted it clear on both ends. "Clean in every single way." she affirmed, not wanting it to go to the judges, not wanting the crowd to leave wondering who was the better woman. "I'm Nicky. Give me your all."

She reached out her gloves for the touch. still staring into Madison's eyes. They were beautiful and they weren't going to be open by the end of this.

Madison gave a firm nod as Nicky made her intentions for their match to be above board. While she was no expert in reading people, the speed at which she had agreed and her tone made it seem as though she was genuine enough. She found herself grinning at the blond, already liking the air of seriousness she had about her. This felt like the fight she had wanted months ago before she had been saddled with a mad woman between the ropes.

"Madison. I plan on it." She flashed Nicky one last grin before reaching out to tap the other woman's gloves as a show of respect. Taking a few small hopping steps back, Madison brought a glove to her face, slipping in her mouthguard. She ground down her teeth, jaw shifting from side to side as she got a good feel for it again. It had been a while since she had been in a real bout but now that she was here those earlier jitters were fast evaporating. In the mounting pressure of the moment, she could feel that crushing lost drift so far away to the point it was a speck in the distance. Slamming her gloved knuckles together she threw up her arms, bobbing on the balls of her feet for when the bell finally rang.

Guard up, she watched Nicky from over the top of her gloves, slipping in with a series of speedy little half steps, stopping just shy of what she knew by practice was the extent of her own reach, dancing on the edge of what was most dangerous. While she wasn't an out fighter, Arlon would have slapped her upside the head if she didn't do her own bit of due diligence before rushing in with no plan. She darted to the side taking quick steps in, seemingly at random to snap out a jab here and a jab there, jarringly changing direction to come at a different angle to throw a few more. They weren't aimed at any one place instead feeling out just how good Nicky's reactions were to respond to her blows and throw her own back and how strong her guard was.

Nicky paid Madison the smile back, albeit nowhere near as enthusiastic. Sportsmanship was important, and it didn't hurt her to return any gesture of goodwill sent her way. Just gotta remember what was at stake once the bell rang and the gloves came up. Unlike Madison, Nicky didn't really move all that much in the seconds leading up to the bell. They were an exercise in contrasts: Madison with her little warm-up movements, and Nicky who just stared intently at her opponent, stoic and still. Nicky wondered whether the way a fighter warmed up before a fight said anything about the style they brought to the table, but quickly dismissed that errant thought. She was, after all, a swarmer, but few would have guessed it from the way she carried herself based on that logic.

And then the bell rang, and they were off.

Unlike Madison, Nicky was very eager to rush in with no plan. More accurately, she rushed in with the only plan she had at the start of the fight: overwhelm. Set the pace from the first second and forced them to keep up with it, to dance to her tune, and finally, to be broken down by it. Madison darted to the side and Nicky followed, red gloves flickering wildly. For every jab Madison threw, she threw two, bobbing and weaving from Madison's testing jabs as she tried to land hers. It was surprisingly difficult. Out fighter? Had to be. A jab caught her on the shoulder, another one grazed her hair, and a third struck her on her guard, and she took a step back... only to came surging forward once again, trying to pinpoint where madison's next position was going to be-

And when she thought she found it, she went all in: her output increased twofold, throwing a series of vicious jabs, hooks, and an uppercut seeking to force Madison back on the defensive. She would follow her if she retreated or darted, constantly breaching the pocket that she presumed the alleged out-fighter would try to establish, always trying to make sure she was no closer to running away.

It was hard to come into a fight with a game plan and stick to it, hell or high water. She was an impulsive woman by nature, too much so which was evident from her last bout. While it could be considered a trait that served her well for her usual aggressive style, it was a weakness of character she struggled with. That was why she had been committed to playing things smart and testing the waters before diving in. Though it seemed no one had informed Nicky to play nice in that regard. Her first few jabs were met with snappy return fires making her slip nimbly back with a hard lean to the side to avoid them. This woman was fast, perhaps as fast as her.

Attempts to circle were met in kind as Nicky harried her attempt to fight on the outside, coming at her relentlessly with each punch thrown. Madison found herself constantly backing off and pivoting at the last moment to stay mobile and evasive, not allowing the other woman to cut her off while throwing retreating blows, narrowly keeping the woman from getting fully in on her. It didn't take her long to figure out exactly the sort of fighter the blond was, because their actual styles were nearly identical. She found herself cut short from her offense in needing to respond to the sheer amount of punches Nicky was throwing her way as she danced between them, proactively tossing out swipes of her own to bat jabs aside she couldn't outmaneuver. It worked on the outside once they were in the thick of it, this wouldn't work anymore.

She rounded with two quick steps, about to close in when Nicky turned to move in sync with her closing the distance between them, launching a barrage of jabs her way. Madison was forced to respond with a raised guard, taking the stiff blow on the gloves and forearm, shifting her positioning to catch the quick strikes in a remarkable display of defensive dexterity. It was a losing battle though, one that she needed to get away from and find her own opening. Stepping to the side she moved to evade another jab but found her body hammered with a hard hook in the ribs, sending her stumbling to the side with a wavering guard. Nicky was on her again, a punch from below. A big one!

Madison jerked back, the uppercut whizzing so dangerously close it had blown hair away from her face with the wave of rushing air that followed it. Wide-eyed, green mouthpiece on display as she grimaced, staring at the blow that might have knocked her on her ass in the opening minute of the round. Her brow furrowed and fists clenched, dipping in close to finally meet Nicky where they both belonged. Planting her boot mid-step she pivoted hard, throwing a stiff hook around to the unprotected side of Nicky's uppercut originated from while she still recovered. She would show the woman just how hard she could counterpunch if the blond was going to keep throwing wild offense her way.

Nicky missed the big one.

But the beauty of being a swarmer was that you could afford every 2nd or 3rd shot to miss or be blocked or to find a lesser target. Her game was volume and attrition, and she had seven rounds to ply her craft. Still, as her eyes met Madison's in the split second after her uppercut whizzed past her face, she took comfort in the fact that she at least put some fear into her opponent. It was a small moral victory, but a victory nonetheless.... and a short-lived one. Within the span of the next second, Madison had darted in and to the side, a hard hook crashing into the side of her body. Nicky was already backtracking, her feet throwing her back to avoid the blow, but the momentum of the uppercut kept her from doing so.

A burst of pain erupted out from her ribs and she raised her guard up, momentarily on the defensive. That didn't last long and she was going again, refusing to let Madison have even a moment of reprieve.

Madison was fast. Very fast. And she hit hard... but not hard enough that she felt deterred. A true slugger would have left her cautious, but what she felt from Madison only emboldened her. The war of attrition was still on track. Just needed to adjust ever so slightly from the pesky counters...

Nicky came in straight, throwing a series of jabs to chip away at Madison's guard, alternating between chest and belly shots, trying to build her way to a predicted rhythm... before she darted to the side, her feet pivoting, aiming for an odd-angled shot towards Madison's side!

There was no direct path, no easy way in, only an approach littered with bothersome flickering jabs. Gnat bites on the surface but things that would add up in the later round in both fatigue and scorecards. The relatively mild crowd had grown hot as the action fired up, both women moving at a dizzying pace in rounding brief clashes that made the action hard to follow from the outside looking in. It was impossible to slip everything Nicky threw and her guard was only ever up half the time until they came in close.

Madison hadn't gotten her moniker for being a boxer that operated on a routine, she got it for her nimble footwork and spritely dodging, both of which were on display now. The Australian gal hadn't tried to match the quantity of blows being thrown, instead, she picked her targets a bit more carefully before snapping out a vicious counterpunch of her own. It wasn't until Nicky finally managed to cut her off that she found herself pinned in, vigorously shifting her airs high to low to tack hammering jabs across her forearms, unable to back off faster than the blond could pursue. She had turtled up, focusing on not letting anything through and keeping a careful balance of reach between them, trying to keep anything more substantial from being thrown out. Holding out had become the game plan, hopefully letting Nicky gas herself out eventually… but that was the long game.

So engrossed in the moment and the motion of intercepting jabs on her guard, the sudden dip to the side caught her daydreaming, fumbling her footing in a moment of recognizable folly as Nicky got in where Madison had wanted to keep her at bay from. Before she had time to respond a hook caught her square in the side, the shock of the blow shot up her body and down her arm, relaxing her guard on one side involuntarily. She wouldn't be able to respond if another came so she snapped back with a hard pivot on her heel, throwing a wild haymaker through the air in an attempt to ward the other woman off with a hard shot to the side of the head while Madison was reeling.

Nicky was no timekeeper. She wasn't one of those hyper-aware boxers that religiously took note of the seconds counting down to the end of the round, sending furtive looks back at her corner for any hint of the time remaining. But even she knew there wasn't much time left in the round. Other boxers were more than happy to use the first round to test, to adjust, to ferret out the opponent's fighting style. Nicky, on the other hand, wasn't content with that. Her 0-to-100-in-10 seconds brand of fighting was intended to weed out slow starters, throw off proper analysis with a maddening pace, and to finish an opponent fast if she could - but it also served one crucial purpose if she couldn't do the latter:

Establishing her punching volume to her opponent.... a punching volume that was nowhere close to what she could unleash. Every round after the first, she escalated more and more and more... until she faded. It was a strategy with its own risks, but it was the one she was the most comfortable with. She didn't have the cardio yet to go all the way to the end but she rarely needed to.

And the more wily, evasive Madison continued to defy her attempts to smash through her guard and catch her, the more Nicky felt the need to escalate early. Not take it in small increments across the rounds, but just pile onto her in round 2.

Nicky's hook struck true, digging deep into Madison's side - and gave her what she had been looking for all this time: the crack in the wall that was Madison's guard. Nicky smelled blood. Her left fist having barely left her opponent's side, her odd-angled crouch sprung into a vicious uppercut that would follow Madison's retreating pivot, pass through the proverbial hole in Madison's guard, smash right through it, and drive her fist fully into Madison's chin!

Only for the haymaker to do the same to her.

Right at the point the bell rung to signal the round's end, Nicky was struck in the face by Madison's fist. She felt her nose explode in a burst of blinding pain. What should have been a warding blow hit her full-force as she pursued her prize. Even as she sought to strike her opponent, her opponent had caught her. Did she hit her opponent? She didn't register it as she swayed, her body suspended for a second in the pose of her final desperate attack, before she faceplanted forward, crashing face forward into the floor, the rise and fall of her back the only hint of life.

"1.... 2....3..."

It had been an act of pure desperation but one that was going to payout. The moment her glove touched Nicky she knew that this was going to the blow to make the other woman warily and how her just how much power she could pack in her slender frame. Her lips had parted in a grin showing off her mouth full of green as her protector shined with the reflective sheen of salivas

In that instant of celebration, the world suddenly flipped. A harsh snap of her neck with a violent whiplash back as something hit her hard. Her mind boggled as she staggered back on shaky legs, eyes cast to the ceiling lights glaring down from above. She dropped back, galling onto her backside with a flop, unsure of why she couldn't put thoughts together or get her body to respond as it should. Her slightly vacant eyes slowly settled back on the ring, dumbly staring down at her gloved hands. When had she put these on again?

She squinted her eyes and tilted her head only to be filled with a strong rush of pain from her jaw. Another baffling moment. It all came trickling back to her as the referee's counted the seconds. She remembered why she was here, though how she suddenly found herself sitting on the canvas was hazy. Gnashing her teeth into her guard, testing just how battered her jaw was, the sharp pain was like a bucket of cold water splashed in her face that brought realization back and she remembered just what had happened until Nicky's punch had put her out for a moment.

Madison clamped her eyes shut and gave her head a furious shake. The throbbing was intense but she used it, pushing herself back up to her feet no sooner had the referee count to four. She wasn't sure if the bell had actually rung or if that had been her brain rattling around in her skull. Thankfully her corner team called her to come to them and the referee was quick to wave her off. She backed away, moving to her corner with measured steps until she could drop back into a waiting stool to be tended to.