Saldano vs. Rodriguez - Queens of the Ring

Lorenza was a smart, cunning woman. No denying that. But she was wrong about one thing: Carmen didn't need luck. She'd never needed luck.

Luck didn't knock out her opponents, her fists did that. Luck hadn't gotten her a title shot, her record did that. Luck hadn't allowed her to survive against Lorenza longer than anyone ever could, didn't get her in this ring, didn't have anything to do with her going the distance. That was her body's doing, trained for years, working hard, on and on and on.

Luck simply did not factor into the equation. She never needed it before, and this time would be no different. If she won today, it would be because she had worked for it.

So Lorenza was wrong on that, but she was right about the last thing - 'mi hermana'. Sisters. It was a good fit. and a title she could wear proudly and truly. They were both daughters of the ring, in their own ways. Rivals, but there was something more there, something that was hard to describe...

But enough, she could dwell on that later. For now, there was the fight.

The referee brought her hand down between them, then wisely stepped the hell out of the way. "Box!"

Carmen thundered forward at full speed, blazing towards Lorenza, practically gliding as she closed the distance. No more subtleties, no more tricks, no more special punches or complex strategies. Lorenza was going to come with everything for the last round, so all the cards were on the table. Time to see what she was working with.

Carmen switched to her orthodox stance just before she got in range, then led in with a massive right hook with a lot of momentum coming behind it. Her wrist was numbed up, so she could use it without pain. It would certainly ramp up the damage it was taking, but there wasn't much of a choice. Lorenza was starting to get used to the southpaw, and if she did too good a job at it, she could put Carmen down, no problem.

Orthodox, until the end. Come what may.

For the second time, Lorenza and Carmen were going to fight a tenth round. In the nineteen rounds the two had fought before, neither had managed to truly overcome the other. Lorenzaâ€s win was a win, as far as the record books were concerned. But she had not overcome Carmen. Now, she had two minutes to try to do just that—and to try to avoid giving Carmen a chance to do the exact same thing.

The two rivals—the two sisters—were going to leave everything in the ring in this tenth round. Blood, guts, sweat, and tears. There could be no regrets.

The refereeâ€s hand came down between the two of them, beginning the final round. Lorenza wasted no time in reacting to the ringing of the bell. Eyes locked onto her opponent, she charged forward, ready to engage Carmen head-on, ready to battle it out without any tricks, fancy moves, or distractions. She threw a hard right hook almost immediately, aiming for the side of Carmenâ€s head with all the power she could muster. At the same time, she saw Carmenâ€s right glove tracing a lightning-fast arc through the air for her own head. She brought her left glove up, trying to block the blow as best she could, but she was still hit hard, and was knocked a step or two to the side by the blow. As for her own punch…

The crowd reached a fever pitch as the two met head on, charging across the ring like two trains on the track. Carmen's straight made a beeline for Lorenza's face, but slammed into her glove instead, deflected, but not ineffective. At this range, there wasn't any way to avoid at least some of the damage, and she managed to hurt her through the guard, taking her a step back.

Carmen would have followed up, but she had her own problems to deal with. Getting that close put her in a prime position for Lorenza's hook, when crashed against her head and sent her off to the side, stumbling. Her world went hazy, legs went wobbling, but she stopped it with a hard stomp and went back on the offensive, coming back to Lorenza with some quick footwork.

She kept her right hand close and let the left do some work for a while, picking at Lorenza with a quick jab combination. One went down and aimed for those ribs, the next came out a quarter-second later and snapped at her face, all while Carmen bounced on her toes and tried to circle around her. "Come on, dance with me!"

It was unstoppable force meets immovable object as the two boxers collided again to start off the tenth round. Lorenza was staggered by Carmenâ€s punch as the two of them collided, but she felt that she had gotten the better of her rival in this first exchange of the round, as her hook slammed into the side of her opponentâ€s face, sending Carmen stumbling to the side. The womanâ€s eyes seemed to unfocus, and her legs wobbled, but, before Lorenza could follow up, Carmen managed to rally and came right back at Lorenza with surprising speed, throwing a couple of fast left jabs which managed to land in Lorenzaâ€s stomach and sting her in the cheek, forcing her to take an uneasy step backwards.

She would not retreat for long. Stomping a boot on the mat, she would steady herself. “Letâ€s dance, then!” she called back to Carmen, the words only slightly muffled by her mouthguard. She would hurry forward towards her rival, feet moving lightly across the mat, gloves held up in front of her. Stepping to her right, Lorenz would throw a quick left jab low at Carmenâ€s ribs, then swing her right fist around, launching yet another right hook towards Carmenâ€s side.

Both jabs cracked into Lorenza like a scorpion's sting, flashing out and smacking her ribs with a quick pop in the face right after. It was enough to stumble Lorenza for the faintest of seconds, but not long enough to get any real advantage out of it. Just like with Carmen, she was back on her game immediately, not giving the slightest opening for Carmen to wedge in.

She kept pace with Carmen's footwork, matching her as she circled around the ring, shoes squeaking as they kept pace. Most times, Carmen could win the later rounds by outpacing her opponents, but that wasn't an option, here. For every step she took, Lorenza stayed on her, and she closed the distance between them with rapid steps, refusing to give her a moment out of sight.

The jab came out a bad time and Carmen stepped into it right as she was changing direction, taking it hard on the chin and snapping her head back. This time, her combo connected and smacked the side of Carmen's face, dropping her back a few steps. But she was alive. She took it and brought her hands up, ready to see how eager Lorenza was, looking to draw her in.

Lorenza and Carmenâ€s movements around the ring really were almost like a dance. Carmen shifted to one side, and Lorenza followed, their feet slapping loudly on the mat as they moved. Lorenza stalked her opponent intently, not giving Carmen any separation, and, when she saw the opportunity, she threw that leading left jab. She happened to throw it just as Carmen was changing direction, and the result was a powerful blow right into Carmenâ€s chin, snapping the Puerto Ricanâ€s head back. The following right hook would catch Carmen unawares, as well, and the impact of Lorenzaâ€s white glove against her rivalâ€s cheek forced the woman to back up a few steps.

She didnâ€t fall, though. Lorenza hadnâ€t expected her to. But she would. She just needed to take some more punishment. “Donâ€t run away, chica!” Lorenza growled predatorily, pounding her gloves together and charging forward, throwing a left straight at Carmenâ€s guard, then going low, trying to launch an uppercut into Carmenâ€s ribs. She wanted to break them the way her own ribs had been broken.

Carmen just smirked as Lorenza chased after her, pounding her gloves and going on the prowl. The Tijuana Tigress had gone too long without blood, and now she was coming for it with her claws fully bared. That made her dangerous, but it could make her controllable, too, if Carmen played it right.

If.

She closed in and threw out her left, going for a short-straight at point blank range. Carmen would've just jumped back to avoid, but she was already at the ropes - no more room for retreat, even a tactical one. Her guard went up tight the second she touched the ropes and the straight slammed into it, driving her back and bouncing her forward just in time for the uppercut to come for her stomach. She was just able to lower her guard in time to smack Lorenza's glove with her elbow and take away some of the steam - it hurt, crashed into the ribs and sent ripples all the way up, but it wasn't the crushing blow Lorenza was probably going for.

Carmen held her position on the ropes for the moment and threw out three rapid jabs, flickers coming from below and whipping at Lorenza face as Carmen slipped around the ropes, each shot coming from its own angle. She also made sure to make some noise with each shot, punctuating the jabs with an audible grunt.

Lorenza had managed to chase and bully Carmen all the way back into the ropes. The Puerto Rican boxer had nowhere to run. Lorenza threw her left straight knowing that Carmen couldnâ€t evade it, and was satisfied when, despite its being blocked, it drove Carmen back against the ropes. She bounced back just in time for Lorenzaâ€s uppercut to slam into her gut. The Mexican champion smirked as her white glove drove right into Carmenâ€s midsection.

But, at the last instant, Carmen managed to get her elbow into the path of Lorenzaâ€s punch, and that little act of interference took a lot of the potency out of Lorenzaâ€s strike. It still had to be painful…but Lorenza had intended for that blow to break through bone. She couldnâ€t help but be a little frustrated. They had entered this last round virtually dead even. With the seconds ticking away, every little bit counted.

Carmen started throwing jabs at her, and Lorenza was forced to bring her gloves up in front of her face to defend herself. The punches came in almost too fast for her to get in a punch of her own in between. She would try to throw a jab or two of her own, though, her white glove colliding with Carmenâ€s as she attempted to give as good as she got.

None of Carmen's jabs found pay dirt, but then, jabs didn't have to hit to be useful. They were great at pouring on the pressure, and they made Lorenza tight her guard, slowing her momentum down and preventing her from making too much use of the ropes.

Carmen dedicated herself to a jabbing war and traded them with Lorenza for a hot moment. She threw out one, Lorenza threw one right back. The first exchange was in Lorenza's favor all the way, her gloves snapping Carmen on the nose, and she tightened up her own guard before she fired the next volley - two jabs came out, two black flashes, snapping against Lorenza's gloves, going right for the face. Carmen took quick steps forward with each, putting some extra weight behind them to ratchet up the impact, and each one had a grunt to go with it. Working up rhythm.

She pushed forward before the next round of jabs without warning or pause, letting their guards slam into each other as she tried to force Lorenza back, hoping the surprise might get a little retreat from her.

Lorenza entered into the jabbing war with Carmen with angry enthusiasm, her white-gloved fist pumping like a piston forward and back, often colliding head-on with Carmenâ€s oncoming black gloves, other times merely smashing against Carmenâ€s guard, as her own guard was similarly battered by the rapid jabs that Carmen was unleashing at her. Every once in a while, one woman or the other would see her jabs get past her rivalâ€s defenses. On the first exchange, Lorenza managed to nail Carmen in the nose with a couple of well-timed jabs. A few seconds later, Lorenza would receive the same treatment, Carmenâ€s punches sneaking in between her gloves to crash into her nose.

She was ready to give a few solid jabs back to Carmen, but, before she could launch them, Lorenza was pushed back as Carmen rushed into her, their uplifted gloves colliding as Carmen did not punch, but merely pushed. Lorenza took three steps back before planting her feet solidly on the mat. She growled, pulled one arm back, and then threw a hard right cross at Carmen, trying to halt her rivalâ€s progress before she could bring them all the way back into the center of the ring.