The Fight

by M.C.
A radio announcer's blow-by-blow description of the first heavyweight title fight between a man and a woman.

" Hello to all you listeners out there and welcome to the feature event of the evening, the much awaited 'Battle of the Sexes'. The litigations are now over, all the hype is behind us, it's time to get 'down and dirty'. I'll be your announcer for the evening, giving you a ring side, blow-by-blow description of this historic sporting event. An event that will be remembered either as a farce or a watershed event in the history of the human species; the first ever battle for the heavyweight boxing championship of the world between a man and a woman. I never thought I'd live to see the day that a woman would challenge that bastion of male supremacy; the heavyweight boxing crown. But tonight, right here before our very eyes - in just a few short minutes - it's about to take place. The arena is packed. The huge crowd is anxiously waiting for the combatants to emerge from their respective dressing rooms. Hold on...I can hear a chorus of cheers coming from the back of the arena. One of the fighters appears to be making an entrance. I can't make out who it is yet...wait a minute...it appears to be...yes, it's the challenger - Peggy Marshall !

She's making her way down to the boxing ring, smiling and waving to her fans as she goes. She really is as beautiful as they say. Her face could just as easily be gracing a fashion magazine as Sports Illustrated. Her long brown hair is tied back into a pony tail. She's stopping every so often to laugh and joke with the crowd. I must say, considering that Peggy is about to face the
dreaded undefeated heavyweight boxing champion - a man who has knocked out every one of his opponents so far - she seems remarkably cool and calm. Ms. Marshall has reached the ring now and is climbing inside. Her manager and trainer - who also happens to be her mother - is removing Peggy's robe. She's wearing a pair of bright pink boxing shorts and a matching tank top; her boxing gloves are also pink. Her arms and legs are quite muscular but not overwhelmingly so; she appears to be in excellent shape. Peggy's starting to shadow box now, showing off some of her lightning speed with which she hopes to overcome her opponent's brute strength. I can hear more cheers coming from the back of the arena. Emerging from his room dressing room is Peggy's opponent. Here he comes; the undefeated heavyweight boxing champion of the world... Iron Mike Thompson !

In contrast to Peggy, Mike is all seriousness as he descends towards the ring. He's being followed, as always, by his manager, trainer and the usual large retinue of friends, advisors, sycophants, swooning women and the other members of his entourage that always accompanies him to each of his fights. Peggy's entourage - such as it is - consists of just her mother, her younger sister and her boyfriend; Rick. I've been told that there's an interesting story behind her relationship with Rick. It has to do with how Peggy got involved with boxing in the first place. I'll try to relay it to you when time permits. But right now, Mike is climbing into the ring. We're only a few moments away from this historic contest. They're removing Mike's robe and you can see his powerful, well sculptured body. Those mighty muscles that have brought devastation to 25 opponents so far. He's glaring over at the beautiful girl whose challenging him for his crown; trying his best to intimidate her...boy, if looks could kill. Peggy doesn't appear to be overly concerned by his display of machismo however; in fact she just flashed him a pretty smile in response. The ring announcer is now entering to make the introductions. Let's listen in....

"Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to introduce to you the fighters for tonight's feature attraction - the fight for the undisputed heavyweight boxing championship of the world. In this corner, standing six feet-four inches tall and weighing in at 230 pounds, with a record of 25 wins - all by knockouts - and no defeats, the 27 year old heavyweight champion of the world...Mike Thompson!!! ( loud cheers are heard from the men in the arena as Mike flexes his massive muscles ). And in this corner we have the 21 year-old challenger. Standing five feet - eight inches tall and weighing 160 pounds, with a record of 12 wins - all by decision - and no defeats...Peggy Marshall !!! ( cheers from most of the women in the audience as she smiles and
waves... but boos are heard from many of the men ). Let's have a good, clean fight here tonight and may the best ma...err person, win."

The referee is now giving both fighters instructions. Mike is staring down at the pretty, young woman, still trying to intimidate her. Intimidating, he certainly is. At least I'm scared of him, and I'm sitting outside of the ring. Peggy, however, doesn't seem to be; she just smiles back at Mike. As I sit here and watch Peggy, standing close to Mike, I'm finding very difficult to believe that she has any kind of chance against the powerful punching machine that is Mike Thompson. Although she has won all twelve of her professional fights, Peggy has never even knocked an opponent down, let alone knocked one out. She relies on her lightning speed and amazing stamina to outlast her opponents. In fact just last month, when she beat Bill Rice - the number one contender - to earn her this shot at the title; Peggy won all twelve rounds and then competed in a 26 mile marathon the very next day. Bill was so exhausted after his fight with her that he had to spend the next two days in the hospital recovering. Will Peggy's speed and endurance enable this beautiful young woman to survive twelve rounds against a brutal, awesome fighter like Mike ? That, fellow fight fans, is what we're all going to find out soon enough as this battle is just about ready to start. " Clang! " There's the bell to begin the first round...and we're underway.

Mike leaves his corner and quickly approaches the young woman. Peggy is bobbing up and down on the balls of her feet as Mike bares down on her. He swings with a right hook but the nimble girl moves to the side and his blow catches nothing but air. He throws another but misses again as she darts to the side. Her strategy seems to be - as always - to let her larger, stronger male opponent come after her and avoid getting hit until she has an opportunity to counterattack. It's worked superbly so far as Peggy has beaten all twelve of the men she's challenged while methodically working her way up the ladder of heavyweight contenders. Though Mike tried to avoid this fight, demeaning Peggy's challenge as 'unworthy' - not to mention calling her somerather nasty names in a recent press conference - her impressive victories, especially the last one over Bill Rice, made this clash inevitable.

Another left and right thrown by the champion misses badly; Peggy's even smiling at him. She attributes her success to her lightning fast reflexes and her many years of martial arts training. Mike is stalking the smaller girl now, trying to corner her. He's throwing left jabs but Peggy blocks then easily as she gracefully dances from side to side; her long ponytail bouncing up and down as she does so. Mike misses with another powerful right hook and Peggy finally throws her first punch of the fight; a solid left jab straight to Mike's nose. She follows that up with several more quick jabs to his face, forcing the larger man back. I can even hear her giggling now - a tactic she uses to infuriate her male opponents in order to make them lose their cool. After all, it's bad enough for these tough macho men to be getting a beating from a smaller woman. To have her tease them at the same time in front of a large crowd has made many of her 'victims' lose their composure. They then make mistakes which the skillful woman boxer is always ready to take advantage of. Her tactic appears to be working on Mike too as he angrily throws several more wild punches at her which miss badly.

There's only about a minute left of first round now and so far the fight seems to be going Peggy's way. Though she hasn't really hurt Mike, her plan to avoid his blows and counter when she can appears to be succeeding. Mike keeps trying to force her into the corner where he can reduce her room to maneuver but she's skillfully avoiding his trap by constantly moving around. Mike throws another hard right hook, and Peggy ducks under it.. Now she's on the attack again. She quickly lands several rapid punches to his mid-section. Mike drops his guard and she connectswith hard right uppercut to his jaw. I barely saw that punch; it was like a blur. Mike sure felt it though as it snapped his head back. Once again this amazing woman forces the larger man back; unbelievable! I can hear her mother and sister yelling encouragement from her corner," attagirl Peggy, show this brute what a girl can do." " Come on sis, teach that big bully a lesson." There even appears to be some blood coming from Mike's lower lip. The bell to end the first round rings.. I can see many of the women in the crowd standing up and cheering for their heroine; not surprisingly, most of the men are silent.

Peggy walks back to her corner and sits down on the stool. She waves to her fans in the audience and winks at her mother. Mike appears to be somewhat stunned at what's happening. His trainer is working to stop the bleeding of his lip and his manager is yelling instructions at him. He's glaring across the ring at the pretty girl who has totally out boxed him so far. She smiles back at him. Rick, her boyfriend, comes over and says something to her. She laughs and playfully punches him in the nose with her glove. It wasn't always like this I've been told. Two years ago, Peggy was the star forward on the university's women's basketball team; Rick was the light-heavyweight boxer. One night Rick and three of his jock friends decided to go on a panty raid of the women's athletic dorms. When they finished, Rick's friends gathered outside the dorm but Rick was nowhere to be found. When they began to search the dorm they found him - in Peggy's room...battered, beaten and wearing her panties. " Welcome boys, come join the fun. If it's panties you want, then it's panties you shall have." She then proceeded to beat up the rest of them and forced them to put on her panties. " Maybe that will teach you macho jocks not to come in here uninvited again." A few days later, a sadder but wiser Rick apologized to Peggy. She was so impressed that he would swallow his pride and do that - after the beating she gave him - that she took a liking to the handsome boxer and they soon became friends....very good friends. It was Rick who first suggested that Peggy try out for the boxing team. Such was her natural talent and skill that, despite her weight, she became the heavyweight boxer and never lost a match. After she graduating from college, Peggy decided to try boxing professionally...and the rest is history. "Clang" There's the bell and the second round of this championship bout is underway.

Mike comes out immediately and starts throwing punches. Peggy blocks them all and circles to his left; dancing gracefully as she moves. Again Mike tries to cut her off and back her into the ropes. Unable to match her speed, his plan appears to be to try and get her into a corner wherehe can then pound the smaller, weaker woman...or so he hopes. Peggy seems to have a unique ability to anticipate what her opponent is going to do before he does it;' woman's intuition', she calls it. Mike throws another series of jabs at his evasive quarry but comes up empty. Peggy seems content to simply dance around the ring for the time being. She's proven that her superb conditioning enables her to outlast all of the opponents she's faced so far. Although Peggy's never ended a professional fight with a knockout, after twelve rounds each one of the men she's fought was exhausted. Some - like Bill Rice - even required a stay in the hospital. And then there was the 285 pound Jim Meyers - the most feared puncher in boxing. Peggy was so much quicker than he was, that she joked with the crowd throughout the entire fight. He collapsed shortly after the fight ended and had to be carried out on a stretcher. Mike Thompson is, no doubt, well aware of Peggy's blinding speed and stamina; which is why he seems so anxious to end this fight as quickly as possible..

He misses with another hard right and Peggy quickly counters with 3,4,5,6,7,8,9 incredibly fast punches to Mike's face. She's reopened the cut on his lip and I even see some blood coming from his nose. Mike tries again to strike her but Peggy slips away; laughing as she does. Mike's beginning to lose his cool now; angrily throwing wild punches which Peggy easily avoids. She attacks again with another quick series of jabs. In all my years of broadcasting fights, I've never seen anyone move with the quickness of this 21 year- old girl. Hard as it is to believe, she appears to by toying with the heavyweight champ; hitting him when and where she wants and then quickly moving out of range before he can counterattack. This is the way she's worn down all of the other fighters she's faced so far; and she appears to be doing the same to the mighty Mike Thompson. He misses with another wild right hook and Peggy counters with several more rapid blows to his head and stomach. She must have hit him at least fifty times so far and he hasn't hit her even once. He misses again and Peggy nails him with yet another quick flurry of blows to several parts of his body. She forces him to retreat again, but doesn't pursue. Peggy seems content to play her cat-and-mouse game with him. There's the bell to end the second round. As Mike staggers back to his corner, Peggy smiles and waves to her fans as she returns to hers.

The scenes in the two opposing corners could not be more dissimilar.. In Mike's corner, his trainer is working feverishly to stop the bleeding from his lips and nose. Mike also has some swelling around the eyes. His manager is screaming at him, " finish her off now, before she wears you down like she did to all the others." Mike appears to be bewildered as he stares across the ring at the pretty girl who has completely dominated him so far in this fight. His confidence - as well as his arrogance - appears to have left him. While in Peggy's corner, mother and daughter seem to be calmly discussing the situation. Since their corner is near-by I'm going to try and catch a little bit of what they're saying to each other.

" Well honey, things seem to be going quite nicely."

" Yes mother, but he's not nearly as tough as I thought he would be. He probably won't last too much longer."

" Gee Peggy, you seem disappointed (giggles)."

" Well, I was hoping to give the people in the audience their money's worth, and get in a good workout at the same time."

" Then maybe you should take it easy on him for a few rounds, you know just play around with him a bit."

" That wouldn't be right; there's the dignity of the sport to consider."

" Are you forgetting that he called you a pompous little bitch at the press conference ? "

" No mother, I haven't forgotten. He deserves to be punished for that...and he will be (smiles). Maybe I'll just finish him off in the next round; then and we can all go out and celebrate."

" That's right sis (Peggy's little sister chimes in), show that big bully he can't get away with calling you naughty names."

Peggy reaches over and playfully taps her sister on the head with her boxing glove. " O.K. then, smugums, I will. This will be a round he'll never forget (wink).

"Clang! " There's the bell to begin the third round.. Mike storms over to Peggy and immediately fires off a series of powerful punches at her. It looks like he's giving it all he's got. But the 21 year-old girl blocks them all; not one single punch landed. Now Peggy's counterattacking. She hits him with several punches into his mid-section and then connects with a solid uppercut to Mike's jaw. She has the champ on the defensive now. He's backing off but this time Peggy is coming after him; not giving Mike any time to recover. He's trying to fend her off with jabs but she's blocking them all. Now Peggy's dancing in front of him, laughing and daring him to hit her. Another missed right hook by the frustrated man. Peggy lands 5,6,7,8... I can't even keep track of all the punches she's throwing, they're just too quick. Mike is unable to stop her incredibly fast fists. He continues to back away from the smaller woman. Peggy's stalking the heavyweight champ now, constantly advancing while he tries to escape. Mike has a look of desperation. He fires off some more punches at her, but she easily avoids them. Peggy connects with another rapid series of lefts and rights. Mike's bleeding from the nose and mouth again. He appears to also have at least one black eye and I can see signs of welts appearing all over his upper body. Peggy seems determined to end this thing soon; her attacks are relentless. She has Mike backed into a corner now, with his back against the ropes. He can't escape. Peggy begins to hammer away at him with lefts and rights. Mike's desperately trying to protect himself but, for every punch he manages to block, two or three get through. This is the most amazing sight I have ever seen. A 160 pound woman has the mighty 230 pound Mike Thompson helplessly pinned against the ropes and is pounding him at will. She's even giggling as she batters him..

Totally unbelievable...there's no other way to describe the scene I see taking place before me. Who would have thought it possible - that pretty Peggy Marshall could beat up the undefeated heavyweight boxing champion of the world so easily ? All the women in the arena are on their feet now, cheering her on. It's the end of an era ladies and gentlemen; the era of male dominance in professional boxing is now over... destroyed by a 21 year-old girl. Peggy's using Mike's body for a punching bag and there's nothing he can do about it. I can hear her talking to him," so, big boy, who's a pompous little bitch ? How does it feel to be getting your ass kicked by a little girl, tee, hee, hee." Mike is completely helpless; only his pride is keeping him on his feet; but he won't be able to take too much more of the beating she's giving him. What's this? She's stopped hitting him. Peggy takes a few steps back and is just standing in front of Mike with her hands on her hips, as if admiring her handiwork. Mike can barely stand up. Not fifteen minutes ago he entered the ring - the proud, undefeated heavyweight boxing champion of the world. Now, he's battered, humiliated shell of his former self; broken by a beautiful girl. " All right, sweetie pie I guess it's time for beddy-bye. Mommy's going to put you to sleep now; nighty night." Peggy winds up and " WHAM !!! " she hits Mike with a tremendous right uppercut to his jaw . Incredible!!! Peggy's punch actually lifted him completely off the floor. Mike crashes into the ropes, springs back and collapses at the feet of his beautiful conqueror. Peggy puts one foot on his chest and flexes her muscles.

The men in the audience are stunned; the women, ecstatic. Peggy Marshall has totallydemolished the men's heavyweight boxing champion and - at the same time - the myth of male physical superiority...all in just three rounds. Mike is out cold. Over in his corner I can see many of the members of his entourage in total shock, some are even in tears. Peggy's mother, sister and boyfriend are in the ring now; congratulating her on her tremendous triumph. Mike is being lifted up onto a stretcher. They're carrying the unconscious ex-champ out of the arena. My guess is, it'll be quite awhile before we see him wearing a pair of boxing gloves again. The question I have to ask myself now is: if the mighty Mike Thompson can't stand up to this incredible supergirl, then who can ?

Post Fight Interview

" Ms. Marshall, you were so dominant in the fight. Did Mike give you any trouble at all? "

" Well, I'll have to say no. I was actually quite disappointed in him. I would have preferred a better workout."

" Do you plan to defend your title soon."

"I'd love to, it'll be fun to beat up some more men (giggles)."

" If you can beat up the heavyweight champ so easily though, you might have a hard time finding challengers."

" I don't think that will be a problem. I'm sure your masculine pride will ensure a steady stream of macho men who want to take the title back from the 'little girl'. However, just to make it interesting, I can fight several of the top contenders on the same night."

" You mean you'll fight two opponents; one after the other ? "

" (Laughs) Actually, I was thinking about three of four. Now, if you'll excuse me, I promised to take my mother, sister and boyfriend out for a steak dinner. There's nothing I like better after a fight than a good steak."

As I watch the beautiful new heavyweight boxing champion of the world leave the press room with her 'entourage', I can't help thinking to myself that after tonight, the world will never be the same.