Saldano vs. Rodriguez - Queens of the Ring

Even with the mouthguard, Carmen managed a big smile. There was the Lorenza she wanted, the warrioress she'd wanted to fight for hundreds of days. That spirit, burning bright and wild in her eyes, an inextinguishable flame. Carmen could douse it. Stomp it down. Drown it. Cover it up. Smother it. But, sooner or later, those flames would always come back.

No matter how many times they fought, Carmen would never win by knocking Lorenza out. She was starting to wonder if Lorenza even could be knocked out, if it was something she could physically do.

As soon as the referee was clear, Carmen stepped in and went back on the offensive, readying her fist for another set of smooth jabs - and immediately regretting it. She'd forgotten how fast Lorenza's own jabs could be and underestimated how much energy she had to work with. The jab cracked Carmen square in the jaw and dazed her, landing at the exact worst moment, and it was followed by its big brother - Lorenza's infamous hook, the same punch that sent every contender before Carmen crying back to the locker room. It landed right along the side of Carmen's face and sent her to the side with several steps, making a wide gap as she got her act together and put her hands up tight, throwing out another flicker jab as did to give Lorenza some incentive, hoping it would make her keep her distance for a little while.

Not likely.

One minute to go. The bout had been back and forth all night long, and, by anyoneâ€s estimation, the two pugilists had to be nearly dead even on points. This tenth round would be crucial. It would be decisive. Lorenza knew that she probably wouldnâ€t knock Carmen out—the Puerto Rican was far too resilient—and so she would have to win the round the hard way. Right now, she was sure that the judges would unanimously score it as a ten for her foe and a nine for her. She needed to change that. She needed these punches to land.

They did land. The jab cracked Carmen square in the jaw, stunning her and stopping her dead in her tracks. The follow-up hook—Lorenzaâ€s very favorite punch, the one she circled back around to again and again and again—landed as well, slamming into Carmenâ€s cheek with all the force that Lorenza could muster. The hook knocked Carmen to the side a few steps. Lorenza could almost feel the momentum rushing back in her favor, a cool breeze that soothed the terrible pain her body was in as the matchâ€s final round bled away.

She would advance cautiously, gloves up. Carmen threw a quick jab, and Lorenza would react swiftly and decisively, letting her gloves soak it up. She would throw a quick combination at Carmen then, first a right jab, then a left jab, taking a step forward with each to close the gap between them. She would then launch into a more deadly combination, a left jab, then a right cross, and then a hard left hook, trying to sneak her white glove by Carmenâ€s guard, hoping that she wouldnâ€t expect the hook to come from Lorenzaâ€s non-dominant hand when time and time again she had been going to her reliable dominant side.

"One minute!" Army called out, giving her the time she needed. "Keep it together!"

Sage advice, but with Lorenza Saldano, 'keeping it together' was much easier said that done.

The crowd was reaching an insane pitch, blaring in Carmen's ears and giving her a headache she really didn't needed. She have been at football matches with vuvuzelas that weren't so irritating, but she couldn't blame them. They were close, now. The climax. You could almost hear the heartbeats, thumping all around the coliseum, the stands teaming with a near-palpable energy. Electric and invigorating.

She tapped into that energy and used it to hold on as Lorenza started to bring back the heat, coming at Carmen with a pair of jabs. She slipped left, dodged the first one. She slipped right, dodged the second one. Easy enough, but the whole point of them was to bring Lorenza into slugging range - the last place any sane boxer wanted to be with her.

Carmen's guard took the jab well enough, bouncing over her gloves, but the right cross hit with enough force to crack open her guard and send her back a step into the ropes, bouncing her back in time for a perfect left hook to snap Carmen's head around. It didn't have the power of her right cross, but catching your opponent offguard could easily make up for that shortcoming.

Carmen took a step to the side from the punch, letting it ring through her head before she turned back. Her first priority was getting back towards the center, and for that she needed to outfox Lorenza a bit. She slipped to the left, then to right, the jerked off to the left with a quick jab to Lorenza's face as she went off to the left and kept going, trying to work her way around.

Fifteen seconds after she herself had been forced up against the ropes, Lorenza had turned the tables on her rival. Her left hook was not quite as potent as her right, but it was serviceable. It smacked into Carmenâ€s face when she had her guard down, sending her stumbling a few steps to her left, unbalanced, still pressed up against the ropes.

Then, Carmen would begin to make an escape attempt. Lorenza had expected it, but when Carmen began weaving first left, then right, then left again, Lorenza had no idea where her opponent was going to try to go. Like a goalkeeper facing down a penalty shooter, Lorenza could do little more than guess as to which way she should orient her gloves.

She brought them over to her left side, only for Carmen to shoot off to her left, Lorenzaâ€s right. The jab skimmed along Lorenzaâ€s guard as she shifted it rightwards, and then continued along its trajectory, tweaking her nose and skidding across her cheek. Lorenza grunted, but showed no other outward recognition of getting hit. As Carmen tried to work her way around, Lorenza would be totally focused on stopping her, side-stepping to the right and throwing several right hooks at Carmenâ€s shoulder, side, and face—sweeping punches which arced across Carmenâ€s path of escape, intended to corral her before she could make it back out into the center of the ring. Lorenza could do little more than slow her down, however, and, as Carmen got off the ropes, she would have reasonable freedom of movement despite Lorenzaâ€s best efforts. The former champion could only hope that her punches were inflicting some pain on her foe that might slow the woman down.

The jab didn't miss. Not exactly. It hit Lorenza's nose, which was good for a little chuckle, if nothing else. Not that Carmen could even manage a laugh with her insides feeling like a bag of broken glass.

She needed to switch things around, but it wouldn't be nearly that simple. Carmen was fast on her feet, but Lorenza was more than able to keep up with her, matching her pace step for step, the sounds of their skidding sneakers coming out almost in sync. When Carmen tried to get out of the hole, she found that right hook waiting for her, once again - and this time, it came with some company.

The first smacked off her shoulder and she shrugged it off, no big deal - but it did make her raise her guard out of pure reflex. Just for a moment. Just for a flash. But more than enough time for Lorenza to send that send one into her ribs. She felt the snap. Felt that harsh blade of pain run through her. It had taken her long enough, but Lorenza'd definitely broken one.

Carmen's muffled scream was cut off by the third jab, and in a way, it actually helped as much as it hurt, snapping her back to reality and making it easier to take her mind off the pain. Yeah, her ribs hurt. Everything hurt. Her skull felt like a gigantic, her arms were sore, her right hand was so numb she probably wouldn't have noticed if it fell off, even her legs ached like a marathon from the constant stop-and-go movement.

But Lorenza was hurting, too. And if she could go on, so could Carmen.

She reeled for a scant second, then hammered her foot down and snapped back at Lorenza with a right hook of her own, shooting it into her side out of pure spite. She ditched the escape attempt and just pushed into her, jerking around with a left hook to the other side as she went. Win, lose - whatever happened, Carmen dedicated her entire body to taking Lorenza head on, throwing the whole arsenal right in her face. God help her, this was ending in a bang. A loud, deafening bang. Never a whimper.

Lorenza poured hooks into Carmenâ€s left side. The first landed on her shoulder, doing little damage, but bringing Carmenâ€s guard up by pure reflex. The second drove into the Puerto Rican boxerâ€s side. Lorenza felt a crunch beneath her white glove. Finally, after cracking several ribs before and having several of her own splintered in return, she had finally repaid Carmen for the fully broken rib she had suffered several rounds earlier. She did not slow down. She kept up her attack, throwing a third punch into the side of Carmenâ€s head that snapped it to the side harshly.

For a second, Carmen seemed to be reeling. But she recovered. And she came back at Lorenza with everything she had.

She stomped down onto the mat, and then launched a right hook of her own that slammed into Lorenzaâ€s side. The Mexican boxer groaned, but did not step back. As Carmen threw herself forward, Lorenza would do the same, the two of them colliding as the final minute of their match began to tick away. She took another hook, this one to the other side. Another rib seemed to crack, sending another wave of pain shooting through her body. Lorenza would retaliate, throwing a left hook to Carmenâ€s side, and then a right hook to her face. She would hold her ground for as long as Carmen held hers, and the two of them would see who could batter the other down.

That right hook should have put Lorenza down. It should have broken something, dropped her flat, maybe even ended the match. But it didn't. It couldn't. Lorenza was relentless, and she just plowed into Carmen, going into point blank range, no hope of dodging, barely any room to block.

So, that's what it came down, then. A slugfest. Good.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

The crowd was on their feet, stomping, roaring in a mad frenzy that Carmen never even imagined an arena outside her hometown could pull of - for a moment, she almost went back in time. Same arena. Same round. Same women beating her halfway to hell. But a different hand was getting raised tonight.

Lorenza hook went into her side and cut her in half - at least, that's what it felt like. She had to bite down hard on her mouthpiece just to keep from spitting it out on reflex. She turned back as Lorenza's left went right into her face, a direct hit to her nose, and the effect was immediate - a sharp, piercing pain, followed by the smell of blood. It was broken.

Tap into the pain. Turn it to rage. Use it.

Carmen screamed and gave Lorenza back the same combination she dished out, throwing a mirror image her way. The same right hook, followed by the same left, aimed at the same place, with the same force - and more, she hoped. "Harder!"

Lorenza hadnâ€t fallen when Carmen had hit her with that pair of devastating hooks. Carmen didnâ€t fall when Lorenza retaliated in kind. The crowd, by now, had been whipped into a frenzy, the likes of which Lorenza had never seen before. Not in any of her title bouts. Not even in the last bout she had fought with Carmen. Everyone in the building knew that they were witnessing something special here tonight, as the two titanesses blasted away at each other with everything they had left.

The clock wound down past forty seconds. Lorenzaâ€s hook drilled into Carmenâ€s side, eliciting a muffled scream from the Puerto Rican. A rib for a rib—Carmenâ€s last hook had broken one of Lorenzaâ€s ribs, and Lorenza was all too happy to return the favor and give Carmenâ€s side a thorough working-over, as well. Then, she threw a hook to Carmenâ€s face, and was rewarded with the sensation of something giving beneath her blood. Her eyes glanced, for just a second, to the white leather. It was marred by a small spatter of red blood. So was Carmenâ€s usually-pretty, but now very swollen, face.

A hard punch dug into Lorenzaâ€s side, as Carmen retaliated, throwing a mirror image of the punch that Lorenza had thrown at her. That same rib that had cracked on Carmenâ€s last punch surely was broken clean off on this one, judging by the pain Lorenza felt coursing through her midsection. She choked down a cry of pain, but could not keep down a yelp as Carmenâ€s glove crashed into her face with all the same force and ferocity that she had put into the punch that broke Carmenâ€s nose. A piercing pain blossomed in the middle of her face. Lorenza sniffed, and the warmness of free-flowing blood instantly told her that it was broken. Just like Carmenâ€s. The two were in a dead heat, right down to the bitter end.

Lorenza growled. “¡Tú tambiÃn, Carmen! Harder!” she called out, before dishing out her next combination: a quick left jab, then another, followed by a right cross to Carmenâ€s eyes, and then a left hook that arced down to slam into Carmenâ€s side once again.

Somewhere deep in the recesses of her mind, in a safe, nestled place, Carmen chuckled to herself. Lorenza was going to have a hell of time getting these blood stains out of her white clothes. Sisters? Their faces were so messed up, Carmen wouldn't be surprised if they could pass for twins. After all, one pile of hamburger looks about the same as any other, right?

The mirror strikes worked, giving Lorenza the same pain with similar results. Lorenza's insides were destroyed - Carmen could feel them molding through the gloves now, senses the unnatural curve as her hook went further than it was supposed to. Her second hooked sent the blood flying, as a puddle of blood started to pool beneath them, growing large by the second.

That pool. That was the battle line, the marker between them. For the next thirty seconds, Carmen's solitary goal in life was to stay above this pool, as long as her body would allow.

Lorenza's left jab snapped Carmen's head back - she saw the stupid thing coming, but she didn't have the speed to slip it, not anymore, and the second one landed before her head could even come back from the first. The right cross smacked into her face, and Carmen saw red...again. The blood was getting into her eye for the second time, but she couldn't afford to retreat, not now. She would have to fight with one eye closed. The depth perception wouldn't matter too much at this range, but if Lorenza caught on, she'd be fucked.

Fortunately, her right was still clear...swollen, but clear, and she had enough vision to see the left hook coming and duck down, letting pass clean overhead. She popped up and swung her own right hook around, trying to catch Lorenza while she was still recovering from the missed shot, and she followed it up with a left uppercut, quickly dropping back down to deliver it. Up, down, up, down, keep it moving.

Blood spilled down onto the mat from both of their faces as Carmen and Lorenza battled it out, toe to toe, trying to prove once and for all who was the stronger. Thirty seconds—thirty long seconds—remained in the match. Dozens of punches could be thrown and could land in that time. Even hundreds.

Neither woman seemed at risk of being knocked out, despite the massive damage inflicted upon her by her rival. But could one of those dozens of remaining punches be a knockdown blow that could swing the round decisively in favor of one woman or the other?

Carmen, it seemed, was trying her darndest to knock Lorenza down. After their exchange of equal blows that broke ribs and chewed up both of their noses, Lorenza thought she had an edge when her pair of jabs and a cross landed straight to Carmenâ€s face, snapping her head back and seeming to throw Carmen for a loop, if only for a second. But the woman rallied, and, as Lorenza threw a left hook at her, Carmen ducked low and struck. A right hook plowed straight into Lorenzaâ€s abdomen, eliciting another pained growled from her as her ribs continued to be abused. Almost as painful was the uppercut which crashed into her chin, which forced her to stagger back a step, her legs wobbling slightly, unsteadily.

But Lorenza refused to cede any ground. She stomped on the canvas, then swung her right glove forward, launching a straight at Carmenâ€s face. She followed it up with a left hook, aimed at her rivalâ€s ear, and then, almost immediately after that, another straight right, as she tried to batter Carmen senseless.