My thanks to DarkKnight9980 for creating the character of Karen for this story.
Friday, the 25th of February 2022 saw the start of the new season of the CLAWS boxing league first tournament, two years after lockdown it stopped the 2020 season. With three new girls making up the eight fighters in the league and no fighter in waiting it was going to prove to be an interesting season.
A few weeks previously we had already seen the Welsh woman, Cerys, destroy Page Rodriguez-Somerville to take the league wrestling title. With the top two boxers from 2020 no longer fighting, the boxing league title was up for grabs and it would be interesting to see who would be crowned the new CLAWS league champion at the end of the evening. But before that there would be a fight which would interest me far more, the first boxing match of my protégé Nat taking on the dark woman from the north east, Karen.
Both women were in their mid-30s and similarly built, around 5 foot five tall and 140lbs. Both were fighting their first fight CLAWS but that’s where the similarity ended.
Nat was the bubbly blonde I’d met on the beach previous September. At the time she’s been a good deal heavier with a lot of puppy fat about her. She’d watched me take on Lynne, woman who had discovered her husband’s fight fetish and saw me as a threat. Lynne had challenged me to a no holds barred fight in the sand dunes. Unbeknown to me, Nat had been stalking me for some time hoping to persuade me to introduce her to the people CLAWS. The opportunity to see me in action against the mature woman was too tempting for her. After I had initially subdued Lynne, I looked up to find Nat pleasuring herself a short distance away in the dunes. To cut a long story short I took them both the CLAWS the next day and got them signed up to fight. Lynne was now fighting in the senior wrestling championships and Nat had decided to become a boxer in the league.
By contrast Karen was a complete unknown to me, a chocolate skinned woman of West Indian parentage who had recently moved to the area from the north east of England. Whether she had boxed before wasn’t clear but she seemed very keen to get involved with the boxing at CLAWS. By all accounts she had impressed her trainer, former undefeated league champion Emily, in their sessions to date. I had no doubt this would be an exciting encounter and, whilst I was hoping my girl would win, I had no doubt that the girl from Tyneside would be a formidable opponent.
I was to be Nat’s second in her match, fighting from the blue corner. She would be returning the compliment later in the evening, when an additional fight on tonight’s card would see me taking on the legendary Blake Mitchell, a woman I had only ever dreamed of fighting until a few weeks earlier.
When we entered the ring and Nat and Karen slipped off their gowns, the contrast between the two sexy fighters was stunning. Nat, with a Page boy blonde haircut clad back black bikini briefs, black boots and black gloves and, on the other side of the ring, Karen with her dark brown, almost black, skin, straight black hair down to her shoulders wearing white cotton briefs, white boots and white gloves. Nat was a little bigger in the boob department but Karen was an inch or two taller, a clear height and reached advantage.
Nat looked across the ring nervously. Karen danced around in her corner, radiating of confidence and keen to get on with the action. Referee and CLAWS CEO Suzi Lomax called the pair to the centre of the ring for the routine fight briefing and announced the combatants to the audience:
“Ladies and gentlemen in the red corner, making her CLAWS debut tonight, Karen! Karen is 36 years old, weighs 142lbs, standing 5 feet 7 inches tall and measuring 34C-24-36.”
The audience applauded and Suzi continued:
“And in the blue corner, also making her debut tonight, Nat! Nat is 33, 5 foot 5 inches, 146lbs and measures 36c-25-38.”
Again, the crowd applauded. Suzi spoke to the pair quietly for a moment and then sent them back to their corners. I gave Nat a quick talk of my own before stepping through the ropes as timekeeper Sallie cried seconds out
The bell for the start of round one rang and the two girls danced out to meet each other in the middle of the ring. Nat looking confident, moving lightly on her feet, and Karen looking slightly more serious with an expression of determination on her face. Nat began pushing out a few jabs, Karen dodged them easily before seeing an opening and planting the straight left on Nat’s right breast, Nat backed off and the coloured girl advanced. Nat feinted with her left before dodging to the right and throwing a right hook which connected with Karen’s left temple. Karen staggered but stayed on her feet and avoided a standing count as the pair face off again. The round progressed in a similar fashion with both girls attacking and defending in equal measure and, when the bell sounded at the end of 3 minutes, there was little to choose between them.
Both girls returned to their corners glowing with a slick of sweat covering their bodies. I praised Nat and encouraged her; she was doing great and I was more than pleased with her performance so far.
Round two saw both fighters continuing the furious pace of the first round. Throughout the round it seemed to me that Nat had the edge, pushing the dark-skinned girl back and shutting down her attacks. I shouted encouragement to Nat; I felt it was only a matter of time before she scored her first knockdown.
Sure enough, just after the two-minute mark Nat found an opening, pushing forward with a combination of lefts and rights that deposited the northerner on her backside. Karen was quickly on her feet but Suzi insisted on a full nine count before checking her over and allowing Nat back in.
Nat looked to capitalise on her success but Karen was having none of it, she hunkered down and rode out the blonde’s assault until the end of the round.
At the sound of the bell Nat almost skipped back to our corner, she was so pleased with herself. Between rounds I warned her to be on her guard. Karen didn’t look like the sort of girl who took a knock down lightly and she would certainly be after revenge. None the less it was pleasing to see the judges’ scores flash up giving my girl the round by five points to one and leaving Karen trailing by ten points to four.
As I suspected, the knockdown had done nothing to slow the northerner down and Karen came out for the third round with all guns blazing. Nat was on the back foot from the opening bell as the dark-skinned girl set about systematically destroying her defences.
For the first time I got a true sense of Karen’s power and skill. She was clearly more experienced than my girl, deftly shutting down any attempt by Nat to go on the attack while simultaneously wearing her down.
The inevitable knockdown occurred after about a minute and a half when a series of body blows bought Nat’s guard down and a right hook connected with her chin. Nat collapsed in a heap but quickly gather herself and was back on her feet at six. Suzi counted to eight before checking her over and allowing the action to continue.
Although she seemed to recover quickly, the damage had been done and Nat was now in full retreat as the coloured girl pursued her mercilessly. A minute later she went down for a second time to a combination of a straight left to her right breast and a right hook which connected with her temple.
This time she was slower to get up, taking the full nine count to get to her feet. She was bright red, sweating profusely and breathing hard as Suzi checked her over. Satisfied that Nat was fit to continue Sui waved Karen back on and the one-way traffic continued.
The second knockdown had shaken Nat even more than the first and she was completely on the defensive as she backpedalled around the ring doing her best to avoid Karen’s jabs. Fortunately, there were only a few second left and the bell saved her from any serious punishment.
Nat returned to our corner, red faced, looking dejected and breathing hard, the earlier spring now missing from her step. The good work of round two had been completely undone. Karen had taken ten points and now had a four-point lead over Nat. She also looked fresher and more confident while Nat looked tired and slightly worried. I did my best to encourage my girl but there was no denying that Karen was now in control of the fight, both physically and psychologically.
Despite everything Nat was far from finished and came out on the attack at the start of the fourth round. At first, she managed to control and shut down the coloured girl, backing her into a neutral corner and scoring a valuable point as Karen took a standing count.
When the action resumed Nat attempted to continue her dominance but her blows became increasingly wild as the older woman hunkered down and looked for an opening. Eventually she saw her chance and took it.
A right hook caught Nat on the left temple and suddenly my girl was in a world of trouble. A left connected with her jaw and she staggered backwards. Karen moved in and began raining punches down on the blonde. Nat desperately tried to hunker down and backed up onto the ropes where Karen managed to land another three or four blows before Suzi moved into separate them. Karen moved to the neutral corner and Suzi turned to face Nat who was slumped on the ropes, sitting on the middle one with her arms across the top one holding her up.
Suzi began a standing count as Nat tried desperately to gather her wits. When the count reached eight Nat took a faltering step away from the ropes. Suzi stopped counting and checked Nat over, asking if she was willing to continue. Nat gave the barest of nods and Suzi stepped to one side. Nat took one more step forward; her knees gave out and she pitched face down on the mat. Suzi waved her hands to indicate the fight was over and Sallie rang the bell.
Poor Nat, I was quickly through the ropes and at her side. When I reached her, I was pleased to see her eyes were open and she was trying to push herself up,
“Take it easy,” I said to her, “it’s all over, honey.”
She groaned and dropped her face back to the mat. I glanced across at Karen, arms raised in victory, standing just a couple of feet away. I couldn’t help but admire her well-toned physique. The ebony beauty was certainly a contender and she’d proved herself against my girl. Nat groaned again and rolled over onto her back. I turned my attention back to my fallen angel. At that moment Cassy joined us in the ring, checking Nat was okay. Nat lay on her back for a few moments more, breathing heavily, before sitting up. Cassy gave her a thorough checking over and looked at me and said:
“It’s okay Ellen, she’s fine. Just give her a moment.”
After another minute or so I helped Nat to her feet and guided her gently back to our corner. Suzi allowed us another minute of recovery time before calling Nat and Karen to the centre of the ring to announce the result:
“Ladies and gentlemen after one minute and 40 seconds around for your winner, by a technical knockout, Karen!”
The crowd applauded the dark-skinned woman, who raised her hands in triumph. as Suzi continued:
“And your gallant loser, Nat!”
Still slightly tearful, Nat raised one arm and waved to the crowd. Karen turned and gave her a hug before returning to her own corner. Nat despondently walked back to me and sat for another minute or so on the stool before I guided her out of the ring and back to our ringside seats
“Are you okay honey?” I asked, “Do you want to go back to the changing room for a bit?”
“I’m fine.” She replied, “I’ll stay here with you, I’ll be okay. Just give me a moment.”
I gave her a big hug and cuddled her while Stacey Williams stepped in the blue corn to take over seconding duties. Nat had lost her first fight and was now ranked eighth in the league but she would be fighting again in two months’ time and her opponent would be the loser of this next match so she was keen to watch the action despite the beating she just taken.
The second match of the evening was something of a second-generation encounter. Nineteen-year-old Chantelle Cummings, in her CLAWS debut, was up against 31-year-old Megan Carter. Their mothers, Emma Cummings and Lorraine Carter, had been league rivals 20 years earlier and both had fought in the senior boxing tournaments.
While Chantelle was a new comer Megan had been fighting in the league for several years. The blonde beauty combined her mother’s good looks and her father’s power and should, by rights, have been much higher ranked than she was. It was no surprise when she dominated the action and knocked the rookie out in just 50 seconds of the second round. So, Nat would face Chantelle in April and, I felt, had a good chance of beating her.
The third match saw veteran South African, Alma Johnson, take on rising star, Jane Langford, a woman almost 10 years her junior. Alma did her best but she was no match for the younger English woman and went out on a TKO on the fourth round.
The final match of the evening was a contest for the vacant title between Kate Robbins, a 38-year-old veteran who had been fighting in the league since 2015 and had held the title on two occasions, and Hayley Swinton, a 21-year-old rising star who had only fought two matches but had won both with knockouts in the third round.
Both women had been recruited to CLAWS after being spotted in Marshall’s boxercise classes but that’s where the similarity ended. Brunette Kate was a slim, athletic lightweight who achieved her success by wearing down larger opponents. Blonde Hayley, by contrast, was something of a bruiser, a busty young woman on the heavy side of middleweight with a solid right hook. Kate would have her work cut out dancing around her younger opponent if she was to take the title for a third time.
In the event it was the young blonde who powered to the title, knocking out the older brunette just one minute into the second round. Kate was overwhelmed from the opening bell and never had a chance to show her skills against the larger woman.
League matches over; it was now my turn to get into the ring and face my dream opponent, Blake Mitchell.
