Cheryl's semi-final match was against an unknown fighter named Marci. Marci was a solidly built red-head who had won her previous two matches by KOs. Marci was one of the strongest women in the competition. She had a no-nonsense attitude. She showed little emotion. Cheryl knew she would face a stiff challenge in this match.
Once the two entered the ring and removed their tops, it was apparent these were two of the biggest women in the contest and the action would likely be hot and heavy. As reported already, Cheryl brought to the battle a pair of 38Ds. Marci was no shrinking violet. She was an eyeful 37C. As the bell clanged to start the action, both women approached each other more cautiously than the crowd expected. The two women realized that the other could inflict some real damage so they wanted to feel each other out. A jab here, a jab there, not much more than that after the first minute or so. Then Marci made her move. Surprising Cheryl with a quick assault, Marci caught Cheryl with a sharp right to the side of her of head. Stunned, Cheryl froze for an instant and Marci was all over her with a a powerful blow to her abs, and then she applied one of Cheryl's patented punches, the uppercut which set Cheryl up for a vicious combination of blows to her chin. The first snapped her head to the right and the next to the left. Cheryl's body unprotected now, Marci delivered some pulverizing body blows that elicited groans of pain. Cheryl had never been hit like this before, not even by Kari. The body shots made it difficult for Cheryl to get her breath and she couldn't get away from Marci who caught her with a sharp and powerful blow to the chin and down she went. And she stayed down unable to shake off the powerful attack that Marci had dealt her. The crowd was stunned to stay the least. This whole promotion was the idea of her husband, the radio station had used her as the face of the contest, and she had been crowned the queen of the topless contest that preceded the fighting. This Marci was one powerful woman who completely dominated Cheryl, the woman who had given Kari all she could handle. And in the crowd watching Cheryl's destruction was Kari. Marci's ring prowess had certainly gotten Kari's attention. To say she was stunned, not by the fact that Cheryl lost, but by how dominating Marci was in destroying her long time brunette nemesis.
Kari then had to turn her attention to her bout. It was going to be difficult to focus knowing what she just saw. Not knowing what to expect when she faced Marci, Kari began to game plan how she would fight her. The only problem was, she had a fight to win first. Her opponent, Tara was a strawberry blonde athletic woman. She had been a track athlete in high school and college. She was about 2-3 inches taller than Kari at 5'10". That height advantage would also provide her with a reach advantage. A bit on the slender side, she was a 34 B with smallish nipples.
Kari seemed preoccupied at the start of the fight, as a result Tara was able to land a lot of jabs and keep on the move and keep Kari from inflicting any real punishment. The first round ended pretty uneventfully with Tara connection on about 1/3 more punches than Kari. Not a one of Tara's punches did any damage but she likely was the winner of round one just on the fact that she was the more active fighter.
Round two was much of the same. Kari was looking right past Tara who didn't seem to have the ability to really hurt Kari but she continued to take advantage of her reach edge and would throw a jab and move. Kari just didn't seem focused. Every so often, she would land a solid punch but wouldn't really follow up like she usually would do. Near the end of the second round, she did catch Tara in the corner and pounded her with 4-5 punches that seemed to slow her down. She was forced to cover up but was saved by the bell from any further damage. As Kari came to her corner, I told her that while she would likely walk away from this fight with nary and a cut or bruise, she could lose just on points. She had to focus on beating Tara or there would be no Marci to worry about. The crowd had had little to get excited about and was restless with the thought that not only would Cheryl not fighting in the final but perhaps Kari would be absent as well. Most thought Marci would finish off Tara in the first round if that was what it came to.
Kari got the picture and went after Tara with a vengeance. She could run but she couldn't hide. Kari again trapped her in a corner and blitzed Tara with 7 or 8 shots without a response. Down she went and while she was still conscious Tara had had enough. She took all the punishment she could handle. And while it was one of Kari's most lackluster performances EVER, she would be moving on to the finals. She could now worry about how she would handle the beast known as Marci.
