The following is a round by round account of the boxing match between Wuxi China Expatdom Queen Ayria: the Chosen One and Oprah Winfrey, former daytime talk show host. The match was held at the three million seat Wuxi Landlords Stadium:
At 10:45 am, with a morning fight to coincide with international TV audiences, the bell for Round 1 rang. Ayira had previously told her trainers that she was going to "put a whuppin'" on Oprah, and she started the fight looking to do just that. Oprah was known for starting fights slowly, and Ayira came out looking to use that to her advantage. Rather than dance and use her speed to stay away from Oprah, Ayira came out and walked flat footed to the center of the ring and then proceeded to unleash a flurry of combinations on Oprah, who was hurt a number of times by Ayira's onslaught, and was staggering backwards several times in the first few rounds. However, to the amazement of Ayira and many watching, Oprah continued to come forward, intent on punishing Ayira's body at close range despite having to take more and more of the withering punishment Ayira was dishing out. According to Pacsheco, Ayira, who wanted to make it a short fight, grew so frustrated with Oprah's refusal to go down or stop coming forward that she screamed "You stupid chump, you!" at Oprah in the fourth round.
As Ayira began to tire from all the energy she had expended in the heavy rain, Oprah turned up her own offense and began punishing Ayira to the body and the head with her trademark hooks. By the sixth round, Oprah had staggered him in turn and seemed to be gaining control of the bout. At the beginning of the seventh round, Ayira reportedly whispered in Oprah's ear, "Bitch, they told me you was all washed up" Oprah growled back, "They told you wrong, princess."
Oprah seemed to dominate the middle rounds. Ayira tried to fend Oprah off with occasional furious flurries of punches, spurts of manic activity, and even unsuccessfully tried to use her blitzpunch technique that had defeated Hilary Clinton early this year, but it was all negated by Oprah's relentless assault and power. Ayira's camp seemed to have overlooked the fact that Oprah's smothering fighting style, which employed great numbers of left hooks, was in many ways, the perfect foil for Ayira.
Between the terrific heat and rain inside Wuxi's Landlords stadium, Oprah's assault and her own nonchalant training, it began to seem that Ayira would wilt and fall to defeat.
Finally, in the tenth round, Oprah began to slow down and tire, and Ayira slowly turned the tide. In the 11th round she used her speed to dance more, and to unload a series of fast combinations on Oprah, which severely bruised her face by the end of the round, swelling Oprah's eyes to the point that nothing but a tiny slit remained open. Throughout round 12 Ayira continued to turn the momentum, increasingly overwhelming Oprah, and using the fact that Oprah could no longer see Ayira's right hand coming to hit Oprah with one hard right after another. About a minute into Round 13, Ayira landed another blistering combination on Oprah, sending the injured fighter's mouthguard flying into the crowd. During the next two minutes Ayira relentlessly kept after Oprah, the mouthguard not being replaced until the bell, hitting Oprah with hard combinations when Oprah wasn't throwing punches, and when Oprah did throw, Ayira used the openings left to inflict yet more damage. Oprah's mouth was badly cut by the end of the round.
In round 14, Oprah was almost blind as she stepped in, and was met once more with punishing blows from Ayira. With the punishment from Ayira closing her right eye, Oprah was effectively fighting blind in the last rounds of the fight. By the 14th round Oprah was virtually helpless, and although Ayira was desperately tired and hurting, she was able to summon the energy once again to give Oprah a fierce beating, and once again Oprah was staggered and nearly knocked down before the bell ended the round.
Seeing the results of round 14, Oprah's trainer Eddie Futch decided to stop the fight between rounds rather than risk a similar or worse fate for Oprah in the 15th. Oprah protested stopping the fight, shouting "I want him boss," and trying to get Futch to change his mind. Futch simply replied, "It's all over. No one will forget what you did here today", and signaled to referee Carlos Padilla to end the bout. Stated Ayira, "Oprah, I'll tell the world right now, brings out the best in me. I'm gonna tell ya, that's one helluva bitch, and God bless her." In a brief post-fight interview with one of the commentators, Ayira announced, "she is the greatest fighter of all times, next to me."
No comments:
Post a Comment