Fight 10: “Mean” MOIRA MAC LEOD vs NINA “Soviet Lady” BOGUINSKAIA
Record/Votes: Moira – 7-6-4, 2 KO / 21
Nina – 9-8-3, 2 KO / 45
Description: (8 Rounds) There was a time when a lady wouldn’t have
considered herself properly dressed if she’d left the house without first donning a
pair of white gloves. It’s said that the more things change, the more they stay the
same, and here’s proof of it: neither Nina Boguinskaia or Moira MacLeod would
ever think of climbing into the boxing ring without her pair of white gloves, just
like proper ladies. Of course, both knew that they weren’t coming to the Denav
Sports Arena tonight for a tea party, and each felt that she was prepared to bring
home the win this evening.
It’s no secret that the competition in the DWBL is tough, as the records of these
two young ladies will attest to. There are some people who will tell you that Nina
Boguinskaia is the very definition of a fringe contender, but the Soviet Lady’s
fans will argue that their favorite blonde, while she may not win every time, is
never in a bad fight. Likewise, the backers of Mean Moira MacLeod will explain
that the Glasgow native is bulldog tough and doesn’t know what it means to back
down from a challenge. Certainly, there’s no argument that these two young
ladies can hit; no, the argument is more about which one hits harder.
Once the boxers had entered the ring and the introductions had been made, the
referee summoned them to the center of the ring for their final instructions, which
led to a stare down of epic proportions. Moira’s lip curled into a sneer as she
locked eyes with Nina, who glowered right back and punched her fists together.
There certainly seemed to be no question about whether these ladies were ready
to fight.
When the bell sounded for round one, Ms Boguinskaia quickly made her fight
plan obvious. With a height and reach advantage over Moira, she intended to
fight tall, using her reach to keep MacLeod out of her optimal punching range
while punching down on her shorter opponent. Mean Moira didn’t seem to be
fazed by this, and she had a fight plan of her own: work her way inside, negate
Boguinskaia’s size advantage, and make Nina pay for anything and everything
that she did manage to land. The Soviet Lady can be a formidable opponent, but
there’s no doubt she’s at her best when she’s in control of a bout. Moira, on the
other hand, was clearly not intimidated by the size difference. She seems to be
an equal opportunity opponent, willing and able to dish out the same punishment
to her rivals regardless of size, race, creed, or color. Even though the first round
was primarily a feeling out session, there was something about it that had the
fans on the edge of their seats. I’m not much for premonitions, but I had the gut
feeling that this fight might just turn out to be equal parts chess match and
demolition derby.
After a relatively slow first round, both women came out fighting in the second.
Nina popped a few stiff jabs into MacLeod’s face as the Scot moved forward. A
handful of jabs wasn’t going to slow Moira down, and she continued to press
forward, looking to get to where she could throw her preferred short armed power
punches. Just as she was closing in on her best range, Ms Boguinskaia jerked a
right uppercut to her jaw, snapping Moira’s head back in a spray of sweat and a
halo of red hair. MacLeod bounced a step or two on her toes, shaking off the
punch and getting herself reset, and Nina stepped in, throwing a left hook at her
head. Mean Moira ducked under the hook and banged a right and a left to the
Soviet Lady’s ribs before circling away, snapping her jab as cover. Boguinskaia
moved right with her, her white gloved fists pumping, and Moira fired back as
they stalked one another. Nina took a quick step forward behind an overhand
right that she powered into MacLeod’s forehead, whipping the Scot’s head
around. She drilled a pair of left hooks to Mean Moira’s floating ribs, and the
redhead countered with a left uppercut, right cross, left hook combination that
brought a roar from her fans and shook a mist of perspiration from the Russian’s
blonde hair, her ponytail sailing as the bell rang.
Between rounds, both fighters listened intently to their trainers as they sat in their
corners. When the bell rang, each crossed the ring quickly. Punches flew, and
heads jerked back from the impact of leather fists. Moira caught Nina with a
clean, hard straight left, and a trickle of blood ran from the Soviet Lady’s right
nostril. Nina banged a trio of rights – two hooks and an uppercut - to MacLeod’s
bare midriff, and Mean Moira fired back with a flurry of white gloved punches.
Stepping inside the Russian blonde’s reach, the redhead hammered a left into
her solar plexus, and Nina gasped for breath around her mouthguard. Moira
continued to press forward, backing her adversary onto the ropes, where she
proceeded to tee off and deliver a series of punishing shots to Nina’s body and
head. Ms Boguinskaia sagged against the ropes, raising her fists and arms to
cover up, and MacLeod crunched another left to her nose, the trickle of blood
becoming a torrent that ran down across her lips and chin. Nina pawed a right at
Moira’s face, then grabbed with her left, tying her up in a bear hug and refusing
to relinquish her grip until the ref came and physically separated them. Once the
action had resumed, Boguinskaia got on her bicycle and stayed as far away from
MacLeod as she could for the remainder of the round. Moira looked frustrated as
she returned to her corner after the bell, even though it had unquestionably been
a winning round for her.
Round four saw Ms Boguinskaia returning to her fight plan, as she jabbed and
kept her distance, further frustrating MacLeod. Moira never stopped trying to
close the gap between them, and there were moments where it looked like she
was about to break through the Russian’s defenses. It never quite happened,
though, and by the second minute of the round, Nina was landing some solid
shots against Moira as she continued her attempts to move inside. Ms MacLeod
was stuck reaching in, the power of her punches reduced as she stretched in
order to connect. At her full extension, Moira just couldn’t match the taller, longer
armed Nina’s power. It appeared that Ms Boguinskaia was winning the battle for
supremacy, at least during this stanza.
Someone unfamiliar with Moira and Nina could be forgiven for making some
incorrect assumptions about these two fighters from physical appearances. With
her height advantage, one might presume that Ms Boguinskaia would be the
stronger woman. The fifth round would prove that conjecture wrong, however.
Out of her corner fast at the bell, the longer strided Nina met Mean Moira on her
side of the ring. This encroachment didn’t go over well with the Scot, who
immediately instituted a plan to back the Russian up and reclaim control of the
action. As a big part of Moira’s strategy involved applying maximum pain to
Nina’s body, she went back to battering Ms Boguinskaia’s torso with a
vengeance. It didn’t take very long before Nina was clearly rethinking her fight
plan and seeking to distance herself again from the Mean redhead. However,
Ms MacLeod was quite satisfied by how things were going so far this round, and
she wasn’t about to give up her advantage. Not only was her close proximity to
her opponent optimal for her short armed punching style, but it also effectively
smothered much of the Soviet Lady’s attack, leaving Boguinskaia without much
offense. With her choices limited, it was about all Nina could do to cover up and
ride out the time remaining in the round.
During the break between rounds, Ms MacLeod’s team gave her encouragement
to continue using the same fight plan. Meanwhile, Ms Boguinskaia’s trainer was
giving her an earful, reminding her that she was the bigger woman in the fight
and should be using that to her advantage. Maybe so, but my old neighbors had
a couple of pit bulls that were terrified of the miniature pinscher three houses
down. The difference in scale might not have been so extreme in this case, but
the thought was much the same. Well, Nina wasn’t about to be shown up, not
without a fight, and she came out of her corner when the bell rang, staked her
claim to the territory at the center of the ring, and posted a slew of white leather
“no trespassing” signs directly in Moira’s face. Ms MacLeod disagreed with the
Soviet Lady’s contention that she was the owner and sole proprietor of the ring,
and made no secret of the ownership dispute. Still Ms Boguinskaia made a
strong case for her point of view, never letting Mean Moira far enough inside for
her punches to have their full impact. Every time Ms MacLeod made any forward
progress, she would inevitably run into a flurry punctuated by at least a couple of
uppercuts. It didn’t stop Moira from trying, but it did have a major impact on her
success rate this round.
The roles were reversed in the corners after round six. While Team Boguinskaia
instructed their woman to keep up the good work, Ms MacLeod’s trainer got nose
to nose with his boxer and explained to her in no uncertain terms what would
happen if she had another round like she’d just had. Initially, it looked like both
women had been encouraged by their respective pep talks. Nina came out of
her corner prepared to spend the next two minutes showing Moira that bigger
was indeed better. But Moira head faked, feinted, and danced her way inside,
ready to show Nina that it most certainly was not. Before the Soviet Lady could
get an effective offense going, she was forced into a defensive mode. And she
sure wasn’t happy about it. Not only was she denied the working room she
prefers, she also found herself on the receiving end of what seemed like scores
of punches being thrown by an opponent who apparently just couldn’t miss. After
what proved to be two very tough minutes for her, Nina looked happy to hear the
bell as she trudged back to her corner to have her trainer yell at her and her cut
man work on stemming the copious flow of blood from her nose.
When the bell rang to open the final round of this match, both women exited their
corners with determined looks on their faces. They gave the most cursory of
glove taps in the interest of good sportsmanship, and then got down to work.
Nina stabbed at Moira’s nose with her jab, and Moira countered to the blonde’s
torso with a flurry of hooks from both hands. The Soviet Lady dug an uppercut to
the redhead’s belly, as a prelude to the overhand right that wobbled the Mean
one. As Moira took an unsteady step back, Boguinskaia fired off a hooking left
that went wide of its mark, and the now reset MacLeod stepped back inside,
slamming a pair of right hooks to her gut. Nina doubled over a little from those
shots to the midriff, just enough to catch the left uppercut Moira threw next full
force on her jaw. Now it was the Russian’s turn to hear those little birdies, and
Ms MacLeod kept firing, resolved to do her part to keep them singing. Backing
up on rubbery legs, Nina was still punching, but her defenses were pretty much
gone, her chin wide open. It made for an inviting target, and Mean Moira was
happy to take advantage of the opportunity to have a little target practice. She
bulled her way forward, banging away two fisted at the virtually undefended
Soviet Lady. As soon as Nina’s back came in contact with the ring ropes, Moira
set her feet and really started delivering the bombs. Ms Boguinskaia tried to
protect herself behind her raised gloves and arms, but they offered little shelter
from Mean Moira’s attack. Finally, the referee stepped in, shooing MacLeod over
to a neutral corner while he checked on the Russian’s condition. Nina appeared
grateful for the break that the standing eight count gave her, and once the ref
cleared her to continue, she seemed to rally a little, finishing the round on close
to even terms with her Scottish adversary. At the final bell, each woman threw
her fists in the air in a victory pose, but they didn’t look equally convinced of their
chances of obtaining that victory.
Decision: The totals on all three scorecards were close, but all three gave the
edge to Moira MacLeod over Nina Boguinskaia. Still, it was a solid effort by both
women tonight. Whenever I see either of these young ladies in the ring, I always
find that I have to remind myself that neither is out of her teens yet. With the skill
sets they each possess at this stage in their careers, their fans have much to
look forward to as they continue to work their ways up the rankings.
Roger Koufax