Erica was aching but there was work to be done. The previous night she’d taken a beating in the boxing ring from her nemesis, Emily. Today she had to coach Ellen through her first ever boxing match and get her ready for the senior boxing tournament that was now just a few days away.

When Ellen walked into Marshall’s Heath Club she was waiting for her student in the lobby: “Hi Ellen, how are you?”

“Good, thanks. But, more importantly, how are you? I was watching last night. I’m sorry you lost.”

“Yes, I saw you there. What can I say? Emily and I have always had our differences and I did get her deselected a few years back. Last night she was the better woman. I’ll get her another time. But enough about me, I’ll survive. I want you to meet the team so let me introduce you.”

Erica led Ellen through to the ring room and there were three attractive blondes already there.

“Today we’re making it was real as possible – you’re going to fight a full match, or until you say you’ve had enough. I’ll be the ref but everyone else here is also a boxer. Let me introduce your time keeper, Stacey, your third judge Donna, and your opponent Mair. Mair hasn’t boxed since she was deselected three years ago but she’s currently ranked 4th in the heavy weight wresting league and she’s about your size. I’ll be your second and Donna will be Mair’s – we’ll score the match like the real thing and Stacey will have the judges’ casting vote.”

Ellen acknowledged Donna and Stacey and shook hands with her opponent.

“Mair? That’s an interesting name.”

Mair smiled sweetly and said “It’s Welsh – my mother comes from Snowdonia. I know this is only practice, and you’re 15 years older than me, but I’ll only pull my punches if you ask me to. I expect you to give me all you’ve got.”

“Then you should give me all you’ve got.” Ellen replied with an icy stare.

Erica stepped between them and broke the tension. “Mair you’re in the red corner, Ellen’s in the blue, go and get changed, we’ll see you back here in 5 minutes.”

Ellen changed as quickly as she could slipping out of her street clothes, slipping on her black hipster briefs with the large white polka dots and tying her hair back with a scrunchy. When she returned to the ring room she saw she had lost the psychological advantage, Mair was already in the ring.

Climbing into the ring Ellen got a chance to size up her opponent. Mair was a couple of inches taller than she was, slimmer but far from willowy with large green eyes, blonde hair cut in a pageboy style and large, well-formed breasts. ‘36Ds’ Ellen thought to herself, ‘more than a match for my 38Cs – good job this isn’t a tit fight’. Mair was wearing a pair of bottle green sports briefs with a yellow stripe up the right-hand side that covered a pert backside atop strong, shapely legs.

Erica came over to help Ellen put her gloves on and said: “I’m filming this fight, if nothing else it will be a good training aid and, depending on how it goes, we might release it – you OK with that?”

“I guess so – but promise me you won’t put it out if she slaughters me.”

Erica grinned: “I promise I won’t but I’m sure she won’t either – ready to go?”

Ellen nodded and Erica lead her to the centre of the ring and signalled to Mair to join them.

Erica made the initial announcements:

“Our match today is between Mair Carter in the red corner and Ellen Shaw in the blue corner and will consist of six 3-minute rounds fought to normal club rules. Mair is 32 years old, 5ft 9inches tall, 36D-26-37, weighs 152lbs and has a league record of 4 wins and 10 defeats. Ellen is 47 years old, 5 feet 7 inches tall, measures 38C-29-42 and weighs 155lbs – this is her first boxing match. Ladies, please return to your corners and come out fighting at the bell.”

The combatants dutifully returned to their corners and, moments later, Stacy rang the bell to start the first round. Both girls started cautiously, circling each other and throwing out exploratory jabs. As the round progressed, they both got more confident and mixed it up a bit but there was no conclusive advantage by the end of the round and it was no surprise that the round was scored 3-3 by the judges.

Erica gave Ellen an encouraging pep talk between rounds but clearly Donna did the same for Mair because the second round followed much the same pattern as the first with the two girls being relatively evenly matched a no decisive blows being landed. Things changed in the closing seconds of the round as Mair hit Ellen with a couple of straight rights to the face that had the older woman staggering slightly, she followed up with a series of jabs to the breast that forced Ellen back into a corner where the bell saved her from a standing count.

Erica was quick to reassure the older woman during the break that she was still very much in contention. Both Donna and Erica signalled one point each but Stacey used her casting vote in favour of the younger woman and the scores flashed up as 7-5 to Mair.

Spurred on by her success at the end of the 2nd round and her slight lead Mair went on the offensive in the 3rd round and dominated the round from the opening bell. Ellen was forced to cover up and back pedal under a relentless assault from the younger woman and it was no surprise when, just after the mid-way point in the round, a right cross connected with Ellen’s jaw and she went down in a heap.

Erica began the count and give encouraging calls to her dazed protégé between each number. Ellen shook off the cobwebs and got slowly to her feet. Erica stopped the count at 9 and waved Mair back in to combat. It didn’t take the younger woman long to force her older opponent back onto the defensive and Ellen was soon pushed into a corner and forced to take a standing count of 8.

Whether Mair had run out of steam or Ellen had regained her confidence wasn’t clear but the remaining 45 seconds of the round saw the pair trading blows in an evenly matched way that belied the beating the older woman had taken seconds earlier. None the less Ellen was grateful to hear the bell and happy to get a breather while Erica offered advice:

“She definitely got the better of you there but she’s starting to tire, you need to take the fight to her in the next round. Get inside her. Go for those big tits of hers and get her guard down. Then hit her with an upper cut – I guarantee she’ll do down. OK?”

Ellen nodded and Erica turned to Stacey to signal her score for round 3. Unsurprisingly Mair took all 6 points from the judges and the score going into the 4th was 16-5. Ellen could see she had it all to do and was determined the fight wouldn’t be a one-sided affair.

The bell sounded for the 4th and this time it was the older woman on the attack and Mair who was forced to cover up and back pedal. Ellen followed Erica’s advice, ducking under the taller woman’s jabs and attacking her breast to bring her guard down before going for her exposed jaw. At the third attempt the combination came together and Mair went down on her back. She made it up at 8 but was slowed by the knockdown and 30 seconds later a right hook put her down again, this time for a count of 9.

The tables had turned and it looked like Ellen might be on the brink of winning her first ever match. With 45 seconds of the round left Ellen went in for the kill but Mair ducked below a wild left hook and delivered a right upper cut squarely into the older woman’s sex. With a startled look on her face Ellen dropped to her knees as Erica intercepted Mair and signalled the low blow. Stacey sounded the bell immediately and Erica helped Ellen back to her corner.

There was no need to wait for the scores, Ellen got all the judges points for her dominance of the round, four points for the two knock downs and an additional two points the low blow. That made the scores 16-17- Ellen took the lead.

The extended break had helped Ellen and despite the pain in her knickers she went on the attack from the bell, hoping to build on her success. But it seemed that Mair has benefited more from the break. After a strong start to the round, it suddenly went all wrong for the older woman. Pressing forward her attack Ellen left herself open to a crashing right hook from Mair as she slipped clear. Ellen went down along the ropes. She made it up at 9 but was on her back again just moments later from a right upper cut to the jaw. Once again, she made it up by 9 and doggedly resolved to carry on but she was struggling now and took a standing count of 9 for holding on and another one as she was backed into a corner just before the bell.

Erica guided a dazed and shocked Ellen back to her corner, sat her down and said: “Ellen, I want to stop the fight. You’ve done a great job but she’d beaten you badly this round and I want you in good shape for the tournament.”

Ellen looked up at her mentor and tears welled up in her eyes: “No, please don’t, let me finish this. I’m not a quitter. I never quit. Don’t make me quit now.”

The younger woman took her gloved hands reassuringly and smiled: “OK, I’ll let you go on but if you go down or taking standing count in this last round, I’m stopping it. Deal?”

Ellen sniffed back her tears and said “Deal!”

The scores flashed up. Once again Stacey used her discretion and awarded a point to Ellen for her determination but that was a small token compared to the 11 points Mair took. Going into the final round Mair led by 27-18.

Ellen knew she had it all to do in the final round. She also knew she was exhausted, but she was determined to give it her best shot. The good news for her was that, despite her dominance of the previous round, Mair was also running on empty.

At the bell Ellen braced herself for an assault by the younger woman but in never came. For two minutes the pair traded punches and, if anything, Ellen had the slight edge but she needed more, much more.

Stacey called out: “One minute, ladies.” And Ellen made a final push to even things up with a blistering attack on Mair’s 36Ds.

Ellen pistoned punches into Mair’s love bags, Mair’s guard came down, her head was snapped back by a well time right and she went down. For a moment it looked like it might all be over but Mair got unsteadily to her feet at 8 and Erica stopped the count at 9. Ellen caught her again a few seconds later but the canny youngster was able to use the ropes to save herself going down and probably deprived the older woman of victory. Ellen was exhausted and, try as she might, she wasn’t able to land a decisive blow in closing seconds.

At the bell it was clear that, despite her best efforts, Ellen was at least two points short of victory. Mair embraced the shorter woman and mumbled: “You almost had me there.” Before retreating to her corner.

Erica hugged Ellen as well and asked: “How did you do that? I was sure you were finished at the end of the 5th but you nearly took her out then. You were great, you really were.”

There were no great surprises when the final scores came up and Erica bought the pair together in the centre of the ring completed the formalities.

“Ladies, your winner by 27 points to 26 – Mair! And your gallant loser by just one point – Ellen!”

The two fighters hugged again and Mair made her way out of the ring to the red corner dressing room. Stacey followed her and Donna headed for the edit suite to stop the cameras. Ellen and Erica were alone in the ring.

Ellen was on the brink of tears again. Erica put and arm around her and said: “Hey, cheer up. You did great. She’s got 15 years on you and you only lost by a point.”

“But I lost!” Ellen started to sob, “I wanted to win so much.”

Erica pulled her protégé close and hugged her: “You will, I promise you, you’ll win a match in the tournament. Now come with me and get changed, I’ll give you a massage and tell you about your opponents on Saturday.”

Ellen sniffed back her tears: “OK, do you really think I can win?”

Erica nodded: “Based on that display I’d say you could beat at least 3 of the others and probably 5 of them.”

With that she led the way out of the ring and back to the blue corner dressing room.