Ann Margret had been the most dominant American celebrity fighter in the period immediately preceding Raquel Welch. Much of Ann's later career would involve her attempting to subvert or antagonize Welch when she couldn't actively engage her. Dyan Cannon had, by the time of this fight in 1973, become a strident critic of both Margret and Welch. She made a point of seeking out conflict with the old pillars of American celebrity in a classic effort to re-cast the status quo.
When Cannon wrestled Welch to a standstill in an inconclusive apartment tussle, Margret seized upon the opportunity to box the blonde that had given Raquel all she could handle.
Held in a dark, oak-paneled stateroom aboard a chartered yacht in the South of France immediately after shooting wrapped on the mystery thriller "Last of Sheila" Dyan Cannon and Ann Margret strapped on the leather to bang out history in front of a half-dozen or so fellow celebs including Raquel, Mitzi Gaynor, scriptwriter Anthony Perkins, Richard Benjamin and wife Paula Prentiss, James Coburn and Joan Hackett. Ann wore black push ups and panties; Dyan in a purple bikini with a gold belly chain.
Round 1: Ann began the fight getting big on Dyan, looking to impose her will early in order to ride the blonde late, but Cannon wouldn't cooperate. Dyan was a master of holding and hitting and she used these cunning tactics to great effect by first slowing, then reversing the tide of Margret's assault. Bogging the red head down, Cannon would tie up Margret's right arm, then plug her own free right hand into the cuddly midriff or bulging breasts of her opponent. Cannon would ride her left arm up around Margret's neck, twisting her into headlocks, making it easy to walk Ann to the wall. Once against the wall, Dyan was especially effective, using her wrap-up on one or the other of Annie's arms to put her shoulder in Margret's chest and jam the redhead repeatedly into the hard oak surface. After one, Margret had fought her fight - and taken a beating. The confusion waas clear on her beautiful face.
Rounds 2-3: Margret continued to be the early aggressor, and continued to be swallowed up by Dyan's swampy tactics, then mercilessly worked over in a series of brutal clinches. Working in close, spectators could only see Dyan's happy, sweating face over Ann's shoulder - the blonde's shoulder and legs pumping with sudden jerks as hidden, very short punches pumped home to Ann's full bra or straining belly. Margret gritted her teeth, fought in spots, but was clearly having difficulty with the clinching, waiting for breaks while allowing Dyan to pile up the points inside. And the bruising work against the walls was having an effect - Annie's face appeared flushed and dazed at the end of the third after a series of shoulder blocks into the wood left her breathless. Cannon was smiling wildly, hair in her eyes and mouth - she was savaging Margret through 3.
Round 4: Cannon could really punch to the body. As Margret grew tentative, not eager to close for fear of the clinching, Dyan stepped forward with a thumping series of lefts and rights to the ribs and lower belly, crippling Ann and beating her the length of the stateroom. By the midway point, it was a jailbreak - Dyan squared up in front of Ann, puniishing the legend with beefy rips to either side, and uppercuts through the middle to bang back Margret's face. Staying compact, Dyan punched uppercuts with a sexy shrugging motion of her shoulders as Ann drooped forward and her legs gave way. Ann stumbled to all fours with an exhausted look of shock on her face as Dyan laughed as she stepped away with a flourish. Ann would gather herself, only to take a scrubbing along the walls for the final minute.
Round 5: Ann's eyes began to take on a hollow, sullen aspect as the grinning, effervescent blonde started each round bouncy, eager, and happy to be slugging out a time honored legend. Dyan's wrapping techniques were eating Ann up - Cannon would pull on Ann's right, slump the redhead forward and pump away with rights, often resting her cheek on Ann's brawny shoulder as the punches jammed home to the goodies beneath. Cannon repeated her work with Ann's left arm tied up. The redhead spent more and more time suffering up against the wall, and when Cannon wasn't punching, she was forever jostling, molesting, and shoulder blocking Ann hard into the wood. Margret could fight back in spots - she was having moments when Cannon covered up and couldn't punch back - but the moments were few, far between, and getting fewer and more distant as the fight ground on.
Round 6: Margret dug in, badly beaten through 5, determined to stand her ground and reverse the tide. She rammed home short lead rights to the chest, followed up with cranking left hooks and backed Dyan up consistently for the first time in the fight. Rousing action against the wall saw both girls tie up and twist their opponent into the paneling, then pile on with juicy, pumping lefts and rights to the lower belly. Fighting shoulder to shoulder, the two beauties never lost contact with one another, each determined to sweat the other under. By the bell of this most furious round, Ann was working Dyan over in a corner, finally punishing the blonde in one-sided fashion. As Cannon came out of her defensive huddle - she grinned and gave Margret a shove on the shoulder. The redhead had never seen such insolence from an opponent before.
Rounds 7-8: Dyan goaded Ann forward, taunting and verbally demanding more effort from Margret, and Ann obliged. Everything worked to the blonde's advantage as she would accept Ann against her body, work to wrap up an arm, then chug away methodically as Margret struggled to extricate herself. Margret's jugs had never been so thoroughly pummeled as they were on this night - the punishment often leaving the redhead reeling in open-mouth astonishment. The brawl weaved randomly around the stateroom, Cannon riding either of her arms around Ann as they stumbled, controlling the redhead, holding her for damage - the constant beating to Margret's body and breasts was sapping the redhead's will. Ann finished these rounds compliant, doubled over with her right side against the wall, giving a grinning Cannon free reign over her ribs, back, hips, and upper thighs. Cannon with that devil-may-care grin obliged, pounding away with short lefts and rights against an unresponding opponent.
Round 9: Dyan opened the round with a savage right cross, stepping into Ann's chin and sitting the redhead down with a thunderous crash. Cannon exaggerated her momentum, taking the opportunity to trample the redhead as Dyan 'staggered' forward - she was partying now as she laughed, pranced around the room, waiting for Margret to get stiffly to her feet. As Ann swooned on ramshackle legs - Dyan reached up under the redhead's arms and chested her back to the wall, administering some of the worst punishment Margret had ever received in a long, distinguished career. Dyan was all beef with her shots - setting her feet, palming Margret with the left, and driving in with the right - each punch punctuated by the high sweet tone of Margret's breathy grunts. By the end of the round, Ann was folded over, cringing sideways against the wall again, as Dyan loaded up and stuffed right hands in behind the protective elbow.
Round 10: By now, Cannon's arms were heavy, the blonde was breathing hard with the exertion of giving Ann her beating, while, Margret was drowsily propping her butt up against the wall to dig in for the distance. Dyan climbed aboard, palming up on Ann's biceps, grinding her head under Margret's chin - the two women struggled like this for much of the first minute - Dyan just pressing up, making Ann feel the weight, Margret just trying to protect herself from any incoming. Cannon occasionally worked to stuff in a right hand to the belly, but was mostly content to headlock Ann and press her slumped body up against the wall, smearing and wearing on the redhead in a groggy final heat. By the bell, Margret was destitute; a huge mouse under her left eye, face expressionless, body throbbing. Dyan was exuberant, strutting the stateroom with gloves held high - she had just backed up her outrageous boasts in decisive fashion.
UD10 Dyan Cannon.
After: It was inconceivable! Margret had been knocked out by much larger opponents (Sophia Loren), outclassed and outboxed on occasion, but against someone her own size, fighting her own fight, she'd never been so utterly dominated as on this night by Cannon. To make matters worse, it would take over an hour to steam back into port - during which the badly beaten Margret had to endure the crowing taunts and celebrations of her opponent in the close confines of the yacht.
Never again would Margret be mentioned as a principal rival of Raquel Welch in the aftermath of this bout. Indeed, the days when Ann would enter fights an overwhelming favorite were well behind her now. Dyan Cannon's fists had pounded the last vestige of authority from Ann Margret's body, neatly delineating the beginning point of a legendary showgirl's decline.