Yvonne Craig vs. Ann Margret by simguy

It wasn't supposed to be much. Yvonne Craig had been yapping like a terrier at Ann Margaret for years, but the redhead's people always had the same retort: what's in it for Ann? Craig's too small. Ann will bulldoze Craig - on and on. When they finally met as a result of Yvonne's constant nagging, Margaret was insufferable, treating the match as little more than a chance to get some sparring rounds in. But Yvonne Craig had trained her stocky body to perfection for this fight, and had seen a similarly built Barbara Eden give Ann Margaret hell.

"Margaret had been exposed in the Eden fight and she didn't even know it," Yvonne observed in her memoirs years later. "I was determined to open her eyes by shutting them."

Yvonne was sporty in dark wine bikini, bra style top, hipster bottoms, while Ann wore a tawdry mix n' match affair, red bra style top, navy bottoms - small gloves for both.

Rd 1: Yvonne scuttled side to side, eyes wide, hands up as Margaret marched up the middle and promptly met the buzz-saw ferocity of Craig's body punching. In close, Yvonne was a jerking bundle of violence, ripping double right hands, left/right/lefts off Ann's stubborn belly paunch and forcing the redhead back with a groan. Another walk-in advance from Margaret, another vicious flurry forced her back. The opening moments of this fight had illustrated Craig's handspeed and tenacity - two elements that Ann Margaret had failed to properly scout before hand. Working behind the jab the rest of the way, Ann was content to control Yvonne from the outside, probing the defenses, learning her foe's tendencies. At the bell, Craig was trembling with confidence and anxious to get back at her opponent.

Rd 2: Ann again tried to walk her opponent down, taking a withering barrage of punches to her breadbasket and backing out in frustration, but this time, Yvonne pursued. Craig pounded on Ann's left eye with a spicy jab, catching the redhead by surprise, forcing her to backpedal across the ring. Craig ripped off a banging one-two upstairs, bending down off her right hand and jerking a vicious left hook up into Ann's sturdy midriff. Margaret's face constricted - the sharp, tattooing blows were having effect - Annie was hurt as her back hit the ropes for the first time. Yvonne jumped on and gnawed on Margaret with zesty work the rest of the way, batting at the flanks, scrubbing at the gut, clubbing the jaw - the little brunette turned and twisted into her shots, keeping up a steady torrent. At the bell, Margaret sat heavily in her ropes, throbbing from the spank of a hundred Craig blows to body and head - Yvonne skipped to her corner with no sign of fatigue.

Rd 3: Margaret knew she was in a fight and came out hard this round. Craig wanted to get back inside, but shattering jabs busted her forehead and breasts, backing her out - Annie was drawing a line in the canvas and hammering Yvonne as the brunette attempted to cross it. Margaret's hook off the jab repeatedly caught Yvonne's chin and the brunette's legs showed the effects: Craig began to step wrong, coming apart at the seems as Margaret's hook began to work from ribs to chin and back. At the end of the first minute, Ann dug a left in behind Yvonne's right elbow which seemed to freeze the brunette - a follow up left behind the right ear dropped Craig to her knee. You could hear a sigh from the largely pro-craig group (few of Margaret's friends had bothered to attend). Annie was closing the show early as expected.

And then...Craig beat the count. Ann Margaret marched in to finish and was astounded to see Craig punching with the same venom as she had before. Caught unawares - Margaret reached up around Yvonne's neck, trying to pull her into a clinch, but the brunette wouldn't have it. Digging and tearing at Margaret's belly, Craig worked inside Ann's embrace, beating the redhead into shocked stupor and PUTTING ANN ON ONE KNEE! It was inconceivable - Ann Margaret beaten to the canvas by a hail of Yvonne Craig punches and the small crowd in attendance went wild! Ann beat the count and to her credit, hammered back at Craig with renewed ferocity, forcing her girl to the ropes. Spiteful give and take erupted as the girls dug in, slugging away after the bell to prompt referee intervention. Ann Margaret returned to corner hurting and stunned at the resistance she was encountering - she was winning, but she was also being forced to dig deeper than she ever expected.

Rd 4: The malicious, shoulder to shoulder slugging continued unabated. Margaret's heavier blows would move Yvonne, even shots in the shoulder jolting the smaller woman to take a step, but Craig stayed compact, worked out of her tight guard and kept at it. Margaret could take territory, could move her woman backwards, but the COST! Yvonne Craig was scrapping for every inch of territory and refusing to submit mentally. As the round flew by, Margaret's chest heaved with exertion at the bell.

Rd 5: The blistering pace was getting to Ann Margaret - she looked to slow the bout, clinching up high on Yvonne to bog the brunette down, but it wouldn't work. Craig loved the chance to both get close without cost, and work an exposed ribcage as she fought through the clinch, getting after Ann's midriff with frenzied work. Margaret's eyes grew hazy, her mouth pouted open, her backside sank into the ropes. She rode her arms listlessly over Yvonne's shoulders, trying to smother without success as the kinetic brunette got her elbows up to push for room, rolling her shoulders to beat belly with both fists. Down the stretch, Yvonne was biting chunks of Margaret tummy with either hand, then straightening to rock the redhead's chin back the uppercut. Margaret was stupefied, stacked up at the ropes and taking a shellacking at the bell. Craig jumped and bounded to her corner, jiggling in triumph as a sullen, war-weary Margaret slumped on her stool.

Rd 6: Yvonne hopped over to continue hacking at her opponent and got a reminder of just who she was facing. Margaret dipped low, met her foe's rush with a tough shoulder butt, and exploded out of the crouch with a cranking hook that swiveled Craig's head as she toppled backwards. Yvonne scooted to her backside with a hurting 'O' on her lips, spanked clean by Ann's power stroke, and Margaret would be unrelenting in follow up. After 8, she bored in on Yvonne, getting her left shoulder into the brunette's chest, shoving up on her, then banging away with glorious 2 and 3 hook series, bludgeoning her foe to the corners. Yvonne's lips curled back as she covered up and dug in, but she couldn't hold her ground - this was savage work being done up and down Craig's right side and she was suffering. At the bell, some of the giddy light in Yvonne's eyes had dimmed - for the first time she dragged herself to her corner, wincing in pain as her trainer touched her ribs.

Rd 7: Annie with a shutout. Margaret was all business, hunting Craig down, but doing it with the jab, showing too much respect to just walk in. Hooking off the jab, Margaret could get position, then bang Yvonne in close with tight curling rights and lefts, backing her girl to the ropes. Craig was giving ground more easily now, covering up more, not answering back. As Ann went to work on the Craig belly late, it was Yvonne draping her arms around Margaret's neck, trying to stem the tide.

Rd 8: With the fight slipping away, Yvonne Craig rose to the moment. Shaking off the hurt, Craig got sharp, spanking a crisp jab off Margaret's face, stepping right, bang-banging that left/right up top, then finishing with a forget-me-not hook in the belly that had Margaret gasping. Pounding away with the three punch bursts, Yvonne had Annie confused, stumbling into punishment and at the end of the first minute, Margaret would wobble to her knees as the flush punches square in her gut added up. Sobbing, Ann beat the count, but the agony and exhaustion on her face were apparent. Yvonne scalded her foe with upbeat punching, straight and hard one-twos up top, followed by that undefended hook in the paunch - Margaret wilted to the ropes, hands up high, giving away her belly and ribs as Craig romped to a shutout. Yvonne had to be pulled off after the bell, as she worked mindless left hooks repeatedly in behind Margaret's right elbow.

Rd 9: Yvonne had the extra step. Craig's stubby, shocking little jab was setting the table nicely - it froze Margaret in place, got her guard up and Yvonne cashed in repeatedly with biting hooks in across the waist or sticking into the ribs. Craig used her jab to set up her step to the right, used it when she came in, used it when she stepped out. Margaret shined up hurt under the abuse, but worse was the knowledge that she hadn't broken this opponent. Yvonne Craig had been on the verge of quitting and was now fighting with every intention of winning once again. A discouraged, banged up Ann Margaret took her stool and laid her head back on the turnbuckles in fatigue during the break.

Rd 10: The girls met center ring, jabbed each other, shouldered up and began hooking each other's bellies and breasts with robotic determination. Harsh, banging salvoes back and forth, girls stepping, shuddering under the impact, but crowding back in - this was mouth on shoulder grinding in it's barest, most brutal form. Yvonne was complimenting her hooks with a chopping overhand right that finally closed Margaret's puffy left eye this round. Margaret stayed with her left, but played it up and down her foe's torso, clocking that chin at every opportunity and after 2 minutes of murderous trade, Yvonne Craig began to give. Yvonne's butt touched ropes and her eyes began to flutter - she looked to wrap up around Ann's arms. Margaret pushed off, palming her girl in the shoulders, then reefed to the gut, paralyzing Craig, stooping her forward. Methodically, Ann palmed, then punched, placing blows in Craig's waist around the outstretched arms, then coming up underneath to pick up the chin. It was beautiful, economical power punching as Ann finished strong and in the final moments, the brave brunette sank to her knees. Incredibly, Craig would beat the count and finish on her feet, but the final collapse had come just in time to prove Ann Margaret the better woman. She would walk away with a hard fought UD10 that showed up in glossy purple bruising up and down her luscious frame and across that classic face.

For Margaret, another win, but there would be no celebrating as the redhead did not attend the post fight party. It was Yvonne Craig's night for in losing the fight, she won the admiration of celebrity fight fans everywhere with her spirited denial of Margaret's supremacy.

"She punched my body about as well as any woman ever did," Margaret would recall. "I never came so close to quitting as I did that night. Just thinking about it makes me wince!"

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