"We didn't use Betty to see if you could box," recalls one executive from the time. "We used her to see what was under the hood with girls, see if they could fight, if they had heart. We hadda do it off site 'cause Betty would mess a lot of girls up and we didn't want it to count against a property we were building. Lots of times we didn't expect 'em to win, we just needed to know what their limits were."

By the early 1950s, Mitzi Gaynor, already an accomplished wrestler, was only just beginning to develop her boxing ability and was eager to be matched with Page.

"I couldn't believe how short she was," recalls Gaynor years later in her memoirs. "I remember thinking - 'let me at her!' you know, because I felt like I was too big and strong for her; that she'd been pumped up by her still photographs. Boy was I wrong!"

Gaynor in black bandeau, hipster bikini took on Betty who wore a teal bikini with black border and black polka-dots. The fight was held in a small room at an undisclosed location - no ring provided.

Round 1: Mitzi learned right away what made Betty such a fierce proposition in a hard-wall room with small gloves and not much space in which to use her fluid dancers moves. Page slammed her head into Gaynor's chest and bullied the blonde into the corner, palming hip or arm with the left hand while sinking in juicy sidearm rights to the body ala Gene Fullmer. Mitzi, who relied almost completely on her legs and footwork for defense at this point in her boxing career, had no answer and was mercilessly shoved and slugged by the full bodied brunette in close. Page would hammer out a shutout round that left Gaynor gasping from a tireless barrage of ham-fisted rights to the breadbasket.

Round 2: Page rampaged across the room, clocked Mitzi an overhand right, then clocked her again with a sweeping left across the mouth that spun Gaynor face first into the wall for more one-sided abuse. Stunned, Gaynor tried to turn around, but the brunette wouldn't have it; pushing Mitzi repeatedly face down and savaging the lower back and buttocks with murderous right hands. As Gaynor finally righted herself, her legs were trembling from the brutalization of her kidneys and she was helpless. Page would body up under Mitzi's arms and heave her from one spot on the wall to the next, keeping her weight on Mitzi and plowing home disastrous rights to her cushy midriff, hips and thighs in a non-stop, splattering attack that left Gaynor sobbing in disrepair. After six minutes of fighting - Mitzi Gaynor had yet to land a serious punch while she had been ransacked by a seemingly unstoppable brunette force of nature.

Round 3: The beating droned on for Gaynor. Hurting from the mauling in the second, Mitzi swayed on uncertain legs, covering up and letting Page get off with rib-shattering force. Unopposed, Betty pushed Mitzi's head down, helping herself to the girl's creamy flanks and sweaty lower back with thudding, sweeping blows with either hand. There was no semblance of technical expertise other than the dreadful leverage Page was able to get on her punches. Betty thought nothing of using a front headlock to slump Gaynor over and expose her to savage licks from a free-ranging right hand. After another shutout - Gaynor was pulsing from the punishment, glassy eyed and uncomprehending. Page asked those assembled to stop the fight.

Round 4: Gaynor dreamily staggered out for the fourth, gloves at her lips, knees buckling just with the effort of shambling forward. Page sailed in again with gaudy wide right hands to the waist, shouldering and jostling Gaynor back, hitting her on the way out with the clanging left hook. Up against the wall, Mitzi soaked up horrific abuse - her body nothing more than thick resistance for Page's beefy holding and hitting attack. Page simply laid it in, lathering up in a healthy sweat as she slugged wide rights and lefts to the body and jaw of her foe. Gaynor, her big butt pinned against the wall stooping forward, simply lapped it up, refusing to go down or to submit. At the bell, Betty Page stared in disbelief as a badly battered Gaynor mumbled through swollen lips, "Couldn't put me down, Betty."

Round 5: Page resumed her senseless assault on the helpless actress, beating Gaynor around the room with one clobbering blow after another. Mitzi swayed, out on her feet, her curvy legs and that famously round, firm backside holding her up as Betty's fists crashed home with numbing, heartless, persistence. Page loved getting underneath; pressing Gaynor back into the wall, then sinking in her fist again and again to the pallid, soft, white belly as Gaynor groaned, lolled forward and clinched sleepily around the brawny brunette's arms, or putting her head under Mitzi's chin and uppercutting her bulging bra with brutal efficiency. At the bell, Page once again demanded the fight be stopped as Gaynor collapsed in her corner and had to be revived by smelling salts but still refuse to consider surrender as her trainers attempted to massage life back into her full legs.

Round 6: More mindless abuse - Page loading up, slamming home right hands, bodying and pushing up on Gaynor all around the room. Mitzi kept her gloves at her face, elbows in, issuing breathy groans as Page's fists exploded against her helpless ribcage, soft belly or solid arms. Betty had settled into a methodical rhythm, able to set her feet, hips and torso for maximum leverage, simply slogging away at all things Gaynor for the sixth consecutive shutout round. Gaynor was a shocking mess at the bell, wandering the room in a haze, yet still determined to continue as Page finally began to show signs of wear herself.

Round 7: Mid-room, the girls shouldered up and held on; the action slowing considerably after the thudding torture of the first half. Gaynor laid in, holding her ground as Betty tried to walk her back but, for the first time in the fight, Mitzi began to punch back. Page leaned in, keeping her face on Mitzi's chest, practically inviting the Gaynor uppercut which Mitzi dutifully jammed inside with short, jerking strokes. By the end of the round, Gaynor held Page's head in her cleavage with the left hand, routinely clouting up underneath with compact right uppercuts to the brunette's chest. Page soaked up punishment sullenly, returning to her corner with a polished sheen for the first time in the fight, clearly amazed to have been outworked by a woman who should have been finished.

Round 8: The girls laid in together, struggling mid-room, beefy legs and backsides straining to budge the other back as brawny shoulders and full arms wrapped and wrestled. The bigger Gaynor began to get the better of it, actually walking Page back a step at a time, finding ways to jam in thudding rights to the stomach, or in close to the jaw/cheek. Mitzi with her left arm cradling Page's head controlled the slow, aching action, doing most of the damage with a workmanlike right as the girls staggered around the hard confines. Page winced en route to her corner from the stubborn digs to her body, and the left side of her face was puffing up nicely after eight.

Round 9: Betty caught her second wind and some of the most entertaining two way trade of the fight erupted as two exhausted vixens slugged away in the center of the room. Gaynor was taking Page's punch better than she had earlier, now finally used to the shocking jolts the compact brunette could generate. Betty had adjusted to Mitzi's cradling left, staying just far enough outside and using her left shoulder to butt, not lounging around in close where Mitzi could wrap up. Tit for tat, Betty's punches were ruining Gaynor once again and by the final minute, a shattering right cross stunned Mitzi who simply stood up and stared at Betty on swaying legs. Page hooked the chin and drove in on cheek with another slamming right to send Gaynor reeling to the wall all but out - the bell would sound with Mitzi on the verge of collapse, as badly hurt as at any time in the fight.

Round 10: Page was shot. Round after round of giving her all to Mitzi had finally taken a toll on the brunette's thick legs and arms and she had nothing left. Gaynor, beaten beyond recognition, still had the will to body up and get strong on her shorter opponent. Step by jiggling step, Mitzi walked Betty back to the wall, pressing up, pinning her to the surface and sinking in tired, ham-fisted rights and lefts to the thick goodness of Page's belly. Betty groaned, suffering now for the first time in the fight as Gaynor wrapped up one arm, then the other, slumping Page forward and pounding away to the body with the free arm. At the bell, the girls bodies lolled in together, unable to part of their own volition, each convinced that more work had to be done. The decision was awarded unanimously to Betty Page, but the studio had their answer concerning Gaynor. The plucky blonde had shown herself to be as proud and willful as any star in Hollywood.

Afterward: Page would congratulate a badly battered Mitzi following her gritty refusal to quit and stirring late round come-back. The six consecutive shutout rounds scored for Betty, although hard to substantiate, stand as a record in celebrity boxing and include several heart-pounding haymakers that somehow failed to stop the courageous Gaynor. Mitzi was weeks in recovery following this horrific romp, but strangely upbeat in the aftermath.

"Nobody was ever going to beat on me worse than Betty," Mitzi said. "She really showed me that I belonged in the ring with anyone."