Pre-match: Following her harrowing late dismissal of tough Jane Russell, Williams became a bit of a cause celebre around Hollywood - the uncrowned champ as it were. Nobody had combined feverish body punching with professional conditioning before, and Williams looked as though she had the ticket to dominate for years to come. Gaynor, a plucky, smallish boxer/puncher was selected to be William's follow up victim, and was reportedly rankled to be referred to as a 'soft touch' before Esther's title run. Mitzi in black, strapless swimsuit, Esther in red hipster bikini. Small gloves for both.
R1 Esther quickly overwhelmed Mitzi's spiking jab with crushing straight right hand counters on the cheek, forcing Gaynor to cover up, and the body beating was on. Squaring up in front of Gaynor, Esther moved her head from one cheek to the other on Mitzi, reefing Gaynor's sides and waist with ripping hooks and rights hands to force the dancer to the ropes. Going wobbly butt by the midway point, Gaynor could only suck it up and scrunch down, presenting as tight a package as she could, but she was battered along the ropes as Williams stayed on her step for step. In the final minute, the non stop pounding broke Gaynor down, leaving her helpless as Williams twisted her hips into withering uppercuts to the sternum. At the bell, Williams was the quintessential smug jock as she bounced back to her corner, leaving Gaynor smoldering on the ropes behind her.
R2 Williams happily stomped out for a second helping of Gaynor's ribcage, but Mitzi had other ideas. Up on her toes, Gaynor rifled a stiff double jab, bouncing the fist off Esther's face, and setting the swimmer up for a nice short hook to routinely beat William's right hand to the punch. Stepping back in good order, Mitzi would lead Williams across the ring, then pivot left around the hook to turn before her back could be forced to the ropes - and Williams gamely plugged along in pursuit. Mitzi's banging left hands had Williams puffing up badly, but Esther had a good final minute, once again going cheek to cheek with Mitzi, shouldering and pushing Gaynor onto her heels, and snapping hooks into the waist to avoid being shutout. Still, Gaynor had done damage, and left Williams nursing a badly swollen right eye at the bell.
R3 Gaynor stepping left, feinting in, then darting out had Esther reaching and getting off balance in her eagerness to close, and it would cost the swimmer dearly. Loading up the right hand, Esther walked into a perfectly timed left hook on her chin, which spilled Williams backwards, arms wildly gyrating, legs rubbery as the ropes caught her fall. Smiling viciously, Mitzi charged in, and paid conspicuous attention to William's body, turning over on repeated left hooks in behind Esther's elbow to draw screams of pain as Williams pitched forward. Gaynor with savagely obvious payback, went over and over to the same spot on Esther, bashing the liver with left hooks while holding the blonde with a riding right hand until Esther toppled forward to the canvas. She lay on her side, clutching her ribs, legs drawn up beneath her as Mitzi gazed down with all the haughtiness of Hungarian royalty triumphant. KO3 Mitzi Gaynor.
After: Williams shocking upset loss to Mitzi revealed what the Russell bout had exposed - that Esther didn't have a plan B. Gaynor delighted in the body knock out, rubbing it into William's face afterwards, disparaging Esther's inside fighting mettle as "typical gossip column rubbish". In the battle of sturdy legs and hearts, Mitzi had decisively thrashed her rival, and would rarely be seen by studio execs as anything but a serious contender from that moment on.