Before: Grable written off more times than a three martini lunch, beaten by Monroe and locked out of the title picture looked to be an easy outing for the taller, technically more proficient dancer Ekberg. In the Cyd Charise mold, Anita could win fights with her legs and movement alone, and Grable was certainly made to order with her straight ahead, crossed armed style of attrition. Ekberg in wine red sequined show girl one piece, Grable in simple yellow one piece, hair up.
During R1-3 Bitter, closely fought rounds set the rhythm for the fight. Ekberg, light on her feet, weight out over the front foot, would slash and chop her fists quickly over the target as Grable weaved low, arms crossed, picking up fists on her face, but driving in with her forearms to get Ekberg's back against the ropes. Once there, Betty would get off, putting her hips into thudding hooks to Anita's side and pressing in on the taller girl to keep her from spinning out. Eventually, Anita would clinch and walk Betty back, waiting for the referee's break to start it all over again. After 3, Grable clung to a small lead, but her face was showing the consequences of her tactics.
R4,5 Ekberg began to distance herself in these rounds, finally able to circle, backhanding the jab onto Grable's puffy face, forcing the blonde to move her feet just to stay square to the target. In the fifth, Anita began to time that short chopping right hand off her jab, spanking hard against Betty's eye, and leaving the blonde wobbling out over her legs. At the bell to end the fifth, a bad cut had opened over Grable's left eye, and Grable was forced to beg her corner not to stop the fight.
R6 Ekberg wheeled around her stumbling foe, smiling as Grable huddled with her arms crossed in front of her body, face lumpy and disfigured from the pounding. Ekberg began picking at Betty from outside, sticking and moving clockwise around the blonde, but midway through the round, Grable exploded out of her crouch to land a popping left hook inside Ekberg's lazy jab. Anita's arms pinwheeled as she reeled backwards to the ropes, badly hurt, and Grable poured into the breach. Coming in hard with her head against Ekberg's mouth, Grable pitched left hooks and sidearm rights into the dancer's firm body, forcing Anita to fold forward, gurgling with pain. Standing up, Grable ripped at Anita's overhanging face with clipping left hooks under the chin, and banging right uppercuts, getting that million dollar backside into every punch, and Anita couldn't take it! Toppling off the ropes, Anita sprawled on her face, mouth wet against the canvas as Grable hooted in triumph. KO6 Betty Grable.
After: It would be one of Grable's last great moments in the ring, overcoming age and faltering skills to humiliate a future great in Ekberg herself. The fight would prove to be a valuable learning experience for Anita, who only improved after this evening, but for Grable, it would be a disasterous victory. Convinced by this victory that she still had the ability and power to rule in Hollywood, Grable would fight far past her prime, absorbing perhaps the worst career punishment of any celebrity in history before she was done.