When the Novak/Russell fight was announced, Colombia Pictures execs held their collective breaths. Kim had been moved as well as any fighter outside of Monroe and she had built an imposing KO record (against mostly smaller fighters or slightly disadvantaged competition.) But against Jane Russell, Novak would be working without a net.
Jane was bigger, heavier and many experts said stronger - but she was also twelve years older! JJane had participated in many hard fights in those dozen years, though she hadn't shown any effects from the punches. She was also a proven KO puncher in her own right, but a lack of conditioning and poor defense had always been seen as black marks against the durable brunette.
Nevertheless, it was the first time Novak had stepped in against a girl who's power rivaled, or even exceeded, her own. It was time for Kim Novak to see what she truly had in her mitts. Jane wore a halter style red hipster bikini while Novak showed up in a surprising outfit, a black French maid hipster bikini with a little white lace apron and white trim around her cleavage.
Round One: Kim set a rugged pace, jamming her head in between Jane's gloves, laying in tough strokes to the waist and backing the brunette up with ripping power to either side. Russell got off in spots, but was clearly saving herself, not wanting to get into a shootout early with the sultry blonde.
Round Two: Jane's turn. Russell backed Kim up with the same assortment of punches, mostly ripping digs to the waist, Jane keeping her weight forward, constantly pushing and punching Novak onto her heels. Cards were being put on the table early as both placed heavy bets in one another's midriffs and ribcages through 2.
Round Three: Now Novak. Russell coughed up grudging inches of canvas as she stooped forward, covered up and took savage licks across her waist, in behind her elbows as Kim twisted her hips into the blows, used her shoulders and forehead to keep Jane on the retreat. Ropes bit into Russell's wide back for the first time as Kim kept her pinned for much of the round, neatly cutting off escape and keeping the pressure on the lower body with thudding insistence. At the bell, Jane sucked a ragged breath through pursed lips - this was bruising back and forth trade.
Round Four: Mouth on shoulder - big girls straining in on one another - they took turns reaching in under each other's arms to bull back the opponent, then step into a vicious gut-dig, and near the end of the first minute, Jane Russell struck paydirt. A booming hook to the pit of Kim's stomach put the blonde wobbly butt and Novak stumbled away ashen faced and hurting. Jane, breathing hard from the effort, took a deep breath and walked her opponent down. Hammer and tongs they traded around the ring, Novak sucking it up and battling back through the fog of pain, Russell wrapping Kim up around or under the arms, muscling Novak off balance, and jamming in crude blows to the body or jaw in close. Russell took the round, and more importantly, sent Kim back to her corner hurting, and perhaps even doubting.
Round Five: Novak's face still betrayed her discomfort, but she dug down and proved a gutty warrior this round. Face on face, the girls bodied up, shoving, stepping in with thick leather, walking each other down. Hurt though she was, Novak wouldn't give in - she answered every Russell offering with a cudgelling response, and by the midway point had the brunette shutting down and taking. Head jammed between Jane's gloves, hands on Jane's shoulders, Kim walked her girl back, stuck short hammering blows into Russell's aching sides, and clocked the chin whenever Russell pulled away to create a little room. Jane had failed to capitalize on Kim's hurt, and instead, a refreshed Novak seemed to have reasserted herself after 5.
Round Six: Novak got on top, got big and starting slugging it up on a rapidly tiring Jane Russell this round. Russell spent the entire stanza sagging heavily into the ropes, big cushy body soaking up Novak's vicious rips, and Kim began to help herself to Jane's famous breasts this round. Leaning on Russell, pulling her arms down, hammering away with clubbing blows across the mounds, Kim started to put a drowsy look of swoon on Russell's pinched face. At the bell, Kim got off the steaming brunette and favoured her with a lidded glare, as if to say, "it's only just begun."
Round Seven: Novak unpacked her ponderous, but thudding jab this round - Russell cupped her gloves at her face and fell back, collapsing to the ropes on trembling legs as exhaustion looked imminent. Stiff arming the brunette with an extended left, Kim came over the top with a whistling right and POUNDED Russell's face to the side, instantly bowing out the brunette's knees and leaving her shell-shocked against the ropes. Kim kept the heat on, putting her face on Jane, palming her shoulders back, then pulling away to heap on the punishment. Splattering lefts and rights against the shoulders and biceps, short left uppercuts to split the mitts and clubbing wide right hands on the cheek had Russell reeling to her left until her own corner got in the way. Down the stretch, Novak burrowed in with her head under Jane's chin, palming Russell's arms back, digging at belly when suddenly, a crisp and cruel right hand gouged in underneath the brunette's heart. Russell turned pale and sank immediately to her knees as Novak stepped back, watching in dull fascination as Jane spluttered and wheezed in the aftermath. Jane Russell would beat the count, but she had a hollow look in her eyes: Kim Novak was taking her apart and both women knew it at this point.
Round Eight: Heartless bell to bell beat down as Kim climbed aboard, using her head hard against Jane's chin, palming and pushing to set up vicious licks up into Russell's cushy body. Biting heart punches with the right hand had Jane sobbing in pain. The big brunette's legs were shot - she sat on the ropes, lolling and soaking up more and more punishment with less and less coming back. Novak was rampaging on her now, taking whatever she wanted. In the last few moments, Kim Novak gave Jane Russell the worst breast beating of her life. Brutal left and right chops to her halter top, often following through with the forearm, left Russell speechless with pain. At the bell, Kim had to be pulled off the smoldering brunette as Jane wilted. Russell's red face showing every bit of the fatigue, shame, and agony she was experiencing. On her stool, the incredible happened - Jane Russell quit! Sobbing and holding her aching ribcage, Russell refused to go out for the 9th round. Kim Novak stood, lifted her mitts and gave a chafing little strut for the shocked throng in attendance.
It was scarcely to be believed. Jane Russell had quit? People thought it was some sort of hoax, some a publicity stunt, but the fact of the matter was that Kim Novak gave Jane a beating historians would later point to as the beginning of the end for the illustrious brunette.
As Winston Penn observed, "We had known for some time Russell was past her prime, but it took Kim Novak to make us believe."
For Novak, she would always look back on this bout with a special fondness on this match.
"Looking across the ring, seeing Jane shrunken, crying on her stool - I felt such a thrill. It's really hard to explain. I hadn't just beaten Jane Russell, I had taken something from her, made her smaller. I knew that I'd always be judged by what I had been able to do to her that night."