BACKGROUND:
Charlize, training diligently to get back in fighting shape for three months after the devastating defeat at Beyonce's hands, surprises most everyone in the fight game by spurning an offer to meet tough veteran body banger, Angelina Jolie and instead signs on to face less-than-accomplished youngster, Mandy Moore. Charlize, by picking the still very raw brunette, who is 1-2 in her fledgling fight career, was questioned by more than a few veterans of the fight game, and publicly ridiculed by Knowles, who'd conquered both Charlize and Mandy in recent months.

Beyonce stated bluntly in a recent interview, "This just proves what I've been thinking for some time... Charlize is a shot fighter; both physically and mentally... She doesn't have much of a punch these days, hasn't knocked anybody out in over a year, and I think she has a confidence problem; why else would she duck a real opponent in Jolie to take on Mandy Moore? To tell you the awful truth, I don't think she'll ever recover from the beating I put on her sorry bod... No, she's had her glory days, and by signing to fight Mandy, she's all but admitting that her title contention days are over..... she's just trying to fool people into thinking she's a viable boxer still, but the evidence, the KO by Cameron, then the much worse beating I put on her, even her struggles against Campbell and Garner, despite winning those fights, and there's some question even that she won the Garner fight as that was very close and very controversial; anyhow. they all point to one thing... as I said, she's shit, well, to be kind, let's just say she's clearly on the downside of a long career... I want to fight her again because she's been dissing me, not publicly, but saying things on the sly, making excuses for losing to me, stuff like that... but truthfully, when and if we fight, she could get hurt, bad!... I won't have much compassion after the way she's dismissed me as a serious fighter... my record speaks for itself... And, if an when we fight again, I'll break her completely, make her quit!"

Strong words for a young woman still seeking her first title, and one who, with the notable exception of the Theron fight, has built her undefeated record largely at the expense of inexperienced newcomers or faded veterans. Also bold words about Theron's "lack of a punch", seeing as how that so called diminished arsenal of the lanky blonde was still enough to deposit Beyonce on the canvas more than once when they fought. But Beyonce, in slamming both Theron's supposedly down-sliding career and her choice of a first comeback foe, breezily dismisses such details. Charlize, though publicly silent herself, lets it be known through her fight agent that she'll be gunning for, "that loud-mouthed tramp" after she puts Mandy Moore away.

As to the questionable choice of young Moore as Charlize's comeback foe, Theron's mouthpiece maintains, "Hey, the kid’s better'n people think... she made rookie mistakes against Beyonce and you can't get away with that against her, but she’ll hurt her girl early. She gave Jackson a good tussle, and remember Janet's a former champ."

Of course, Charlize and her folks conveniently gloss over a few details as well, namely the fact that the aging Jackson is badly faded from her own glory days, and is pretty much a "Mariah Carey" type fighter these days, and that ISN'T a compliment; with both long-time mediocre vet Carey and faded ex-champ Jackson carrying stigmas as light-hitting, slow-reflex trial horses who are easily hit and dropped. But you gotta paint as good a picture as you can when you sign to fight a seeming 'nobody' like Moore; and Charlize and her folks are making the best of it.

FIGHT NIGHT
Many Moore is already in the ring by the time Charlize and entourage make a fashionably late stroll down the arena aisle to the ring, the lanky blonde slipping through the ropes, glancing confidently over at her young foe. Mandy meets her gaze briefly before looking away, shadowboxing, appearing to be a bit nervous. This is her first big-time fight against a name opponent who is still a contender. Sure she debuted against none other than recent Theron conqueror, Beyonce Knowles, but Beyonce wasn't considered a name fighter at that time, and the other women she's fought, Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson, are well below top contender status at this stage of their careers. No this is truly the big time for Mandy, stepping up, many would say over-reaching, to face the illustrious blonde in only her fourth career match. More than a few, including the "bootylicious" babe herself, would rather view this as Charlize quizzically stepping down in class to try to revive a faltering career after that devastating KO defeat at Beyonce's hands three months previous.

They're both peeled down to the basics in the ring, young Mandy Moore looking strong and fit and all-grown up sexy... she must be hitting the weights hard these days as that supple twenty year old body is fairly rippling with muscular tension, revealingly displayed as it is beneath a dark pink bikini number. Charlize, of course, is simply stunning as always, that lean, curvy, all-woman body clad in that familiar cream string bikini. There are few woman still who fill out a skimpy fight outfit quite as well as the tall, luscious blonde beauty; and she knows it, flaunting that curvaceous body as she prances around before the fight, playing to her adoring crowd. This is all part of her game, not cocky, just confident; as well she should be. For no woman has meant more to the celebrity boxing world than this glorious former three-time lightweight champion. Despite recent struggles, she is still a "big fight" mega-draw; and rightfully so, her illustrious record speaking for itself.

Now they're back in their corners, this ten round fight about to begin. At ringside, Beyonce is bubbling with all the supposed wisdom of her tender years and still young boxing career, predicting, "I think Charlize has to get out fast here and probably hopes to finish it just as fast. She's basically a six round fighter these days. We've all seen what happens in her recent fights when it gets into the late rounds; and believe you me it ain't pretty. She should win this thing; I just don't think Mandy has the experience to fight with her; but you never know... Gawwd look at those long, long wheels on Mandy, almost as strong looking as these babies here (patting her own thighs)... note I said ALMOST... heh-heh...As I said, Char should win it, but I'll be the first to also say right here, right now; if Mandy stays out of early trouble, she's got big strong legs and a strong body to boot, not to mention youth on her side; and she could cause trouble for old 'six round Theron' if it gets into

the late rounds." So there it is, the fight plan according to Beyonce. We're quite sure Charlize wouldn't care to have listened to it, if she were tuning in on the big tube instead of facing off against this young brunette just now. She stares across the ring at her foe, Mandy staring back, still looking a bit nervous. Charlize ain't thinking about Beyonce or anybody else; the veteran three time champion focused in exclusively on how she's gonna put young Mandy Moore on her backside and keep her there.

ROUND ONE

There's the bell for round one, both women moving out cautiously at first, Charlize circling to her left, measuring her young foe, Mandy in almost an exaggerated bob and weave as she moves with the much more experienced blonde. Charlize lands a few light jabs, the old zing pretty much intact, in the early going, backing up the brunette, but not doing much serious damage. Mandy, for her part, looks tight, throwing but a few awkward, ineffectual blows, most of which Theron blocks. Near mid-round, Theron slashes the left with more authority, bouncing off the side of Mandy's face, driving the youngster back, though Mandy's big beautiful legs remain steady beneath her. But Charlize is on the prowl, setting the tone, though in much more control than she was in that frenetic first round against Beyonce. She wants the early KO for sure, but is patiently trying to set up her inexperienced foe first. And Mandy is on those impressive "wheels", showing good movement and speed, but mostly in backpedaling mode as Charlize chases her to the corner ropes and unloads a good head an body combo on the covering brunette just before the round one bell. The round is Theron's, clearly, with the crisper, more frequent punches backing up her young foe repeatedly this round.

Between rounds Charlize's manager leans in and quietly asks her charge, "What do you think of the kid, Char? Anything there?"

The willowy blonde responds, "Well, she isn't very good with the glove work, awkward style, but moves pretty well... couldn't engage her much... but did notice she tends to drop the shoulder after throwing her jab... could be an opening there."

"Then bang her hard when she does dip the shoulder, honey," her manager coos. “But don't rush things... set her up, cut off the ring on her so she can't run and hide.. you don't need a quick KO, Char, unless the opportunity is too good to pass up... just stay in control and this fight is yours, easily, and will be over soon enough... hear me?"

Charlize nods absently, catching most of what her manager is saying, if not agreeing with everything. She wants the KO, and wants it NOW. Enough playing around with this "newbie fluff". She's had a round to gauge the youngsters boxing skill, found it, as she'd expected, seriously lacking; and she knows she can get to the tall dark-haired girl. It's just a matter of time, and the time is now, as Charlize sees it. "Won't that be sweet!" she's thinking. "Second round KO, quicker than Beyonce! That'll give the bitch something to think about!"

The ‘bitch’, which is how Charlize thinks of Beyonce Knowles, is actually praising her would-be antagonist at the moment, telling viewers that Charlize has the young brunette right where she wants her, back on her heels and befuddled.

ROUND TWO

Apparently Charlize thinks she's got Mandy befuddled too, as she comes out strong, moving to her left, rattling Mandy early with a sizzling combo, ducking Mandy's lunging right uppercut and standing her ground and pushing her away as Mandy tries to work in close after missing with the right hand. Charlize is back in her element, carving up an out-classed foe, landing two or three punches to every one launched by the flailing young beauty. Then, a minute or so into the round she sees that left shoulder dipping after Mandy tries to reach her with a straight jab. Theron pounces, snapping the right hook over Mandy's lower guard, catching only jaw. Mandy staggers back, unsteady on her feet, thighs trembling. Charlize moves forward with swift determination, left, right, left to the head, the young brunette swaying woozily on those long, full limbs. Theron backs out a half step, snaps the right hook again. Partially deflected, it still has enough steam to glance across the side of Mandy's pretty face, sending the young beauty reeling back and finally dropping to a knee, which quickly becomes a head down slump on all fours as Charlize moves back and the ref moves in to begin his count. It's taken four or five good head shots to topple the sturdy youngster, and Theron is breathing hard from the sudden, furious barrage; but she's smiling between gulps as she backs to the neutral corner, intently watching while Mandy pulls the head up at "4", slowly wobbles to her feet at "7", has the gloves shaken out.

The round continues, Charlize all over the woozy, befuddled youngster; but Mandy hangs in grimly, long legs shaking, but holding under the relentless pressure from the veteran blonde battler, and moving back when she can to escape the punishment. Charlize works doggedly, cutting off the ring on the backpedaling brunette, getting in hard shots where she can on a still moving target, finally pinning Mandy in a neutral corner and drawing down her guard with a body salvo, quickly moving upstairs, with a quick, snapping left cross over Mandy's slightly dipping right arm. The punch thuds home to the side of her jaw and Mandy is in wobble city yet again, leaning into the blonde, forehead plastered on Char's breast bone, weaving, but still on her feet. Theron struggles to lift the big, sagging body of the hurt and wobbly youngster off her, clears enough room for the right uppercut that works through Mandy's waving arms to her jaw. Mandy staggers, legs finally buckling after three or four shuffling steps backward, spills to her butt by the ropes.

Charlize takes a neutral corner again, quickly, eager for the count to begin and end. It starts soon enough, with Mandy, shaking her head wanly, rolling over and struggling up to all fours by "5". The count ends, though, two ticks short of a stoppage, with Mandy up shakily by "8". Charlize looks stunned for just an instant, blinking at the wobbly, but upright young beauty as she moves in with just seconds left in the round, managing just a final cuffing right hook against Mandy's drawn up left arm before the bell clangs. Charlize has won this round, and won it big, pitching a virtual shutout with bell to bell boxing and punching reminiscent of the not that far removed "glory days", indeed carving up the befuddled, seemingly over-matched young brunette.

Between rounds Charlize sucks up a couple big gulps of water, spits out half into the bucket, steadies her rapid breathing as she's toweled off, as the arms and legs are swiftly massaged. Though the lustrous blonde locks are a bit matted and tousled, she looks absolutely radiant still, back in her element, even smiling and nodding as her manager gets her ear just before time. There was a small, yet telling, droop of her shoulders in disappointment after Mandy beat the count the second time following what Charlize no doubt thought was the knockout blow. But she's shaken it off, newly jazzed, knowing she's dominating this fight as her manager patiently tells her, "She's hurting, Char, BAD!... keep the pressure on, set her up with the jab, then unload the right... the next count should be the last... I don't think she can take much more!"

In the other corner, young Mandy, beleaguered and hurting plenty after that devastating second round, is coming around well enough after taking a full hit from the ammonia capsule. She's still a little dazed, but trying to focus as her manager puts a brave face on it all, telling her, "Listen, kid, you took everything that blonde could throw at you, and you're still in it. Just try to keep moving... back if you have to in order to take some pressure off... make her work, use up energy... these babies (patting her big, full right thigh) are your best weapon just now... use 'em... they'll hold up, believe me.. stay out of the fire long enough and she'll slow down.. that's when we move in and make her pay...hear me, kiddo?" Mandy nods her head mutely, taking a deep, sucking breath of air. She doesn't look nearly as convinced as he apparently is that she can make a fight of it. But she's got guts, rising stoically to await the third round bell.

ROUND THREE

The bell clangs and Charlize is out quickly, leading the left jab, not really zinging it, but keeping Mandy off balance, cutting off the ring on the still defensive young brunette. Mandy moves back, the wheels much steadier, for now, than when they almost "fell off" late in the second, Charlize having to keep on the move as well, constantly circling left and right, finally cutting off a good chunk of the ring, now trapping Mandy near the corner, banging a left right combo to that supple young body. The brunette winces, but hangs in, launches a countering left body hook of her own. Flailing in a wide arc, it nevertheless clumps into a surprised Charlize's side, not hard, but well enough to remind the older blonde that the "kid" still has a little spunk left. Angrily Charlize pushes off the embattled young beauty to clear some space, snaps the jab to test Mandy's reflexes as, at ringside, Beyonce is babbling into her mouthpiece, "Charlize has fought masterfully so far here folks, dominating this fight; and I'm quite sure she wants to end it right here, in this round, if for no better reason than to say, ‘I KNOCKED OUT MANDY MOORE as quickly as Beyonce did’... heh-heh... only kidding, folks, I'm sure there are other reasons, but that thought just popped into my head... ". Joking or not, Beyonce may never know how close to the truth she really was with that last comment.

Up in the ring, Mandy is still gamely trying to hold off the rampaging blonde, getting the guard up for the first withering left jab, deflecting it, partially blocking the second rapid-fire jab that shakes, but doesn't seriously hurt, her, forcing another step backward. She stands in on those sturdy, shapely legs, buying the feinted left this time, head rolling to the left to avoid the imaginary punch. Charlize pounces, the solid right hook to the side of the face knocking Mandy's head back in the opposite direction. The young brunette stumbles to her right, legs quivering, tries to set and steady herself, Charlize moving in with a frenzy, left upstairs, right to the body, now a right uppercut working its way through Mandy's drawn up arms to smack the jaw again. Mandy is back in wobble city, Char's hurried left uppercut working its way easily through the younger girl's sagging arms, glancing off the jaw. Moore weaves unsteadily and the ref, seeing her in distress, moves in quickly,

nudging Theron back. But he arrives a split second after Charlize snaps another right hook over Mandy's wide open left side, rolling the head to one side, her mouthpiece spiraling up out of the virtually defenseless young beauty's mouth as she stutter-steps sideways after the sneaky right, weaving, her eyes glassy. The ref finally pulls Charlize back to the neutral corner, grabs and steadies the woozy youngster against the nearby ropes, starts a standing count. Poor Mandy is somehow still ON her feet, but clearly OUT on her feet... or is she?

Her legs stiffen and her back straightens resolutely at "6" the long legs trembling but holding up beneath her. The ref looks somewhat befuddled and he practices a little trick of the trade, shifting suddenly to his left a foot or so as he tolls, "7" then "8". Mandy's brown eyes have cleared somewhat from their glassy KO stare of just a moment ago and as he moves, they lazily track him. He knows a kayoed fighter would still be staring blankly, oblivious to such subtle movements in front of her, so he stops his count. Theron, in the neutral corner, her gloves raised high acknowledging the wild cheers of the raucous crowd saluting her apparent KO victory, drops the arms abruptly, staring amazed as the ref shakes out Mandy's gloves, makes sure she's still responsive, asks her if she's OK. She nods, then pushes away from the ropes to make her point.

He steps back and waves Charlize in. The tall blonde looks just a bit drained after that furious salvo that she thought would end it, but didn't. She wades in flat footed, still on the attack, Mandy a bit steadier on her feet now, moving back with the punches, guard drawn up. Charlize works a few punches through that drawn up guard, punches that admittedly, here in the latter half of the round, look somewhat telegraphed, slowed. Mandy hangs in grimly, wobbling only slightly, now clinching as Charlize moves in for a body salvo, these lower punches also tailing off in velocity. The older woman works her pumping gloves in ponderously through Mandy's arms, breathing hard as she pushes off the refs break of the clinch, jabs a stiff left hook into Mandy's side. The youngster grimaces, twisting, grabs and holds the blonde's left arm while working a short, weary left uppercut into Theron's ribcage. Charlize grunts with the blow, the force of the punch not hard, but discomforting as it smacks home. Angrily, she answers with her own rib tickler, then steps back and throws a soft left jab, followed by a harder right uppercut up high. The left is just short, grazing Mandy's face, the right, with more steam, shaking her as it glances sideways across the front of her jaw. The young brunette wobbles, holds on, tying up Theron's arms.

Charlize pulls the right loose, digging it wearily into Mandy's side as the ref moves in to break the clinch yet again. Time running down on this round, and clearly Charlize, though in total command of the fight, is seeing her energy running down late in this round as she tries to close out the embattled youngster. In the final thirty seconds, she chases down a backpedaling Moore along the ropes one more time, puts a very weary looking left jab up against Mandy's peek-a-boo defense, the light punch drawing those firm young arms down only slightly; but enough for Charlize to come right back, this time with a left hook to the head, the punch deflecting off Mandy's bicep, glancing off the side of her jaw. Mandy blinks, legs trembling, but holding firm; and somehow answers with a left hook to the body before Theron, exhaling forcefully, winded, backs out.

At the bell, they're tangled again, Theron digging a right in low, Mandy a countering right into the waist. The bell clangs and the ref separates the winded, weary fighters, sends them to their corners as the ringside crowd, most on their feet throughout the last two rounds, expecting the KO, cheer both fighters.

Mandy is trudging on heavy, but surprisingly steady, legs, considering the punishment she's taken early on in this fight, to her corner, plopping down wearily, but visibly relieved that she's weathered the storm; while Charlize moves to her corner resolutely, the beautiful, long, lean legs more responsive than Mandy's are at present, but the shoulders sagging slightly as she plops down on her stool, head held high, but sucking in air in big gulps. They calm the breathing, massage the muscles, wipe down sweaty shoulders, arms and legs in both corners, as the two lovely fighters steel themselves for another round. In Mandy's corner, there is quiet hope, the youngster having stood in bravely against the best that Charlize could offer; the legs trembling some under the heavy barrage, folding even a couple times during that desperate second round, but planted like unyielding oak tress during the third round banging, refusing to collapse under Charlize's early thunder in this round. Like Beyonce has said, "She's got quite a set of wheels."

Over in Charlize's corner, there is quiet determination, and confidence still, if a small note of concern in the fighter's voice as Charlize catches her breath enough to rasp at her manager, "Gawwwd, the kid's tough, can really take a punch. I tried to put her down, but she stood there taking punches to the body and arms, arm grappling, and I couldn't get those damn legs to buckle all the way, even when I got the head shots in."

Her manager leans over, re-assures her, "Look, Char, you're still in total control of this fight. Keep moving, keep cutting off the ring, slash the jab, then follow with the big timber when you see an opening.... But pick your spots, catch a blow here and there if you can. Stay fresh. You've got this fight well in hand, just keep doing what you're doing." Noting Charlize's thinly disguised disappointment still at not yet getting the knockout, her manager adds, "The knockout will come, believe me, girlfriend, if you just stay within yourself.. don't let her tie you up inside... you've done a pretty damn good job of avoiding that, so keep it up. Grab your quick breaks outside, before moving in. You can do it. A few more rounds of your pressure and punches and she'll fall over and stay there, I know she will; but you don't need to do everything this round,... hear me?" Charlize nods, the mouthpiece re-fitted as she stands to await the bell.

ROUND FOUR

Theron looking to maintain control of the fight as she comes out in the fourth, still unable to shake the desire to finish this thing right now, despite her manager's instructions to stay within the fight plan and let the knockout come when it comes. Young Mandy Moore is merely hoping to hang in another round against the so far dominant blonde veteran, to make Charlize work hard for everything she gets, and, most importantly, to stay off the canvas. So it's a pivotal round for both women as they move together, Charlize still on the hunt, gliding forward on those long, lithe legs that are not quite as fresh and springy as they were early on, but still plenty strong, carrying her into her jabbing attack. She backs the youngster up almost immediately, works the right hand in high, but has it blocked and deflected by Mandy's quickly raised left glove as the brunette leans back on the ropes. Charlize, undeterred, determined to keep the pressure on, comes back with a left hook to the body before Moore can slip away along the ropes and re-set herself.

The youngster feels the left to the body as she moves back, but shakes it off well enough, trading left jabs with the more experienced blonde as Charlize moves in to her. Theron seems surprised by the zip in Mandy's jab as it glances off the side of her neck, narrowly missing her jaw, while her own jab smacks the brunette on the side of the face, but seemingly has little effect on the young fighter, who rolls with the punch. Charlize stays on the attack into the latter part of round four, but Mandy is doing a better job of both backpedaling away and deflecting the most dangerous head shots, and has not been seriously shaken. The youngster even manages to bother her blonde aggressor a few times with rib ticklers off a clinch, setting a pattern of moving back quickly on those strong, beautiful long legs, making a defensive stand along the ropes if Charlize cuts off the ring on her, and clinching if she has to in order to get off the ropes.

During one such exchange, with less than a minute remaining in the round, Mandy arm wrestles the blonde after shaking off a pretty good shot to the jaw, and actually pushes Theron back a step or two to create enough space to slip off the ropes. Charlize is clearly frustrated at not being able to land the big punch this round, and looks more than a little shop-worn after expending a huge amount of energy in the previous two rounds going for the early KO. In fact, she has done a lot of grabbing and holding herself as the round goes on, catching her breath while re-grouping for her next attack. Now, though, after being surprisingly pushed back by the strong young brunette, Charlize sets those long stemmed beauties beneath her, swings from the hips, moving upstairs with a brief flurry of punches, the left cross partially deflected, but the right hook breaking through Mandy's awkwardly flailing arms, catching jaw. Moore stutter steps sideways, shaken, squares up, quickly steps backward a step or two as Charlize snaps a following left hook., Mandy's head moving back as the punch arrives, lessening its impact on her pretty face. Charlize moves in, Mandy hurt some, but hanging in with her back to the ropes. There is a brief, furious exchange, Charlize banging two or three shots to the body, Mandy answering with a pretty good left hook back to that long lean frame; and then both girls, winded and drained from the latest flurry, hold and clinch the remaining few seconds to the bell.

Charlize pushes off somewhat irritatingly at the bell, moving to her corner, no doubt frustrated at letting another round slip by without a knockout, and agitated by the run and grab tactics of her young foe. This round is clearly Theron's as well, landing more leather and harder leather for the most part; but she's also had to pace herself, particularly late in this round, the punches fewer and more measured; and she's felt some of those rib ticklers Mandy's slipped in along the ropes. So the tall blonde has won the round, but not overwhelmingly like the previous two rounds, and she's not happy as she plops down on her stool, loops somewhat weary arms over the corner ropes while being tended to.

Young Mandy Moore is mostly just relieved to have survived another round, but also seems a bit more confident in her ability to stand in against the vastly more experienced blonde, forcing a small grin across her pretty face as she sits down, takes in water, her manager slapping her on the back encouragingly. For Mandy and her corner entourage, at this stage of a so-far mediocre early career, and in this fight, dominated to this point by the savvy former champion, it's a major victory just to get through a round like this not seriously hurt. She knows she can't box with Charlize's skill, but she does have those "great wheels", as Beyonce has alluded to; not that Charlize's aren't great either; but Mandy's "wheels" have been her main defense, holding up under the early barrages, strong and fast enough to move her out of danger time and again in this round. She still hasn't figured out how to stop Theron from cutting parts of the ring away from her; but she's patched together a reasonable defense, given her limited boxing ability, of running and grabbing, countering where possible.

"Now!" her manager is imploring her. "It's time to do some serious fighting back in the counter-attack Don't be content just to tie her up and run, honey," he tells her. "Think about sticking the body shots in more consistently in close... and use your strength... she's gonna be wearing down some more the longer this fight goes I guarantee you... I could see her flagging some even in this last round... start pushing her back when she gets you down along the ropes... you did that once this last round, and you moved her back enough to slip away... you've got that big, strong bod, kiddo, and great legs... use them both."

Young Mandy nods mutely, rises to wait the bell.

ROUND FIVE

Over in the blonde's corner, Charlize is also on her feet, slapping the gloves together. She's gotten a little chewing from her long-time manager, even being told she's a bit lazy, didn't listen to instructions, and took short pauses too many times in the clinches this last round; letting Mandy get free shots with the digging rib blows while she caught her breath.

"Lazy, huh?" Charlize is fuming to herself as she smashes her gloves together even harder. "She (the manager) isn't the chasing that kid around...hell, I'm laying it all out there in the ring, but you just can't go bell to bell on the punching...I'll show her this round...there isn't a lazy bone in this gorgeous golden body."

It's hard to tell if Charlize is out to show up her foe Mandy, Beyonce her newest, mouthiest, nemesis, or her manager... perhaps all three! Whatever Theron, the former three-time champ and ring legend, is all about in round five, she's clearly on a mission as the round opens, moving forward and taking the fight to the young Moore; working the jab to set up the big bomb. There isn't as much zip in the jab as there once was... four hard rounds have taken their toll...and her big swings are less frequent than earlier, but she's still resolutely coming forward and Mandy is still playing her game, one forced on her by the clear fact that she simply doesn't have the boxing skills to sit and trade jabs and punches with the ex-champ. But what Mandy does have is youthful legs and a resilient young body! Now, midway through the fifth round, she's starting to not only make her usual stands along the ropes, but to punch back and shove with increasing authority...not dirty mauling, mind you; just using her long, strong legs to go forward any time she's trapped on the ropes and tied up by the great blonde; using body punching and sheer muscle to force the blonde aggressor back a step or two. Charlize is still putting pressure on, still banging, but now she's being forced to pick her spots and her punches are, make no mistake this round, noticeably slower, more than a few coming up short while others are picked up by the youngster's gloves or arms. The kid may be raw, but well into a fight in which she's almost been counted out three times in the early rounds, she still has good foot and hand speed and it's beginning to increasingly frustrate the over-anxious Theron.

With less than a minute left in the round, Mandy has again got on her 'wheels' and makes her stand with her broad backside against the ropes as Charlize puts the pressure on, leading with the jab. Theron, her shapely body glistening with a fine sheen of sweat, moves in flat-footed, mouth-breathing hard. She telegraphs a weary left jab that's picked off by Mandy's glove, then pumps a labored right uppercut under the young fighters arms, aiming for her jaw, but getting only a large chunk of breast meat as her glove nestles into the soft lower overhang of Mandy's firm, breasts. Mandy bellows as a quick pain ripples through her as her sensitive breasts are roughed up by Theron's leather. Taking a step back, gasping hard as Charlize, who is winded, holds on after the right lands, the young brunette, her pretty face grimacing with both hurt and anger, buries a right body hook. Charlize, blanching with the surprising power as the punch bends her lithe body, answers with a laborious left down low, the punch skidding across Mandy's red bikini as it lands inches above her hip bone. The youngster bellows again, swings a right, then a left hook to the body and Charlize again is forced to hold on; sucking air through her open mouth.

Mandy sets her feet, her big, beautiful thighs tensing, taut calves rippling as she pushes Charlize's gloves away. The ref is about to step in to break the clinch, but holds up as Theron yields slightly, stepping back; the big brunette using her leg strength, forcing the big blonde back two, then three steps, landing two body hooks to Charlize's one tired sweeping left.

Charlize stops back-pedaling briefly, trading hard body hooks, but this time Mandy hooks up arms and wrestles the tiring blonde back again, using those long legs and arms to heave the blonde back to mid-ring. Theron giving up ground grudgingly, holding on until the ref moves in to break them apart. With seconds left in the round, Charlize, her arms dropping, her chest heaving, is still the opportunist and when she sees Mandy's left shoulder drop after a wild, sweeping hook misses; the blonde's right over the top of that left shoulder catches the side of Mandy's face, twisting her to the right. Mandy does a little hop, recovers, squares and then sails a wild, telegraphed right hook. Theron blinks wearily, just getting her arm up at the last second but even so, Mandy's heavy punch knocks her to one side as it THUNKs into her shoulder. Mandy, follows in to body up the wheezing blonde, jolting her backward another two steps, forcing Charlize to clutch and grab as she rides it out to the bell.

The weary fighters trudge back to their corners after the bell in a round seemingly narrowly Theron's, but with Mandy appearing to be coming on with her raw strength and youthful resiliency, muscling the flagging fight legend around and making it a close round despite Charlize having landed more blows and getting the better of the early going.

This fight, headed for an early KO at one time - or so Charlize and maybe eighty percent of the large crowd believed - has turned into a war with Theron most likely still pitching a shutout in rounds won, but with the gap narrowing in each of the last two rounds. The ex-champ, whom Beyonce Knowles, and others, had derisively termed little more than a "six round fighter these days," is, tellingly, about to come out for the sixth round of this fight. Her manager gives Charlize an encouraging slap on the butt as she rises, exhaling forcefully and pounding her gloves together, focusing on going back out to do battle with the rugged young brunette.