Terri Blair wins by knockout

I snapped these photos from one of the white corners during the Terri Blair win tonight.



I probably won't use this one because of the blur, but the action is intense -- punctuated by the sweat flying off the left fighter. Since my flash sucks, I was betting that there would be little to no chance that I'd be able to get it to fire at the right time, so I used available light and the fastest lens I could manage. Naturally, a lot of the photos came out pretty blurry.



Here's Terri -- I think this was during the first round. I was seriously unsure of how things were going up until around the seventh, when Blair definitely had her opponent reeling.



Strangely, while I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to get my own ancient flash to fire in time, I did somehow manage to snap one in sync with a different photographer's flash. The effect is neat.

The ninth round was brutal -- it started off with Blair's opponent lunging forward and losing her balance, hitting the mat. She got up and decided she was still in the fight, but trying to regain lost ground with sheer ferocity wound up costing her. Blair kept her at a distance, and when she'd lunge, Blair would come in for a crushing left. Here, she's down for the third and final time.



Here's another one I won't be able to use in the paper... but again, the effect is nice. Basically, this was an instance where I tried to make my resentful flash work, but it didn't go off. The highlight from the spotlight creates another neat image. It sort of says "Million Dollar Baby," doesn't it?



I'll have to go over my hastily-scribbled notes for more details on the fight. But the most important facts are that Terri Blair defended her title, winning by three knockouts in the ninth round.

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