Fisticuffs in the ring

Saturday 11: Local female police officers were on the frontline on Thursday night – the frontline of the boxing ring that is.

The second fight night of the year, which seconded as a Cook Islands Games boxing event, was a well attended event which not only included some quality boxing but also a kick boxing exhibition and entertainment by the Fairies.

But the stars of the night had to be the female officers who took to the ring to show that they are a force to be reckoned with.

The stand out female bout was between national netballer and police employee Luciana Matenga who faced tough female officer Tupou Patia.

While the two women sauntered into the ring giggling and hamming it up for the

big crowd, they showed some impressive and fearsome boxing skills.

The first one-minute round was spent trying to see how softly they could jab at each other but that grew tiresome so they ripped into the next two rounds with some hard hitting combinations.

At the end of the three rounds of three minutes, it was Luciana Matenga who was declared the winner, but no one in their right mind would think twice about messing with either of these two ladies.

The next two female officers to take to the ring were the ever smiling Judy Tuara and Ngaei Kura.

This bout also began softly with Judy laughing her way around the ring, but in the second round she ran with a one-two combo raining jabs on to her opponent.

The bout finished when Judy decided she had had enough and with both hands on her hip and a stern look at the timekeeper, the bell was rung to end the bout. Both boxers were declared the winner.

There were plenty more bouts on the night including junior boxers who had improved from the first time they were in the ring a month ago and some hard hitting heavy weight bouts. - MW