Weak All Over

During more thoughtful moments at the Amazonia Boxing Club, Marc wondered which outcome he wanted more. Did he like to lose or to be the one who dealt out the KOs?
It depends on the female opponent, he reminded himself. Some of them fuck you better after putting you on the canvas, while others fall hard for the victorious male.
Looking across the ring at Yoko, it was hard to tell. The investment banker from Japan, thirty years old and in stunning shape, was a guest of the Amazonia. So Marc's second, Cathy, had no intelligence from the women's locker room about the woman who challenged him to match five minutes after they met.
Well, Marc thought, getting to his feet for the first round, I'll probably get laid.

Between landing punches, the fighters flirted.
"So you only fight guys or do you go with girls?"
Yoko laughed at Marc's double meaning. "I've laid out a few girls, but men are always my first choice!" She landed a sudden left-right combination that rattled Marc. "You look ready for your knockout!"
WHACK!!
POW!!

Marc lay on his back, gawking up at his assailant, confused about what happened. When he worked it out, Marc bolted to his feet and put a gut shot on Yoko, who twisted painfully. Emma the Ref tried to block him, but she wasn't fast enough. Marc popped a solid upper cut on Yoko's pert chin and pasted her on the lower jaw.
Yoko's world shuddered and blurred. She was weak all over. Yoko went to the canvas, where for a few seconds she resisted the darkness enveloping her.
"FIVE!" echoed from a million miles away and Yoko went under.
Marc watched the slumbering beauty as Emma the Ref completed the ten count.
Maybe I won't get laid, he considered.

It was three minutes of working on her before Yoko lurched back to her senses. A little while later, she stood, but one of the seconds, her cousin Amelia, got Yoko to sit back down.
When Marc walked over to see how she was feeling, Yoko greeted him wearily.
"Now that was a good combination, my friend!" Yoko told him, still fitting her senses back together.
"You look totally spent!" observed Marc, accurately. "I didn't mean to KO you that... quickly..."
 The Asian woman laughed at Marc again, wondering how sincere he was.
Yoko stood again. With Amelia and Emma the Ref's aid, she left the ring for her dressing room.
"I'm going to destroy that shoshi!" Yoko whispered in her cousin's ear. 

"My cousin is mad at you." Amelia told Marc. "But she won't show it, she's a lady."

Marc rolled over and kissed Amelia. "Oh yeah? What about?"

They both broke out laughing.

Amelia was involved with Karen. but now and then she needed a man and Marc was always there. 

"She thinks you ambushed her. That body blow was sort of a cheap shot."

"Yeah, I was acting without thinking. I knocked her out fair and square."

Amelia agreed, knowing Yoko didn't care about that. "Are you going to accept the rematch challenge?"

"Of course! I'll fight Yoko whenever she wants!"

Picturing Marc punching her cousin out excited Amelia. She pressed Marc onto his back and mounted him. 

"One day we should go at it in the ring!" suggested Amelia between kisses.

"You? You wouldn't remember what hit you!"

Marc entered his partner. "We'll see!" she moaned.

There was a week left on her business trip, so Yoko scheduled the match for Thursday night. That would give her a day to rest after trouncing Marc. She didn't hate Marc or blame him for knocking her out so quickly. That was her fault, she reminded herself, for not paying attention to an opponent who only seemed floored. 

But Yoko was very determined, as she climbed into the ring with Amelia right behind her, that marc learn who was the better fighter.

They touched gloves and circled before throwing punches. The female boxer knew better to make a full on attack immediately. She let Marc show what he could do, which he demonstrated in the final minute of round two.

Yoko unleashed a left-right combination aimed at Marc's head, which he ducked. Abruptly, Yoko saw nothing. Marc's retaliatory upper cut found the weak spot on Yoko's jaw. She was on her back, blinking  at Emma the Ref calling out "SIX!" Marc was standing in his corner. Yoko could hear her cousin screaming "Wake up!!"

Again!, Yoko fumed to herself.  

She was up by "NINE!" when the bell rang.

In third,Yoko was even more set on hurting Marc, who made her feel every punch he landed. Yoko kept coming at him. A well placed right staggered the male fighter. Yoko swooped in, hammering at Marc's face and torso. He watched him physically crumble until Marc collapsed in a neutral corner. Two shots at his jaw were followed by the KO punch: a brutal right that jerked his head sideways and shut off the lights.

Marc was lifeless on the canvas through Emma's ten count. His seconds, Karin and Cathy, moved Marc to the recovery room.

The worried look on Amelia's face as Marc was carted off confirmed for Yoko that her cousin was sleeping with her opponent. 

"Amelia, don't get so emotional," Yoko advised while removing her gloves. "He's going to be fine.. eventually."

The morning she left for Japan, Yoko sent flowers and a Get Well Soon card to Marc's hospital room.