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Friday, March 3, 2023

Odelia Ben Ephraim Impressive in Decision Win

Featherweight Odelia "Thunder" Ben Ephraim dominated Tijana Draskovic in a six round affair at Salle Polyvalente des Ramiers in Blagnac, France tonight. Ben Ephraim swept the cards to win by unanimous decision.

The most trouble Ben Ephraim, a 23 year old from France, faced came before the fight. Draskovic waited in the ring as ACDC's Thunderstruck played for one full rotation. After the song had restarted, Ben Ephraim finally made her ring walk. Draskovic had been standing in the ring for seven minutes and 45 seconds when Ben Ephraim climbed through the ropes. The waiting may have affected Draskovic, but it didn't seem to bother Ben Ephraim at all.

To begin every round, Ben Ephraim raced out to meet Draskovic, an 18 year old southpaw from Serbia. Odelia's hands were in constant motion, but she was very intelligent in her punch-picking, a rare attribute for a volume puncher. Draskovic was able to land several hard counter lefts throughout the fight, the same punch Romane Geffray, an orthodox fighter, was able to land on Odelia a year ago.

In the Geffray fight, Ben Ephraim showed the jab to land hard rights. Against Draskovic, her attack was more balanced. She dug left hooks into the Serbian woman's body and then added the left uppercut, which seemed to land underneath Draskovic's high guard every time. Her rights were as powerful as ever. In the later rounds, Ben Ephraim added the right uppercut and began smashing six and seven punch combinations against Draskovic's face.

Ben Ephraim acted like a nasty cold all fight. She didn't quite knockout Draskovic, but Odelia frustrated her the entire time and wouldn't let her breathe. Ben Ephraim's performance dropped jaws and opened eyes, and her style was fun to watch. Draskovic managed to last the full six rounds solely because of her heart and her chin. By the end, she had taken a pretty bad beating.

The judges all saw the bout 60-54 for Thunder, and there was really no other way to score it. Ben Ephraim is now 4-2 while Draskovic falls to 1-6.

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