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September 9, 2006 - Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington
Jodi Esquibel and Melissa Shaffer faced each other for the second time. Esquibel won the first fight, a close contest fought near her home in the desert southwest. The women fought a four round bout as light flyweights, and that presented the first challenge for Shaffer, who had to pour down the water to gain enough weight to tip the scales at 103 pounds. Esquibel weighed in at 105.   Esquibel was aggressive in the opening round, throwing jabs early to keep Shaffer at a safe distance. Then, towards the end of the round Shaffer settled into a rhythm and began to let her hands go. That move changed the direction of the fight, though one judge did score the opening round for Esquibel. Shaffer pursued Esquibel around the ring in the following rounds, and while Esquibel threw the straighter punches, Shaffer was more economical, throwing and landing at the right moments. Many of Shaffer's punches came from the outside in, thus she was able to land to the body, and scoring there proved to be the difference in the fight. To land punches in the third and fourth round the women had to fight on the inside. That caused a frightening moment for both women when they lunged in and knocked heads. Though both of them grabbed their foreheads, there was no damage and the fight continued. Shaffer seemed to easily fall into a rhythm, pursuing Esquibel and landing body shots while Esquibel tried to avoid the assault. Two judges scored the bout 40-36, the third had it 39-37, all in favor of Melissa Shaffer, whose record improves to 9-4-0 (5KO). Jodi Esquibel suffered her first defeat, her record is now 3-1-0 (1KO).  Story and all photos by Mike Blair