(MAY 26)  The semi main event on the Rumble at the Rink card in Nanaimo, British Columbia featured women bantamweights Alisah McPhee and Peggy Maerz. The two fought on the previous Gloved Up card, in a fight that saw McPhee take a close, tightly contested win. On this night they would battle for eight rounds and the winner would claim the CPBC Western Canadian Bantamweight Title.
As figured, this fight was close from the outset. A judge’s score was going to depend on what style of fighter he preferred. McPhee fired her jab and amassed a large number of punches.

Maerz used her strength to walk McPhee down while throwing body shots. In the first round McPhee landed her jab, while Maerz scored with punches to McPhee’s body. McPhee threw more punches, and Maerz was not able to block them all. McPhee straightened her jab in the second, and as a result she was able to score with punches up the middle. That forced Maerz to throw wide shots, but she proved effective in doing so and she was able to muscle shots to McPhee’s body.

Maerz effectively worked punches to McPhee’s body in the third. Landing the body shots slowed McPhee’s jab rate a bit, and also kept her from stepping in close. McPhee was able to slip out of trouble a few times in the round, but Maerz kept up the pressure and stepped toward McPhee looking to land a heavy body shot.

The pace of the fourth round slowed some. Both women appeared tired, though they worked through that to fire punches. The final twenty seconds of the round saw a flurry of action. Both women let their hands go and both connected. Furious shots were landed to the other’s head.

The women settled a bit in the fifth and returned to the tactic that had proven successful early in the fight; for McPhee that meant shooting her jab straight up the middle, trying to find a target on Maerz’s chin or midsection. Maerz went back to throwing body shots and walking McPhee across the ring. The story of the round was that Maerz threw the heavier shots, McPhee threw more shots. Maerz controlled much of the action in the sixth round. She was able to do so behind her right hand which though thrown wide, was able to find a target on McPhee’s ribs. By the midpoint of the round, McPhee had figured out how to step out of trouble, avoiding the heavy shots. Maerz made another attempt to swing the judges as the round closed when she landed a straight right McPhee’s chin.

The momentum of the fight shifted back toward McPhee early in the seventh round. She was able to close the distance between herself and Maerz, and while in close she landed shots to the body and head. Maerz did not back down, she stayed in front of McPhee and stepped toward her quite often throwing body shots. Both women stepped up the punch rate in the final round. McPhee looked to be fighting as if she were way behind on the cards, trying to land a solid shot to Maerz’s head, or at least land a few solid shots to slow her. Maerz, in the round took a lot of shots, but she answered with many of her own.

After eight rounds, both women appeared confident of the win. After the obligatory moment of congratulations at the end of the fight, Maerz shot both hands in the air and jumped in excitement. McPhee raised her right arm, as she walked around the ring. The judges scored the bout 77-75; 78-74; and 79-73 all in favor of Alisah McPhee who after donning the Bantamweight Title belt acknowledged the toughness of her opponent.