(SEPT 21) Saturday night at the Silver Reef Casino in Ferndale, Washington, Stephanie Eggink, 123, and Brittany Cruz, 123, faced each other for the second time. Eggink scored her first professional win in January when the women faced each other in Ferndale, a fight in which Cruz tasted defeat for the first time.

The opening round seemed to pick up where the women left off eight months ago. Both of them carry long arms and so they jabbed at each other though nothing really stuck until the mid point of the round. At that time Eggink backed Cruz against the ropes and landed a flurry of punches.

Cruz answered in the second round when she began to pump her left hand at Eggink, finding a target on the lanky local’s body. Cruz’s problem was that too often she was stepping away from the punch instead of in to it and that meant less sting on the punch, and it allowed Eggink to continually step to Cruz, negating some of the long reach.

Eggink stepped up her offense in the third, and she was able to move in close enough to land body shots to Cruz’s ribs. Cruz, late in the round, showed a bit of power when she slipped a straight right through Eggink’s defense, but that was all the offense that Cruz would offer.

The fourth round was close, perhaps because each woman figured that in order to come out with a win, they would have to capture the round. Cruz, in a change from round two, fought well when she was in close. Eggink continued to move out of arm’s reach while keeping her left in Cruz’s face.

After four rounds one judge scored the fight 39-37 for Eggink, the other two saw the fight even at 38. Eggink has one win in the two fight series, and now a majority draw. If they fight again, their managers may want to consider a five round affair.