Australia’s Ebanie Bridges has claimed the IBF bantamweight title with a unanimous decision victory in front of a raucous crowd in Leeds.
Fighting on the undercard of Josh Warrington’s rematch with Kiko Martínez, the 35-year-old Sydneysider known as the Blonde Bomber was dominant across the 10-round fight, easily claiming a decision victory over champion Maria Cecilia Roman.
It’s been a meteoric rise in the sport for the maths teacher turned viral sensation, who only stepped into the ring as a professional for the first time in 2019.
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Bridges dominated the opening rounds of the bout, using her size advantage well – the champion worked her way back in the latter stages but it was too little, too late.
One judge scored nine of the 10 rounds in the Aussie’s favour, with the other two giving her seven.
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“I feel proud of myself, and I feel extremely happy because it means that everything I’ve sacrificed and all the work that I’ve put in and everything that I’ve done to get me to this point has been worth it,” she said afterwards.
“Hopefully everyone here loved that fight, and it was entertaining,” she said in front of a de facto home crowd.
Bridges posed with a Leeds United scarf at the pre-fight weigh-in and has been adopted by the city since declaring her fandom for the team a couple of years ago.
“I was just grateful and blessed that I was able to win and become a world champion in this beautiful city of Leeds with all my fans,” she said.
But she isn’t without her critics – Bridges has drawn the ire of some sections of fans and even fellow fighters for her appearance and conduct – including pre-fight outfits at weigh-ins.
She isn’t bothered, and nor should she be.
“I just want to say, can I f—ing fight or what? F–k you guys who think I can’t fight, all right? Cause I can f–king fight.
“I can box, I can fight, and I can look hot on the scales. So hopefully I proved a lot of doubters.”
Promoter Eddie Hearn was full of praise for the Australian.
“There was a lot of people that thought when Ebanie Bridges came into this sport that it was just a gimmick – it was about driving followers and attention – but there was a method to the madness,” he said.
“What people haven’t seen is the dedication… she’s really applied herself and tonight she didn’t get an easy world title, she didn’t get a vacant world title, she beat the longest-reigning champion in the division, and one of the best fighters in the division.”
In the main event, and with Leeds United star Luke Ayling in his corner, Warrington claimed an emotional TKO win in the seventh round.
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