By Vince Dwriter: As the co-feature of DAZN’s Josh Warrington vs. Luis Alberto Lopez event, Ebanie “The Blonde Bomber” Bridges successfully defended her IBF bantamweight world title by scoring an eighth round TKO victory over Shannon O’Connell (23-7-1, 11 KOs) at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, England.
Bridges immediately set the tone for the fight by coming out in the first round pressing forward and landing the 1-2 combination. She was in complete control of the opening round until O’Connell landed a hard counter right hand that wobbled Bridges seconds before the bell sounded to end the round.
At the start of the second round, O’Connell came out swinging because she knew Bridges was hurt in the previous round, so she decided to constantly throw the right hand over the top. However, Bridges was able to stand her ground as she proceeded to fire shots to O’Connell’s body.
The third round kicked off with a bang as Bridges hit O’Connell with a big right hand that sent her down to the canvas. O’Connell was able to get up, and after rising to her feet, she used her veteran ring experience to survive the round.
The next three rounds of the fight were filled with crowd pleasing toe-to-toe action as Bridges and O’Connell were more than willing to stand in the pocket and trade punches. Both fighters were able to hit each other with flush shots as the two boxers battled at a ferocious pace.
The seventh round was similar to all the other rounds, as Bridges and O’Connell were involved in multiple exchanges. From a scoring standpoint, the round seemed to be up for grabs until Ebanie Bridges walked her opponent into a corner and hit her with a flurry of hard shots.
Through seven rounds, both fighters fired punches in bunches, but it seemed like Bridges was landing the harder, cleaner shots. In the eighth round, Bridges continued to tag O’Connell with the 1-2 down the middle.
While her opponent was on the ropes, Bridges hit O’Connell with a flurry of clean shots, and the referee stepped in and proceeded to put a halt to the contest.
The build-up to the fight involved both boxers trading verbal insults, but the match lived up to the hype as Australian boxing star Ebanie Bridges (9-1, 4 KOs) was able to successfully defend her title by earning a TKO victory against her bitter rival. During her post-fight interview, Ebanie Bridges made reference to one of O’Connell’s pre-fight insults.
“Not bad for a skanky stripper, I must say.”
Bridges went on to state, “I’m not usually disrespectful to my opponent, but she was so disrespectful to me the whole time. So I can’t really give her that much respect. She can hit, she can bang. She came, she was hungry, she was fierce, but I was better, and that’s why I’m the champion.”
Ebanie Bridges showed multiple facets of her game during her bout with fellow Australian Shannon O’Connell. Bridges showed she can box, she can brawl, and she’s also resilient.
Ebanie Bridges will end 2022 with a successful title defense, and she could possibly start her new year off with a unification bout against WBO bantamweight champion Dina Thorslund.