Ebanie Bridges wants to keep boxing the way it is.
Competing professionally since Feb. 2019, Australia’s Bridges, 36, has become a popular name in the women’s Bantamweight and super Bantamweight divisions. The 9-1 “Blonde Bomber” went 24-6 as an amateur and won 2016 and 2017 gold medals in the Australian Golden Gloves competition.
2012 in mixed martial arts (MMA) was a controversial year thanks to the involvement of transgender female Featherweight prospect, Fallon Fox. Fox went 5-1 in six fights and retired in 2014. Of Fox’s six opponents, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Bantamweight veteran, Ashlee Evans-Smith, was the only one to defeat her. If Bridges was granted the opportunity to be in a similar position in boxing, she wouldn’t be as up for the challenge.
“No, never — I think it’s wrong, especially in boxing and really in all sports,” Bridges told Bitcoin Casinos. “I just think a lot of women in sports that are breaking records weren’t originally women and in boxing when you are trying to hurt the other person [that’s the goal], it’s wrong. It’s like saying Mike Tyson suddenly wants to be a woman now and fights you — no way! I even spar with boys or guys smaller than me and they are ‘hell strong.’ And it never happens the other way round, where a woman will become a man and fight against the men — as they’d get blasted.
“Maybe they need their own space or competitions and fight in their own divisions,” she continued. “I think that’s fair as it’s dangerous and also it just takes it away from ‘women’s sport’ — ladies that have trained hard to be the best and could potentially fight a former man.”
Bridges last fought in Dec. 2022, scoring an eighth round technical knockout (watch highlights) against Shannon O’Connell to retain her IBF Bantamweight crown.