‘Blonde Bomber’ Ebanie Bridges suffered a shocking upset on Saturday night, surrendering her IBF bantamweight championship to Miyo Yoshida.
Stepping in to fight Bridges on just 20 days’ notice and a month removed from her decision loss to Shurretta Metcalf, the Japanese veteran delivered a dominant performance throughout the 10-round affair and left the Chase Center in San Francisco with championship gold around her waist.
Things started relatively slow between the two fighters, but with less than a minute to go in the opening round, Bridges and Yoshida began to let their hands go with the challenger landing a solid right hand in the closing seconds. The second round saw Yoshida outland Bridges as the ‘Blonde Bomber’ was content to duck her head and close the distance, but didn’t offer much in the way of offense.
By the halfway point of the fight, Bridges was consistently outworked by Yoshida, leaving the defending champ looking downright exhausted going into the second half of the fight.
Despite her best efforts to pick up the pace and make up for a stagnant start, Bridges was unable to muster the energy needed to mount a comeback. In the end, Yoshida outstruck the ‘Blonde Bomber’ by double the champ’s output, a stat that was reflected in the judges’ decisive scorecards.
Official Result: Miyo Yoshida def. Ebanie Bridges via unanimous decision (99-91, 99-1, 97-93) to win the IBF bantamweight world championship.