Ebanie Bridges: From Shannon to Shannon

Ebanie Bridges: From Shannon to Shannon

Ebanie Bridges will end her year-long hiatus in December when she defends her IBF bantamweight title in San Francisco against her fellow Australian Avril Mathie. It will be her first fight outside of the UK since Bridges first crossed multiple timezones in April 2021.

The fight with Shannon Courtenay was supposed to be a short-lived residency at the top table. But Bridges has always been a little bit stubborn, and that rebel in her had other ideas. The unwanted outsider. The perceived deluded imposter. The loudmouth lingerie model, who took over Twitter throughout the depths of lockdown. In truth, she took over boxing. You didn’t have to go looking for her. Ebanie Bridges found you.

Many thought that Courtenay would soon send her back home to Australia. And back to reality. But Bridges, who was 5-0 at the time, was on a mission. She even made a believer out of Courtenay.

Despite coming out at the short end of a points decision to her great rival, it was still her coming out party. Behind the glamour, the tinsel, and everything else that comes with the Ebanie Bridges show, the Australian showed the blood guts and thunder that her critics didn’t think she had in her. Since that eerie night without a crowd, the only thing that fight lacked, Bridges has had four further fights in the UK. She hasn’t lost since. She’s won a world title and made a small fortune in the process. And she isn’t done yet.

Before the next stage of her career begins, here is a little look back on those five fights in the UK. It started with a bitter rivalry with a fighter called Shannon, and it ended in the exact same way.

April 2021: Shannon Courtenay

In April 2021, Ebanie Bridges came over to England with plenty of fanfare, but to the masses, there was little expectation. Literally hours after a routine win back home, Bridges packed her bags and travelled to America for an embryonic training camp before heading over to London to fight Shannon Courtenay for the vacant WBA bantamweight title. The Australian took the fight on a few weeks’ notice when Rachel Ball dropped out through injury. Make no mistake, the odds were very much against her. Denied time to prepare properly for her unlikely world title shot, Bridges was a big betting outsider.

But Bridges fought with confidence, making fools out of those who said she was only there for the way that she had marketed herself. In truth, they had a point. But she knew it was her quickest route to the dance floor. It was an act of genius.

Courtenay was probably never better than she was that night. She had to be. Bridges brought firm resistance and no little skill. She was stunned a couple of times but came roaring back every single time. The likelihood was that only that grotesque swelling over her left eye that badly hampered her vision denied her victory. Almost certainly without it, Bridges would have won.

The scores of 97-94 98-92 98-92 were incredibly harsh on Bridges. The two scores of 98-92 were difficult to justify. Make no mistake, the fight was a whole lot closer to than that. Steve Bunce said, “That might have been the best women’s fight we’ve ever seen in this country.” Bunce was right.

Bridges proved her point and that she belonged at the top table. I said pre-fight that she would be back. A few months later, she was.

August 2021: Bec Connolly

Despite proving that point in the fight with Courtenay, there were still lingering doubters, and worse, those who tried to justify their own preconceived opinions, by creating their own narrative and trying to belittle what Bridges did in the ring. We saw that in her fight with Bec Connolly. When Bridges impressively blasted out Connolly in 3 rounds just 4 months after her titanic war with Courtenay, which subsequently earned her a Matchroom contract, many tried to make excuses for Connolly. But to her credit, Connolly wasn’t one of them. Stories of Connolly being weight drained did the rounds. She wasn’t but some still tried to push that argument into the public consciousness. Connolly had a rare full training camp to prepare for Bridges, and it was a fight Connolly firmly believed she could win. But Bridges showed her power and her class.

September 2021: Mailys Gangloff

Just a few weeks later, Bridges found herself in Leeds to fight the talented French fighter, Mailys Gangloff. It was a fight not without controversy, Bridges scraped home by way of a wafer-thin and much-disputed points decision after 8 good hard rounds. I didn’t really see why there was so much venom about the scoring. From ringside, I had Bridges edging it. On repeat viewing, I scored it the exact same way. It was no robbery, just a close fight and nothing more. It was another fight where the Australian showed her guts and desire. Bridges badly damaged her right hand early in the fight, and she also pulled a calf muscle not long after. Despite being in obvious pain in the closing rounds, Bridges gutted it out to get the decision. Gangloff herself didn’t complain too much about the scoring and did go on and win a European title. All things considered, that is a much better win than many people think.

March 2022: Maria Cecilia Roman

Bridges decided to move to the UK permanently. It wasn’t an easy decision, but for the sake of her boxing career, it was the only logical decision to make. She hooked up with Mark Tibbs, and in March 2022, Bridges landed another world title fight against the long-reigning IBF bantamweight champion Maria Cecilia Roman at the Leeds Direct Arena. Tibbs added another few layers to her game, and Bridges set off at a blistering pace and didn’t give Roman time to settle. If the champion thought Bridges would slow down, she would soon be in for a rude awakening. By the time Roman, who had held the title since 2017, found some semblance of success in the later rounds, the fight and her title were all but gone. One judge scored it 100-91 for the challenger, which was a little too wide. But the remaining scores of 97-93 in favour of Bridges were far more reflective. But Bridges won without doubt and proved that she could box as well as fight. She was busier and, in simple terms, better. Winning a world title seemed nothing more than a pipedream only a few months prior, and while some took pleasure in dismissing her abilities inside a boxing ring, Bridges just got on with changing her life. The former school teacher served up her greatest lesson. To believe in yourself.

December 2022: Shannon O’Connell

If Ebanie Bridges thought her rivalry with another Shannon had a little bit of spite attached to it. Another fighter with the same name took it to a whole new level. Shannon O’Connell her fellow Australian, made it personal, and a lot of experts predicted she would win. Even Boxing News thought the title would change hands in Leeds. But O’Connell seemed to diminish the very second her eyes locked in with Bridges inside that Leeds Direct Arena. But the challenger stunned Bridges in the opening round when she caught the champion flush with a right hand. But while the knees dipped momentarily, Bridges just kept coming. And coming.

By the 2nd round, it already seemed to be getting too much for O’Connell. Just a few minutes in and the O’Connell gas tank was nearly empty. Bridges made it her type of fight, and there was only going to be one winner. Bridges took O’Connell to the trenches. She then took her soul. The challenger was dropped in the 3rd, and while she was incredibly brave, her chances of taking the world title back home to Australia got remoter by the second. The end came in the 8th when Bridges was unleashing and landing repeated heavy shots. The sweetest of all victories for Bridges. O’Connell was a more than decent fighter in her own right. To date, that is the best win on the resume of Bridges.

The Next Chapter:

Bridges hasn’t fought since settling her feud with O’Connell. The troublesome right hand has been surgically repaired, and the rehabilitation was long. But Bridges will look to make up for lost time in December. The IBF bantamweight champion has already been in her fair share of crowd-pleasing fights, the one with Avril Mathie will likely be another. If Bridges wins, and the odds say that she will, 2024 could be the year her career goes to a whole new level. The naysayers will say the Ebanie Bridges story has gone as far as it can. But they would have also said that she wouldn’t get this far.

Photo Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing