Ebanie Bridges: The Road Back

Ebanie Bridges: The Road Back

Ebanie Bridges has defied the odds many times in her life, inside and outside of the ring. Bridges has beaten addiction. Turned back the many challenges of prejudice. Adversity has been a constant. But the Australian has always seen a way. Bridges has nearly always found a way. She will have to do so again.

Bridges hasn’t won a fight inside a boxing ring since December 2022. A night in Leeds when she defended her IBF world bantamweight title when she battered her arch rival Shannon O’Connell into submission. It was perhaps her finest hour. Bridges was at her best. Many thought her fellow Aussie would know too much for her. Not for the first time, Bridges made a fool out of her critics.

But Bridges had been fighting through the pain barrier for well over a year. A damaged hand needed surgery. The rehabilitation and a little dose of boxing politics kept Bridges out of action for a year. When she finally returned, Miyo Yoshida beat her in America. The world title was gone.

Bridges went away and had her first child. Very quickly after her son was born, Bridges plotted her comeback. She signed with Jake Paul and his Most Valuable Promotions. Bridges talked about a rematch with Shannon Courtenay and winning world titles again. But the return ended in defeat in January. Alexis Araiza Mones upset all those plans with a surprising eight-round points victory. Retirement seemingly loomed. But Ebanie Bridges wanted one last go.

Not for the first time, Bridges found a new trainer. The hook-up with Dominic Ingle was always likely at some point. In truth, it should have come sooner. Since leaving Mark Tibbs after retaining her world title in late 2022, nothing has quite worked for her. Something has been missing in her performances. Inactivity or something else, time will tell. But now Ingle and Bridges are finally working together, it sets up the 39-year-old for what will surely be the final chapter of her boxing career.

Bridges returns next month on a VIP Promotions show at the Rainton Meadows Arena. A return to UK soil for the first time since that impressive stoppage victory over O’Connell. After those two straight defeats, Bridges knows another defeat will surely signal that retirement call.

But Bridges seems to thrive on defying the odds. Very few expected her to win a world title. She did. And she did. An emotional night in Leeds in 2022. The long-reigning IBF world champion, Maria Cecilia Roman, couldn’t handle the relentless pace of Bridges. Roman lost on points on an emotional night in Yorkshire. Not for the first time, Ebanie Bridges had proved her point. She will have to do so again.

Bridges will know that many will have written her off after back-to-back defeats. But both of those losses came after long layoffs, and of course, only a few months after giving birth. Bridges probably deserves the benefit of the doubt. The fighter I saw from ringside for the Shannon O’Connell fight wasn’t the one who lost to Yoshida and Mones.

But this time, Bridges will make a quick return. That will help. Aligning with Ingle will help even more. She needs a win. Any win. But she has given herself the best chance of getting exactly what she needs to keep her career going.

There is still that talk of world titles, and Courtenay again. A rematch of their underrated fight from 2021 would serve a purpose. Courtenay won that. Bridges wants revenge. It makes sense for both. But before any talk of what potentially awaits her, Bridges just needs to win on April 18th. If that win does come her way, don’t rule out one last run for a fighter who has always believed in herself when others haven’t.