Styles make fights, as the saying goes. The contrast in question, of course, naturally refers to boxing styles and not lifestyles. That is not at all the case here.
Authored by the principals involved, the narrative woven throughout the pre-fight chatter surrounding Saturday’s bantamweight title bout between IBF world champion Ebanie Bridges and her mandatory challenger Shannon O’Connell has focused almost exclusively on their clash of personalities. The battle lines have been unmistakably drawn, on either side of which stand the fighters themselves dug in alongside their distinct brands of admirers.
Occupying one corner, you have Ebanie Bridges, the preferred choice of fight fans who are more likely than not just as familiar with OnlyFans. In fact, Bridges shamelessly advertised the pay-for-play website on a t-shirt as well as her bare midriff at this morning’s weigh-in. It is as easy as it is understandable to dismiss Bridges as an entitled airhead who was fast-tracked to a world championship more on the strength of her sweater size, social media following, and influential promoter than her proficiency with a left jab, right hook, or uppercut.
A former bodybuilder and ring-card girl who also teaches high school math, plays piano, and is a talented sketch artist, there’s actually much more to Ebanie than meets the eye. The problem is, you’d hardly know it by scrolling through her bawdy Twitter posts or watching her voyeuristic weigh-ins.
It’s obvious that she’s having a laugh, but at whose expense? Has she unwittingly become the butt of her own joke, if you pardon the pun? It is undeniable that she draws eyes to her participation in women’s boxing, but are lascivious eyes that leer and ogle the type you really feel comfortable attracting to the sport?
Not in the opinion of Shannon O’Connell, very much in Bridges’ opposing corner. A mother of three, Shannon is a battle-tested veteran of the hurt business with eighteen years of experience dating back to her amateur days, and more knockouts as a pro (11) than Bridges has fights (9). Having survived a childhood that is more tragic than anything Charles Dickens ever dreamed up and almost inexplicably lived to tell the tale, O’Connell has had to struggle mightily for everything she has achieved in and out of the ring.
Shannon’s hardscrabble life experience informs the no-nonsense approach she takes toward boxing. She equates the sport that saved her life to a kind of self-flagellation that she ultimately finds is beneficial to her physical as well as emotional well-being. This existential trait, of course, can and has been used against her by Ebanie Bridges, who portrays O’Connell as being a sour, envious, and humorless spoilsport. Needless to say, it is a personal affront to Shannon that Bridges is far more concerned with brand-building than prizefighting.
Their animosity notwithstanding, Saturday evening in Leeds will prove to be the best of times for one and the worst of times for the other.
This occasion marks O’Connell’s third world title shot but first ever visit to the UK, one that required a 21-hour flight from sunny Australia to frigid cold England. She spent the better part of two weeks training at Ricky Hatton’s gym in Manchester and acclimating to the changes in temperature and time zone.
Bridges, a Leeds United fan and UK transplant, will be competing in her adopted hometown. This raises serious concerns as to how fairly O’Connell will be treated by the judges assuming the fight lasts the distance and goes to the scorecards. For Shannon, it also calls into question the Aussie vs. Aussie aspect of the pre-fight hype, given that Bridges has literally removed herself from the Land Down Under and switched allegiances so effortlessly.
For all of their enmity, the pair only came face to face for the very first time at yesterday’s press conference. Confronted about her “skanky stripper” remark about Bridges, O’Connell not only refused to walk it back but doubled down by clarifying, “She’s not a skanky stripper, she’s a skanky wannabe stripper.”
Bridges did little to disabuse Shannon’s notion at this morning’s weigh-in by outdoing herself yet again, stepping onto the scale after disrobing to reveal transparent undergarments beset with strategically placed floral designs. For anyone interested in more than what Ebanie did or did not have on, she weighed in at 117.75 while O’Connell came in at 117.35.
“I’ve got morals,” sniped O’Connell in a fight-week interview when asked about her distaste for how Bridges conducts herself. “I’ve got a 15-year-old daughter, and if I was doing the things Ebanie is doing it would be basically telling my 15-year-old daughter, ‘Get your clothes off and you can basically get what you want in life.’ That’s not what I’m about.”
To Bridges it’s all “sticks and stones” type bitterness on the part of O’Connell which she personally finds “boring” as she’s heard it all before and, regardless, feeds off insults from haters. Her motivation, in part, stems from a desire to prove that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Shannon retorted by claiming that Bridges’ relentless flaunting of her body signifies quite the opposite and that “she is putting herself out there to be judged.”
“I don’t have a fake bone in my body,” stated O’Connell at Thursday’s presser, “so everything I’ve said I meant.” Presumably she also stands behind calling Ebanie a “fat c**t” on a viral video in which she combatively doubted Bridges’ given weight. This verbal callback to a since-deleted Tweet in which Shannon taunted Ebanie’s ample proportions has sparked outrage in the form of accusations of bullying and fat shaming from some fans and media outlets. As to her use of the feminine slur, it shouldn’t be overlooked that Bridges used the same exact term in a Tweet of her own with regards to Shannon months ago.
With the time to talk the vicious talk now in the rearview mirror, the moment is nearly at hand for Bridges and O’Connell to walk the walk, from their respective corners to the center of the ring at First Direct Arena where they will at long last swap leather in lieu of insults.
Sporting the faded remnants of a black eye from sparring, which elicited a snide reaction from Ebanie, O’Connell stared daggers through a smirking Bridges after yesterday’s press conference, sneering “You’re fucked now, bitch.”
Bridges burst out in laughter, whether of the nervous or genuine variety only she knows. The question is who will laugh last tomorrow in Leeds?
Shannon Courtenay, a very interested party in the outcome of Bridges vs. O’Connell, will be back in action for the first time since losing her WBA world bantamweight title to Jamie Mitchell last November, facing 5-5 Gemma Ruegg. Also on the undercard, lightweight prospect Rhiannon Dixon looks to improve her pro record to a perfect 7-0 against 7-6-1 Kristine Shergold.
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