Australian Ebanie ‘Blonde Bomber’ Bridges 9-2 (4) might have lost her IBF bantamweight title to Japan’s Miyo Yoshida 17-4 on Saturday night, but she won over fans with her graciousness in defeat.
Boxing on the undercard of the WBC junior welterweight title fight between Regis Progrias and Devin Haney at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California, the 37-year-old Bridges struggled to get into a rhythm against late replacement Yoshida, who repeatedly beat her to the punch and got the better of the action on the inside.
Yoshida, 35, won by unanimous decision with scores of 99-91, 99-91 and 97-93.
Bridges was making the second defence of the title that she won from Maria Roman 17-8-2 on points in Leeds, England in March last year. It was her first bout since her eighth-round knockout of fellow Australian Shannon O’Connell 23-7-1 (11), also in Leeds, last December.
Yoshida stepped in as a late replacement for Avril Mathie 8-1-1 (3) who withdrew with an undisclosed injury and was not expected to put up too much resistance. After all, she was coming off a decision loss to Shurretta Metcalf 13-4-1 (2) little more than a month earlier.
The quick turnaround time clearly benefits Yoshida while the year off did Bridges no favours. The bout was fought largely on Yoshida’s terms and she was rarely troubled by Bridges’ offence.
“This was supposed to be an exhibition fight for Ebanie Bridges in the United States,” one commentator said on DAZN. “This has been a disaster for her.”
“Avril pulled out a couple of weeks ago and this is about the fourth opponent we’ve gone through,” she said.
“We’ve had opponents say yes and then get the contract and go missing. It doesn’t change a lot. I’m still going to go in there and fight my fight.”
Yoshida, who was credited with landing 122 punches to Bridges’ 66, broke down in tears of joy in the ring after the fight as she celebrated her victory with her young daughter, calling Bridges a “great champion”.
Bridges was gracious in defeat, posted to social media: “Absolutely gutted, it wasn’t my night.
“Big congrats to my opponent (Miyo Yoshida) she was the better fighter tonight.
“Beautiful and humble, single mother. Seeing how much that win meant to her and her daughter did give me some warmth inside.
“A loss doesn’t define me. I have no quit, it’s all learning and I’ll be back better and stronger.
“Thank you to everyone who supports me. I love you all.”
With the win Yoshida becomes a two-weight world champion. She previously held the WBO super flyweight title, losing the belt in her second defence to Tomoko Okuda before winning it back in their rematch. In their trilogy fight she was beaten again, prompting her move up in weight.