most read story on the Fox Sports Australia website<\/a> \u2013 behind only the tragic passing of Shane Warne.<\/p>\nLEEDS, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 10: Ebanie Bridges and Shannon O\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u0082\u00ac\u00e2\u0084\u00a2Connell exchange blows during their IBF Women’s World Bantamweight title fight at First Direct Arena on December 10, 2022 in Leeds, England. (Photo by Nigel Roddis\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Johnson boasts a similarly massive following, and Bridges believes a clash between the two would be even bigger.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019d be one of the biggest Aussie boxing fights, I think,\u201d said the former Sydney school teacher.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, the fight with me and Shannon O\u2019Connell was the biggest for female boxing, but this would be bigger than that because Neekz is undisputed.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur weigh-ins combined would break the internet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Bridges and Johnson are represented by Jake Paul\u2019s Most Valuable Promotions, putting the two Aussie\u2019s under the same banner as their profiles continue to rise on the world stage. <\/p>\n
Paul, who has become a major powerbroker in women\u2019s boxing through MVP, is currently sidelined after suffering a broken jaw in his recent loss to heavyweight superstar Anthony Joshua.<\/p>\n
Bridges expects Paul to be ringside in San Juan, Puerto Rico this weekend for her bout with Arazia, alongside another familiar face in her corner \u2014 partner and British boxing icon Kell Brook.<\/p>\n
\u201cKell\u2019s been great [through camp],\u201d Bridges said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been helping me train. He\u2019s been holding the pads. He\u2019s always at my sparring. And he\u2019s always giving me advice and support.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very lucky in that sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite her confidence, Bridges admits there are nerves heading into her first fight in more than two years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d be lying if I wasn\u2019t a little bit nervous,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been out of the ring and I\u2019m just hoping that I can shake off the ring-rust really fast and get in there and put on a great performance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Getting back to fight fitness hasn\u2019t been easy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was hard work, having such a long layoff,\u201d Bridges said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot just from the fighting, but just from training. My pregnancy was really hard throughout. I was really sick throughout, so just getting back into it was the hard part.<\/p>\n
\u201cJuggling motherhood and training is something very new for me and challenging. You know, lack of sleep and having to put someone else first all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for what she expects from Arazia, Bridges is predicting fireworks.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, she\u2019s a tough, strong, come-forward fighter,\u201d Bridges said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s aggressive. She\u2019s a bit like me. We both like to come forward and fight. So I know that it\u2019s going to be a very entertaining fight. <\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to say that I stop her. I think I could stop her in later rounds, but these Mexicans are tough. So let\u2019s see what she can handle. But I\u2019ll be going for the knockout.\u201d<\/p>\n
And if she gets her hand raised after 25 months away?<\/p>\n
\u201cThere might be tears,\u201d admitted Bridges.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ll never see tears from me after a fight. I\u2019m not that emotional. But, you know, I might actually cry because it\u2019s been a long and hard road.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former world champion Ebanie Bridges has welcomed the idea of a future showdown with fellow Australian and undisputed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-344109","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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