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Australian boxer Ebanie Bridges, the IBF female bantamweight champion, on Tuesday weighed in on the recent emergence of transgender women in female sports.
Bridges was asked in an interview with Bitcoin Casinos whether she would ever fight against a transgender woman.
"No, never," she replied. "I think it’s wrong, especially in boxing. I think in all sport. I just think a lot of women in sports that are breaking records weren’t originally women and in a sport where you are trying to hurt the other person. You’re born (a) man. I don’t care what you say, how many hormones you’re taking, you’re still born (a) man.
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Ebanie Bridges celebrates after defeating Shannon O’Connell during their IBF Women's World Bantamweight title fight at First Direct Arena on Dec. 10, 2022 in Leeds, England. (Nigel Roddis/Getty Images)
"It’s like saying all of a sudden Mike Tyson wants to be a girl now and he goes and fights you – no way! And how do you measure it? ‘They don’t look really masculine so that’s OK,’ No. I even spar with boys or guys smaller than me and they are ‘hell strong.’ So, I think no. Especially in combat sports and general in sports. Think about a female wanting to be the best in her sport and then she has to compete against men who’ve transitioned obviously into women and that takes the whole feminine side.
"And then you got women who transition into men that go against the men, which never happens. Very rarely. It’s always the other way around. There’s no girls that go, ‘I’m transitioning because I feel like I;m male’ and they go into men’s sport. They don’t do that. It’s only the other way around. And if it was the other way around, for example, in combat sports, unless she’s taking a lot of testosterone and steroids – which is banned – you’re gonna get blasted by men."
Bridges suggested an open category for transgender athletes.
Boxer Ebanie Bridges in attendance ahead of the undisputed super lightweight championship fight between Katie Taylor and Chantelle Cameron at the 3Arena in Dublin. (Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
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"The reality is, biologically, it’s still what they are," she told Bitcoin Casinos. "And it just takes away from the women, from women’s sport."
Bridges, who is also an OnlyFans model, burst onto the boxing scene when she won gold medals at the Australasian Games in 2016 and 2017. She then made her professional debut in 2019 and won via majority decision.
Bridges started out winning five consecutive bouts before she lost in April 2021 to Shannon Courtenay via unanimous decision. It would be the only blemish on her record so far.
Ebanie Bridges at the weigh-in ahead of their IBF World Bantamweight Title fight against Shannon O'Connell during the weigh in at Aspire, Leeds. (Tim Goode/PA Images via Getty Images)
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She challenged then-IBF female bantamweight champion Maria Cecilia Roman in March 2022 and won via unanimous decision. Her last fight came in December 2022 when she defeated Shannon O’Connell to retain her title.