Boxing champion Ebanie Bridges says she has no regrets for opposing male-born transgender women being allowed to fight as women in her dangerous sport.
Bridges, who is currently the IBF female bantamweight champion, spoke out against transgender women being allowed to fight against real women back in June and, since then, has become the focus of attack by radical transgender supporters.
In June, Bridges was asked if she would ever get in the ring with a transgender opponent, and she forthrightly answered, “No, never,” the New York Post reported at the time.
“I think it’s wrong, especially in boxing,” she explained. “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.”
Ebanie Bridges celebrates victory over Shannon O’Connell after their IBF Bantamweight World Title bout at the First Direct Arena, Leeds. Picture date: Saturday, December 10, 2022. (Tim Goode/PA Images via Getty Images)
Bridges was especially concerned about the safety of females in the ring.
“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?” she asked.
“‘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,” she said.
Bridges also blasted trans athletes because it always seems to be men who “transition” to female who want to play sports and rarely women who then claim to be men who want to compete as males.
Now, Bridges is doubling down on her comments and claims that she got a lot of support for her comments.
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)
“Everyone’s so scared to say anything,” Bridges said on Monday, according to Fox News. “But no matter what you say, people are gonna jump and turn on you. I think the reality is – I’m right, and it’s true.”
“People are obviously scared, and I think with me speaking up with the kind of person that I am, such a big name in the sport and not just in the sport but in the general world, it gives other people the OK to speak up as well,” she insisted.
“It’s that simple because we’re not the fucking same. There’s a reason men don’t fight women,” Bridges exclaimed. “I don’t care if you’ve got boobies. You were still born a man.”
Bridges is 9-1 with four knockouts in her career and last earned a TKO against Shannon O’Connell to retain her title.
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