Ebanie ‘Blonde Bomber’ Bridges reveals how meeting Ricky ‘Hitman’ Hatton inspired her to victory

Australian boxing champion Ebaine Bridges has revealed some ‘words of wisdom’ from Ricky ‘Hitman’ Hatton that inspired her to beat Shannon O’Connell in her recent IBF bantamweight title fight in Leeds.

Sydney-born Bridges, 36, tweeted a picture of herself in a group with the famous British fighter at First Direct Arena on December 10.

“Such a special moment for me to have @Hitman Hatton visit me before my fight and give me his words of wisdom… and tell me his belief in me,” read the accompanying post.

“He’s an absolute legend and I’m glad I was able to make him proud.”

Bridges defeated bitter rival and compatriot O’Connell after a bitter pre-fight exchange of words, with the Blonde Bomber’s superior endurance and more accurate punches allowing the fight to be stopped by referee Howard Foster in round eight.

Australian boxing champion Ebaine Bridges (left) has revealed some ‘words of wisdom’ from Ricky ‘Hitman’ Hatton that inspired her to beat Shannon O’Connell

Hatton is considered one of the best boxers in England and was the 2005 unified world champion at light welterweight

Bridges has lost just once in 10 career fights and continues to impress the sport’s top judges

“Not bad for a lewd stripper I have to say, not bad for a lewd stripper,” a jubilant Bridges said afterwards, referencing some of O’Connell’s trash talk before the pair stepped into the ring.

“I don’t usually disrespect my opponent, but she was so disrespectful to me all along.

“I can’t really give her that much respect – but she can hit. She can bang. “She came, she was hungry, she was wild.

“But I was better and that’s why I’m the champion. “I knew it was going to be the toughest fight of my career and it was.

“Now we know who the real queen of Australian boxing is. ‘Team skanky strippers forever!’

The 35-year-old defended her IBF bantamweight title on December 10 with a KO win

Ebanie Bridges has since revealed that she broke her hand before her fight with Shannon O’Connell

Bridges took to Twitter days after her impressive win at Leeds to show off her broken hand

O’Connell also referred to the champion as a “fat C****” ahead of the fight in Britain, adding to the excitement.

Remarkably, Bridges later revealed her broken hand, which she injured before the fight.

“Much of my (combat) camp was done with one hand,” she tweeted.

“I only did most of my sparring games with my left hand. But there was no way I was going to pull out of this fight knowing I could one-handed her (O’Connell) if I had to.

“But now it’s time to sort this out. “It’s quite an intense surgery, they take bones from my hip and fuse my joints together. A somewhat slow recovery…but I’m no stranger to injuries.