Ebanie Bridges will make the first defense of her IBF bantamweight title on Dec. 10 when she takes on Shannon O’Connell in Leeds, England.
The fight will be on the undercard of the Josh Warrington-Luis Alberto Lopez IBF featherweight title fight.
Bridges (8-1, 3 KO) last fought in January, when she defeated Maria Cecilia Roman to win the IBF bantamweight belt. It was her third straight win. The Australian picked up the belt in her second attempt to win a world title, having lost to Shannon Courtenay by unanimous decision for the vacant WBA belt last year.
O’Connell (23-6-1, 11 KO) will be the most experienced professional boxer the 36-year-old Bridges has faced, by far. O’Connell, also from Australia, has fought for titles on three occasions in different weight classes, losing all three of those fights. She has won eight straight fights, her last being a stoppage of Sarah Higginson in the first round in June.
The bantamweight division is one of only four in women’s boxing at the moment where all four major titles are held by different people.