Aussie boxing sensation Ebanie Bridges is standing her ground as social media naysayers try to stop her expressing herself.
Australian professional boxer Ebanie Bridges hit out online after Instagram removed a racy photo she posted.
The “Blonde Bomber”, 35, shared a photo wearing nothing but underwear and a pair of boxing gloves.
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Bridges welcomed in the new year with the post but it did not take long for Instagram to remove it from their platform.
In response, Bridges moaned about online trolls who reported the offending post.
She also complained that there are worse images posted on the site, yet Instagram only punished her.
And the social media platform reprimanded Bridges further, issuing a warning to the boxer that she could lose access to her account if she posts similar photos in future.
It was deemed to have breach Instagram’s guidelines on “adult sexual solicitation”.
She posted a message across the top of the reprimand.
“OK the trolls / haters are winning TBH. Eh keep reporting my pic. I can’t re-post my pic. Last thing I wanna do is lose my account,” Bridges wrote.
“Hope y’all screenshotted it for you backgrounds before it got removed. Happy New Year.”
In a post on the weekend, Bridges — who regularly attends weigh-ins in lingerie — said she would continue to be herself.
“I stayed strong and true to myself. Through all the hate, all the people judging me, stereotyping me and praying for me to fail,” she wrote. “Mainly cos of how I look & how I promote myself, people couldn’t handle change.
“I came into the women’s boxing world showing something different, and promoting myself using social media (no one was / is going to do it for me) I AM different. I’ll never be like anyone else. I’ve walked my own path and now paved it for others. I like to think I have done a lot for women’s boxing this year and brought many more eyes on the sport by just being myself.
“I took the hits and the bullets and I survived the attacks to now make it easier for other women who also choose to be feminine and show their beauty whilst still being a beast, and hopefully they don’t get slayed as much as I did.
“I built my own brand that will continue to grow and hopefully inspired many others, not only women but EVERYONE.”
Bridges is on the road to a world title fight next fight after she improved her professional record to 7-1 with a win over Gangloff three months ago — her second straight victory since losing to rival Shannon Courtenay in their WBA bantamweight world title bout.
The 35-year-old school teacher turned professional in February 2019 and has gone on to make a promising start to her career.
Her only defeat came in a bantamweight world title fight against Courtenay in April, losing by unanimous decision to the British star.
This story first appeared in The Sun and was republished with permission.
