Ebanie Bridges has declared herself the queen of Australian boxing after she followed up her war of words with compatriot Shannon O'Connell by retaining the IBF bantamweight world title with an eighth-round stoppage win in Leeds, England.
Making her first defence of the title she won at the same venue back in March, Bridges was wobbled in the first round but dictated terms for most of the entertaining scrap on Saturday night (Sunday morning AEDT).
She floored O'Connell with a right hand in the third and English referee Howard Foster stopped the bout after the tiring challenger took a series of punches halfway through the eighth round.
Promoter Eddie Hearn said 36-year-old Bridges (9-1, 4 KOs) should look to unify the division.
The game "Shotgun" O'Connell, who had won eight successive fights since her last loss five years ago, landed some good shots in most rounds.
However, she struggled to deal with the relentless swarming pressure of the 36-year-old "Blonde Bomber," who was warned by Foster for some of her tactics.
Bridges described O'Connell as hungry and fierce and said it was the toughest fight of her career, and she wasn't badly hurt by the right hand that stunned her early.
There was plenty of sniping and bad blood in the lead-up to what was widely regarded as the biggest fight in the history of Australian women's boxing.
Queenslander O'Connell (23-7-1, 11 KOs) claimed Bridges had disrespected Australian fight fans by wanting the bout in England, and described her as a "skanky stripper wannabe."
Bridges, who hails from NSW but is based in England, has a high profile on social media and has drawn attention for wearing revealing clothes at weigh-ins.
"Not bad for a skanky stripper," Bridges said after the fight.
"I'm not usually disrespectful to my opponents but she's been so disrespectful to me the whole time so I can't really give her that much respect.
"She can hit though, she can bang, it was a tough fight.
"I'm very satisfied with that win and I hope the world and Australia is proud of me now and hope you all know who the queen of Australian boxing is now."
Hearn said it was a great performance from Bridges and was keen to see her fight for more titles.
"She can really fight, and being in exciting fights like that are going to take you to the next level," Hearn said.
"I really feel now that Ebanie Bridges needs to unify the division and try and become undisputed at bantamweight.
"She is deceptively good because she is so tough and she's got such a great engine, she can punch hard, she deserves the credit now."
