Rachel Ball vs Ebanie Bridges is off – Jorgelina Guanini steps in as replacement
Rachel Ball (6-1) will now fight current IBF World super-flyweight champion Jorgelina Guanini (9-1-2, 1KO) for the vacant WBA World bantamweight title following an injury to Ebanie Bridges (4-0, 2KOs) on Matchroom Boxing's November 14 show, live on Sky Sports in the UK and DAZN in the US.
Walsall’s Ball landed her dream world title shot on the back of her breakout win over Shannon Courtenay on the third week of Fight Camp. The 29-year-old was originally set to take on popular undefeated Australian Ebanie Bridges, but now the 'Blonde Bomber' has suffered an AC joint separation in training. She confirmed she won't require surgery but the recovery time will take 6-8 weeks. She plans to fight the winner next year instead.
So in steps Jorgelina Guanini, 28 from Argentina, who has held the IBF World super-flyweight title since 2018.
Guanini made her professional debut in September 2015, which resulted in a split draw for the debutant. She has just one defeat on her record when fighting outside of her South American home for the only time in October 2017 at Gallera del López Socas in Las Palmas, Spain, losing via split decision to Davinia Perez for the WBC Silver super-bantamweight belt.
She bounced back from that loss to become a national champion at bantamweight in March 2018. Six months later, in September, she faced undefeated IBF female junior bantamweight champion Debora Dionicius (28–0) at Club Ferro Carril in Concordia, Argentina, which is when she captured the title from the long-reigning titlist (almost six full years from November 2012 – September 2018) to become a world champion in her 11th professional fight, which she has since defended once, ending in a second draw on her record.
She now travels abroad for the second time in her career to face in-form Ball, a former kickboxing world champion, who's sole defeat was a sterling effort away from home in Norway at short notice against Katharina Thanderz, who will appear on the same show. Following her loss abroad, the no.1 British bantamweight stepped up 10-rounds, then defeated 5-0 prospect Courtenay in her last fight. Since winning live on Sky Sports she admitted her social media following has increased significantly but her priority is still to become world champion, which she gets a chance to fulfill this month.
The huge Matchroom Boxing event will promote the first ever women’s World Title triple-header, with Katie Taylor, Terri Harper and Rachel Ball all starring in an historic evening of boxing.
Taylor (16-0, 6 KOs) retained her Undisputed Lightweight World Title with a unanimous decision win over Delfine Persoon as their highly anticipated rematch produced another brutal battle on the final weekend of Fight Camp in August.
The Irish star puts her World Titles on the line once more against Mandatory Challenger Miriam Gutierrez (13-0, 5 KOs), the undefeated Spaniard who has held the WBA’s Interim World Title since November 2019 following her win over Keren Batiz.
Denaby’s Harper (10-0-1, 5 KOs) retained her WBC and IBO Super-Featherweight World Titles with a thrilling split decision draw against Liverpool’s Natasha Jonas in an historic Fight of the Year contender at the top of the bill on Fight Camp Week 2.
‘Belter’ faces her first WBC Mandatory challenger in Spanish-Norwegian Katharina Thanderz (13-0, 2 KOs), the undefeated Interim WBC Super-Featherweight World Champion who claimed the title against Brazilian Danila Ramos after a brutal 10-round battle last November.
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