Katie Taylor v Natasha Jonas- Repeat or Revenge
This Saturday, we get to see the rematch of the 2012 Olympics bout between the P4P star Katie Taylor (17-0-0 6KO) and Liverpool’s very own Natasha Jonas (9-1-1 7KO). It was the Irish star that came out victorious that night on route to the Gold medal and Natasha will certainly be looking to avenge that loss and become the new WBC, WBO, IBF & WBA Lightweight World Champion.
When both fighters turned professional around the same time, many people thought it was just a matter of time before they both clashed on the professional scene. If things had turned out differently for both fighters, we could have seen them come face to face on a football pitch rather than a boxing ring as both were professional footballers before turning to this wonderful sport.
Katie Taylor has been extremely impressive in her career to date and quickly became a fans favourite, the fast hands and the pure entertainment has certainly helped put women’s boxing on the map. With the guidance of Eddie Hearn and Matchroom, Katie Taylor has become globally recognised as the P4P number one in the world and has that added pressure to entertain every time she gets into the ring. Most recently, her two victories against the tough and resilient Delfine Persoon which many people had as a victory for the Belgian in both of those bouts.
Since turning professional in November 2016, Katie Taylor has always stated she wants the best fight’s out there, and she has got one in the shape of Natasha Jonas. If Taylor can come out victorious on Saturday night, there has been talks of a super fight with American superstar, Clarissa Shields or the Norwegian Cecilia Braekhus which seems more of a realistic option. Either of those fights for Katie Taylor would be huge and would help cement her place in boxing as one of the best female boxers to grace the sport.
For Natasha Jonas, her boxing career came to an end in 2015 but after giving birth, she decided to turn professional in 2017 and has already experienced defeat in just her seventh bout at the hands of Viviane Obenauf. The Brazilian Obenauf then went on to face Terri Harper which resulted in a unanimous decision victory for the Brit. Jonas would then face Harper at Fight Camp in August 2020 which was an excellent fight to watch with both fighters hurt and ultimately, the judges could not split them after ten gruelling rounds. Her trainer Joe Gallagher was not too impressed with the judge’s scorecards and felt his fighter won by at least two rounds.
Natasha Jonas has always been happy being the underdog in her big fights and is happy to be written off because she tends to perform better. She is moving up to lightweight for the first time to challenge Taylor for all the belts and she has claimed that both women are completely different fighters to what they were nine years ago. If victorious on Saturday night, the Liverpudlian would have written a wrong and silenced a lot of doubters in the process. It will be interesting to see whether Jonas will stay at lightweight after this fight or will she go back down to super featherweight and rematch Terri Harper. Natasha Jonas has the chance to become the first fighter to beat Katie Taylor and finally get the credit she deserves.
The fight is part of another great card put on by Matchroom but I firmly believe this will be fight of the night and will be action packed whilst it lasts.
Fighter's Form
Katie Taylor
Miriam Gutierrez - WIN by UD - 14/11/2020
Delfine Persoon - WIN by UD - 22/08/2020
Christina Linardatou - WIN by UD - 02/11/2019
Delfine Persoon - WIN by MD - 01/06/2019
Rose Volante - WIN by TKO 9th Round - 15/03/2019
Natasha Jonas
Terri Harper- DRAW by SD - 07/08/2020
Bianka Majlath - WIN by TKO 2nd Round - 15/11/2019
Bec Connolly - WIN by TKO 4th Round - 12/07/2019
Feriche Mashauri - WIN by Points - 30/03/2019
Viviane Obenauf - LOST by TKO - 04/08/2018
Date: Saturday 1st May 2021
Time: Approx 9pm
Venue: AO Arena, Manchester
Channel: Sky Sports Box Office