Light middleweight champion has put herself in line for a big stadium fight payday next year by beating Marie-Eve Dicaire on points
Natasha Jonas has put herself in line for a super-fight rematch with Irish star Katie Taylor at Croke Park in 2023 after she capped a brilliant year in Manchester on Saturday night by defeating Marie-Eve Dicaire to add the IBF and Ring Magazine light middleweight titles to her WBC and WBO belts.
Jonas won the vacant WBO title in February, added the WBC belt in September and, on an historic night in Manchester, claimed a unanimous decision against Canada’s Dicaire, 100-90, 98-92 and 97-93 on the judges’ scorecards.
“It was very tough, I knew it would be tough,” said the 38-year-old, a GB Olympian at London 2012, where she lost to Taylor. “This has by far been my best year and to think at one stage it was almost over and I nearly walked away from boxing. Now, 12 months on, I’m here as unified champion with three belts and the Ring Magazine belt.”
Moving up two weight divisions has revitalised Jonas’s career by moving up two weight divisions. Now as the pull of women’s boxing grows exponentially, Jonas could face Taylor again, having lost in a thrilling, razor tight fight for all the lightweight belts in Manchester last year.
“I’ve had a tough year, I’m going to have a holiday and then we’ll discuss the best options in 2023,” Jonas said. “I have to win to keep all my options open and alive and I did that tonight.”
Those options also include a potential fight with her British compatriot and undisputed light-welterweight Chantelle Cameron, who became the UK’s first undisputed female champion with her win over Jessica McCaskill last weekend. Or she could take on the unbeaten American Claressa Shields – arguably her toughest possible opponent – who has hinted that she might come down to light-middleweight after beating Savannah Marshall to become the undisputed middleweight champion in October.
But a contest with Taylor – headed for a “dream homecoming fight” in Dublin in front of 80,000 fans according to promoter Eddie Hearn – would be the biggest stage for Jonas to parade her skills on once more.
“She wants the Katie Taylor rematch. She wants Jessica McCaskill for all the [welterweight] belts. She wants Claressa Shields [at super-welter]. She feels she’s completed everything,” her promoter Ben Shalom told Sky Sports.
Jonas boxed Taylor for the first time in an epic Olympic quarter-final at London 2012, and a rematch would be fitting as the first women’s boxing match to headline at a stadium.
“That is the fight that makes the most sense if we’re all thinking about where we could go. Jonas is the biggest name now from England in women’s boxing and Katie Taylor is a huge star of the sport, along with Claressa Shields,”
said Shalom. “That is the fight that’s going to get the most attention from the casual fans. I think it’s the fight that will get the biggest audience at this time so hopefully they may be sensible on the other side [with promoter Eddie Hearn] and we can make that fight.”