Natasha Jonas: A Defining Homecoming Fight

Natasha Jonas: A Defining Homecoming Fight

‘Grit is that ‘extra something’ that separates the most successful people from the rest. It’s the passion, perseverance, and stamina that we must channel in order to stick with our dreams until they become a reality.’ Travis Bradberry

Natasha Jonas has needed all of the above many times in her life. Nothing has come easy for a fighter who dares to be greater once again this Saturday night in front of her passionate and vocal faithful.

It is the big homecoming fight, another fight, another world title to be added when not so long ago, just having one seemed remote. Liverpool fighters seem to do resilience better than most. Jonas has been down, but never out.

The unbeaten Swedish WBC super-welterweight Patricia Berghult will come to Liverpool to spoil the party. The odds say that she will leave with her unbeaten record gone, but Jonas has been here before. All thoughts of tomorrow will end if she underestimates the opponent in front of her on Saturday night.

“I fight on to achieve something bigger,” Jonas told me a few weeks ago. The motivation to fight on at 38 right there in a few telling words.

In front of the chosen select few, Jonas was denied twice in the eerie times of lockdown. She should have had her hand raised against Terri Harper in 2020. It wasn’t quite a robbery. But make no mistake, it wasn’t far off. A year later, Jonas was a punch or two away from beating Katie Taylor. Against Chris Namus in February, Jonas left nothing to chance. A special night of high emotion. And relief.

The pressure will have eased, a weight lifted, but the ambition for more firmly remains. The win over Namus meant everything. Sometimes everything isn’t enough.

“When you’ve got that edge of danger, that’s when I’m at my best.” More telling words from ‘Miss GB’ in a recent interview with Sky Sports. Complacency won’t be her undoing in a fight that Jonas claims could define her career. She might be right.

Berghult (15-0) will bring problems, and many of them, to solve. Jonas can’t give way to problems from her past. A slow start cost her against Taylor. Berghult is more than capable of putting enough rounds in the back if Jonas isn’t switched on from the get-go. But the Liverpool fighter isn’t likely to revert to the old costly mistakes.

You sense Jonas still has a point to prove, a win over Berghult would do that. Namus went to Manchester on short notice, Berghult is a totally different story. A recent fight with Cecilia Brækhus fell through at the eleventh hour, and the WBC champion will not be short of fitness against Jonas. Nobody will question the right of Jonas to call herself a unified champion if she beats Berghult.

Jonas (11-2-1) will likely have to chase, and with force. She is excellent on the inside. That could be her route to victory. Berghult will likely move and look to pickpocket rounds at range. But she is open to the right hand, the same punch Jonas put Namus on the floor with in the opening round of their short-lived fight earlier this year. Don’t be surprised if once Berghult feels the power, the ambitions of Berghult change.

It will be a difficult night for Jonas, but as she says, these are the fights that bring out the best in the former Olympian. Berghult has youth and apparent size on her side. But I’m not convinced that will be enough to upset the odds.

Jonas is a different fighter these days, and a better one, and her WBO world title was too hard-earned for it to be let go easily. It might not be as dramatic as the win over Namus, but a win for Jonas looks the most likely outcome. Probably on points. But we thought that back in February.