Natasha Jonas: “It’s huge. The biggest thing for every growing sport is visibility. The kids need to see it and know that is a place where women can be.”

Natasha Jonas: “It’s huge. The biggest thing for every growing sport is visibility. The kids need to see it and know that is a place where women can be.”

Boxing reached a new low point last week. Adverse findings in a drugs test, attempts to carry on regardless left a dark stain on the sport that will be difficult to remove. If ever boxing needed a deep clean it was now, and the hope is lessons are learned and the sport shows some sign of remorse and reform.

But for all the dark of last week, this week will see more than a glimmer of light. And hope. An all-female card will shine some much-needed light on the sport. A fight night of much importance without the stench in the air that we had last week. A week or so in the sport where we really have seen, the good, the bad and the downright ugly.

Saturday night gives hope and more. Over Zoom, the unified world super-welterweight champion Natasha Jonas told me how much we need this weekend:

“We need this weekend, it’s like a breath of fresh air for the sport. For us, as boxers, there is a dark side to boxing that people don’t see. Normally it’s the contractual side, the business side of the sport that nobody sees. But really for the first time, people have seen the business for what it is and how dark it can be. We say it all the time, it could only happen in boxing. I hope it just doesn’t get swept under the carpet. As fans, and as fighters we shouldn’t be accepting it.”

We should have had the show on September 10th, the sad passing of the Queen saw all boxing cancelled for that weekend. When news came of the postponement of the whole show the day before the fight, it did receive much criticism from many. But time eases that harshness and allows time for reflection. In truth, we would have got a more downbeat, sombre affair. We now get to give the occasion the justice it deserves. Jonas agrees:

“I understand from a boxers’ point of view it is another five-week camp, it’s either an extra long camp or you go back home have a little break and do it that way. In hindsight, it was probably the right thing to do and we can now celebrate the occasion.”

Saturday is a moment of time. Progress, acceptance and much more. And something Jonas didn’t believe she’d ever see:

“There have been other all-female cards. But the way this one has been promoted and on this kind of scale and size, I didn’t think I’d see it in my boxing life. But I knew after the success of Taylor/Serrano I knew that Sky would want to do something to match it and go one better.”

The growth of the sport isn’t lost on Jonas. She was there at the beginning, sharing dirty kits, fighting in obscurity, fighting for equality that never looked like coming. Katie Taylor started to change perceptions when she turned pro in 2016. Very quickly others followed, and the sport found momentum and acceptance. Jonas knows how important Saturday night is:

“It’s huge. The biggest thing for every growing sport is visibility. The kids need to see it and know that is a place where women can be. It’s on a huge station, a huge platform. When you are trying to bring in sponsors that all counts. You are getting the football crowd switching over, for example, potentially millions of people could see it and that’s important and makes a difference for athletes and what they can ask for. For the boxers, the promoters, for boxing, it is huge for the growth of the sport. Visibility is key, we have seen it in football, you get the big contracts, the big platforms, the big funding, and that all comes with it. We need it, we’ve seen it in football, and we can learn from them and grow our sport.”

The hope is it won’t be a one-off, and that we can have a similar card in the future. Jonas sees no reason why we can’t be here again:

“I think it can definitely happen again because the talent is there. It might take time to build some more rivalries up, but who wouldn’t want to see Terri Harper and me fight again or Chantelle Cameron and Sandy Ryan. There are big fights there.”

The Boxxer card this weekend at the O2 Arena in London has everything. Claressa Shields, Savannah Marshall, Mikaela Mayer and Alycia Baumgardner will settle their disputes at the top of the card. Two fights that are incredibly hard to pick a winner. But the rising stars of the sport will more than play a supporting role. Olympians Karriss Artingstall, Lauren Price and Caroline Dubois take the next steps in their careers. Even the preliminary bouts will feature the likes of Sarah Liegmann, Georgia O’Connor and others. Jonas thinks the card gives everyone what they want:

“Everybody moans that the fight at the top of the card is good but the rest of the card is rubbish. You want to see the growth of someone. You want to see the development of someone. You want to see the young ones starting out, you want to see good fights and you have all that on this card. The two headline fights could headline on any other card but the undercard fights are just as important. When the football finishes they are the ones they will see first.”

Boxxer made a big play for the fighters fresh from the Tokyo Olympics, Ben Shalom wanted the next generation of talent in his stable. Largely, he got what he wanted. Artingstall, Price, and Dubois could be extremely shrewd investments, Jonas thinks all three could be the future of their sport:

“I believe they are the stars of the future. In the women’s side of the sport, it is easy to rush, but with Karriss, Lauren and Caroline we don’t need to. They are young enough to have a long career. If you rush them to the top who do they fight after, they’ll have to wait for the next set to come through. So I don’t see the point in rushing them but you do want to see them develop.”

But outside of this weekend’s historic card, the women’s side of the sport appears to be in safe hands. The talent depth is thickening, and will further deepen in the coming years. Jonas believes there is plenty of talent to keep the progression going:

“Lisa Whiteside and Nina Hughes can mix it with anyone. Rhiannon Dixon is a talent who is coming through. People like Skye Nicolson, and Ellie Scotney who I think is brilliant. For me, Ellie is one of the best in her division and she has had a tough route so far, I think she is one of the most talented. There are fighters you expect to be good, amateurs like Hannah Robinson, and Cindy Ngamba, you expect them to come through and be good because they have fought at such a high level. If you talk about domestic rivalries you have got Kirstie Bavington and April Hunter. You’ve got Raven Chapman, she is another good one. There are loads, not everyone will make it to world level but there are good domestic rivalries to be had.”

But with the future seemingly assured, the focus this weekend is on the present. Shields and Marshall is a genuine 50/50 fight, and while Mayer and Baumgardner has clear daylight in the betting odds, Jonas can still make a case for either fighter to leave London with more belts around their waist than what they came with:

“I keep saying I think Savannah stops Claressa, but if it goes to points I think Claressa wins. I do think Sav catches her late but I think Claressa will take a lot of the early rounds so if it goes to points I think she will win. I think Mayer wins, I just think she is better technically and she has fought better people. But there is an air of confidence about Baumgardner that is undeniable, something that she knows that we don’t.”

The winner of Shields/Marshall will have options, although Jonas thinks if Marshall wins retirement could be one. A win for the vocal American could see Jonas herself become a target:

“I do think Claressa will want to fight me or Terri if she wins, she has already said that. With Savannah, I am not sure what she would do, potentially a rematch, but she may not want to do anything If I am being honest. If she wins, she proves her point and may very well sail off into the sunset.”

Jonas has had a year of much progress, the search for that elusive world title is now over. With a belt on each arm, Jonas is on the hunt for more on November 12th. But she will be in London on Sky commentary duties, the gloves temporarily put to one side as her contemporaries do battle on a stage and a platform that does justice in many ways.

The sport has moved on considerably, and we shouldn’t forget the contribution that Jane Couch made all those years. In some ways, it is her night also. But the sport should rejoice as a whole, the delay has allowed it to be a celebration of many things. It will be a party, and boxing most certainly needs it.