Natasha Jonas: “At the end of the day, I just do what’s best for me. I honestly don’t care what anyone thinks.”

Natasha Jonas: “At the end of the day, I just do what’s best for me. I honestly don’t care what anyone thinks.”

Natasha Jonas entered 2022 with big hopes, but also with an uncertain future. It could all have ended in the early part of the year. It was, in many ways, one last throw of the dice, a big-time gamble for a fighter who had failed to win a world title on two previous occasions. Jonas moved up multiple weight divisions to fight Chris Namus for the vacant WBO super-welterweight, and it was very much a case of all or nothing. Make no mistake, defeat would have been the end.

The fight in Manchester last February was a voyage into uncharted waters. It was and still is a weight division Jonas doesn’t really belong in. Her success there is down to the undoubted, underrated, and often underappreciated talent that she possesses.

When Jonas found the punches, she badly needed to blast out Namus in two sensational rounds the victory gave ‘Miss GB’ some semblance of career satisfaction and no little relief. It could have been the perfect time for Jonas to leave the sport behind, but the win over Namus opened up many more doors for her. The Uruguayan came in at short notice, and the cynical would soon question the validity of the victory. But when the Namus win was followed by two far more worthwhile wins over Patricia Berghult and Marie-Eve Dicaire, even the doubters had to give Jonas her due. Those wins over Berghult and Dicaire gave Jonas the WBC and IBF baubles and crowned off a truly remarkable year for a fighter whose fighting obituary has been written many times.

The long overdue recognition was finally hers, and the recent British Boxing Board of Control award for the 2022 Fighter of the Year was thoroughly deserved for a fighter who has spent large parts of her career on the outside looking in. It was another little slice of history for Jonas and one that the fighter herself has labelled as humbling. The first female recipient of the long-standing prestigious award, and she joins an illustrious list of fighters that includes the likes of Lloyd Honeyghan, Barry McGuigan, Carl Froch, Lennox Lewis and others on the famous trophy.

It always seemed that Jonas would forever be the bridesmaid in the sport that she has graced since she first laced on the gloves when her promising football career was curtailed by a serious knee injury in America.

The world titles and the recent accolades looked remote before Big Ben chimed to start 2022, and over Zoom, Jonas told me that even she doubted the cards would ever be dealt in her favour:

“It seemed so far away. I can remember thinking I am the female Andrew Selby. It never quite worked out for him, and I can remember thinking, am I going to be that person.“

Despite her many achievements in her sport, Jonas is no stranger to people questioning her career decisions. Even now, the harsh words of social media critique are still rife, but it is something the unified world champion has learned to live with:

“I try not to think of the negatives anymore. I have given up trying to convince people because there are some you are never going to convince. But sometimes the questions they ask are relevant, and I have to answer them from my point of view.

“It’s a different mode of Tasha now. Where before I had my back up and tried to prove everyone wrong, now I am going in with an air and a presence about me. I am the champion come try and take it away from me. It’s just a really good mindset to be in. I don’t care now, and I am fearless of what happens next. It doesn’t matter.”

Jonas has needed patience and plenty of it in her long career. For the next few months, she will need to show patience once more. Fighters on the Jonas radar all have fights coming up, and who wins and more crucially, how they win, will determine the more immediate fighting future of the Liverpool favourite:

“I have to wait and see what happens with other people. For me, the Claressa fight isn’t happening. They made an offer, and I said no to that. Sky keep putting things out as though the fight is on. But to me it is off, I turned down that offer.”

Since her last fight in December in Manchester against Dicaire, most of the talk has been around a possible fight with the undisputed middleweight champion Claressa Shields. Both fighters have more than expressed an interest in fighting each other, but while there is still a remote possibility the fight happens, FightPost understands Shields is far more likely to rematch Savannah Marshall rather than squaring off against Jonas, and the former Olympian concedes other fights have been lost as a result:

“Because I thought we could get the Claressa fight done, I let some other big name fights pass me by. Now it’s not happening, they’re all tied up. For me, Claressa is off. An offer was made, which I turned down, and I’ve since been told they’re going elsewhere.”

The offer made to Jonas to defend her three world titles didn’t match the expectations of Jonas. There has been plenty of debate about the size of the offer made to Jonas, and despite rumours to the contrary, it wasn’t less than the offer Jonas received to rematch Terri Harper. It was in that kind of area, but not less.

But Jonas expected more than what was offered to her:

“The risk isn’t worth the reward. I understand that Claressa is the big name, and she is contracted to get so much. I am not asking for what Savannah got, I am asking for less than that.

“They say I priced myself out of the rematches with Terri and Katie, but I ended up getting more money for Namus than I did for both of those fights put together. At the end of the day, I just do what’s best for me. I honestly don’t care what anyone thinks.

“It’s easy for Dmitry Salita to say there are many ways to get out of the fight. But there is only one thing stopping the fight from getting made, and that’s money.”

It was a fight Jonas wanted, and one that Jonas believed she could win:

“I think I can beat Claressa. I think coming down to 154 will be a big issue for her. Everyone talks about her speed, and yes, she is quick and explosive for a heavier fighter. But she is not the quickest and most explosive fighter that I have fought. Is she quicker than Katie? In my eyes, she isn’t. Claressa has even said in a Tweet I think that I am a better boxer than Savannah and that I would cause more problems for her. I believe I have better footwork and shot selection. There are always things you have to work on, like the number of punches Claressa throws, and that would be something we would work on in camp. Every fight I go into, I go with the intention that I am going to win and that I know how to do it because we have worked on it in camp.”

While some hope may still linger that Jonas could still face the vocal American, especially if the Shields Marshall rematch fails to get signed, but any hopes Jonas will rekindle her rivalry with Harper look dead in the water.

Suggestions that Jonas is running from another meeting with Harper were met with a firm response:

“If anyone thinks I am running from Terri, they are absolutely insane.”

Jonas has been more than vocal about how she perceives she was treated in the final days of her previous boxing residency and has never forgotten some of the things that have been said to her over the last few years. The refusal to even entertain another fight with Harper is one of principle and has nothing to do with money:

“Again I don’t care what people think or say. There are a lot of people with sense who can see it is because of what happened. It’s not even Terri. It’s other people because of the things that were said and the disrespect that was shown to me and how they went about certain things. Why would I now give her team the fight when Terri needs me more than I need her.”

When I asked Jonas if anything or any improved financial offer could change her mind and fight Harper again, her reply was definitive:

“I have made such a staunch stance now. It was never about the money it was about principal. I think it has got to the point where I couldn’t say yes no matter what amount of money was offered to me.”

The rematch with Terri Harper will never happen, but despite issues with how her Matchroom run ended in 2021, Jonas is open to dealing with Eddie Hearn again if she needs to:

“I think it will come to a point when we will have to deal with Eddie. It’s not really a problem, I didn’t have a great experience at the end, but it is what it is. The Terri thing, it’s not really him, but if I want certain fights, I will have to deal with Eddie at some point.”

Jonas will return in May, and unless the fight with Shields is resurrected, she will defend her world titles and fight one of the leading contenders in her division. But there is every chance that could be her final fight at 154 Jonas told me:

“I never intended to stay 154 anyway. It was just an opportunity that came my way. Staying at 154 was never part of the plan, but the opportunities kept presenting themselves at 154. But if it is better to drop back down, then I will.”

This could quite easily be the final year in the boxing career of Natasha Jonas. The plan is three fights before the final bell chimes on her historic career. Jonas mentioned Jessica McCaskill as her preferred opponent for later this year, but with so many moving parts, Jonas knows literally anything could happen.

Jonas has been here before, and she told me about an old French saying laissez-faire, which means letting things take their natural course. Jonas knows she is in that position once again.

The decision not to fight Shields and Harper will be criticised by many, but Jonas is not one to listen to the critics and is someone who doesn’t live with regrets. Jonas has been proved right many times previously, and her decisions of late are based on what she wants to do and not what others want her to do.

Jonas is 38 and in a few months will turn 39, and could, in truth, retire now and leave behind a resume and legacy that few will match. But Jonas still wants a little more, and you sense there is one big fight left to be made.

McCaskill is possible, as is Chantelle Cameron. Jonas and Cameron are friends but they are prepared to fight each other if there is big money to be made. A fight with Mikaela Mayer has been mentioned, but neither fighter is interested at the moment. But in boxing, the unlikely can quickly become reality. Mayer might need a title to tempt Jonas, but FightPost is of the understanding that Boxxer has already shown an interest in making that fight. But Jonas and Mayer are likely to go in different directions, and unless the doors are closed elsewhere for both, a Jonas-Mayer fight is probably one that will stay in the background in the short term, at least.

But Jonas has options, she will need a little luck and patience, and Ben Shalom might have to show the colour of his money to get Jonas the type of fight that she craves. Boxxer has backed Jonas before. They are likely to do so again.

2022 was the best year in the fighting life of Natasha Jonas, but there are a few more chapters yet to write, and she has every intention of surpassing her achievements from last year.