Natasha Jonas: Against All Odds

Natasha Jonas: Against All Odds

‘There’s nothing better than proving people wrong.’

It’s an old quote. But maybe it could have been made for Natasha Jonas. In many ways, she has been doing exactly that her entire boxing career. The betting odds and many a critic say Jonas has to do it all over again on Friday night.

Lauren Price is a strong betting favourite to not only beat Jonas, but many believe that she will also send ‘Miss GB’ into a permanent retirement. But Jonas has been on the edge for most of this decade. An acceptance that every fight could be her last. The unified world welterweight champion has refused to crumble under the pressure. At the Royal Albert Hall, Jonas gets to roll that proverbial dice one more time. One last dance? Jonas will just see it as one more dance.

The odds are seemingly against Jonas once again. A throwback to those fights in 2020 and 2021. Two nights that were supposed to be that final dance. Terri Harper and Katie Taylor were odds on to send Jonas into retirement. In different ways, Jonas didn’t read the script. She pushed against the desired narrative. On Friday night, Jonas will look to do it once again. Those long odds are quite frankly insulting to Jonas. They are also not really reflective. It’s a much closer fight than many people think. Natasha Jonas is being unfairly written off.

There is another script. The same script. A narrative where, yet again, the torch is expected to be passed. It’s a throwback to another time. A time when Jonas didn’t have one single world title to her name. Now she has five. At two different weights. But the odds say it will end on Friday. But yet again, Natasha Jonas has other ideas. “I win,” Jonas coldly told Price in the long-running Gloves Are Off promotional feature.

Lauren Price hasn’t lost a round as a professional. She is saying that statistic will still be in place come Saturday morning. The former Olympic Champion is beyond confident. In truth, it’s touching on arrogance. There is a conviction about Price. But there is something different about Jonas for this fight. An edge. A focus. A spite that we haven’t seen before. Training camp has gone well. There are positive noises coming out of that cold historic Manchester gym. Jonas will undoubtedly win rounds. But will she win enough? Despite those long odds, Jonas firmly believes that she will.

There is a certain resentment that Jonas has to fight Price. It’s not an act of avoidance. Just a desire for something bigger. Jonas wanted Taylor again. She wanted Mikaela Mayer again. In her mind, they were bigger fights. The two-weight world champion feels that she has been pushed into a corner. A different kind of acceptance has now consumed Jonas. A need to beat Price to get Taylor and Mayer again.

The WBC, WBA, and IBF world welterweight titles are on the line on Friday night. But there is also a legacy. A career. Everything is on the line. For both fighters.

The Viviane Obenauf defeat in 2018 seems a distant memory now. Another night the final bell appeared to have chimed. A long drive home from Wales. Endless miles of never-ending tears. Even Jonas thought it was over. But Jonas has demonstrated her resilience many times. A born survivor. She didn’t want it to end like that. It didn’t end like that.

Jonas came back to the sport for a world title. The missing piece of her resume. The missing piece in her mind. Jonas came close against Harper. Her hand should have been raised in those dark days of the pandemic. Katie Taylor just edged past Jonas a year later in Manchester. A wafer-thin thin points defeat that left Jonas frustrated once more.

But her night finally came in 2022. A move up to super-welterweight. A return to Manchester, and when she blasted out Chris Namus to win the vacant WBO bauble, Jonas finally had found her piece. But she still wasn’t done. Patricia Berghult, Marie-Eve Dicaire, Kandi Wyatt, Mikaela Mayer, and Ivana Habazin all came up short against Jonas. ‘Miss GB’ now has five world titles at two different weights to her name. On Friday night, she goes for number six.

Price will offer formidable opposition. The WBA welterweight champion has youth, speed, and size on her side. At 40, Jonas could find this is one fight too many. But we have to remember, the fights with Harper and Taylor were supposed to be that one fight too many. Jonas didn’t win either of those two fights. But she proved her point. Natasha Jonas is no longer in that bridesmaid role. Now she has that champion mindset. A winning mindset.

Jonas and Joe Gallagher are in their element on nights like this. The underdog mentality suits them. Those ten rounds with Habazin in December will have sharpened her up after all those months being kept on the shelf courtesy of those tiresome boxing politics. But maybe more crucially, the mind now has renewed focus. Lauren Price is expected to win. But Natasha Jonas expects to win. Sometimes, that makes all the difference.