Boxing Fight: Ben Shalom thinks Natasha Jones deserves to be named fighter of the year after defeating Marie-Eve Dicaire by unanimous decision in their light-middleweight unification battle.
After Dicaire won the main event on Saturday in Manchester by scores of 97-93, 98-92, and 100-90 in her favour, Jonas added the IBF championship to the WBO and WBC ones she already possessed.
The 38-year-old stopped Chris Namus to win the WBO title on the undercard of the fight between Amir Khan and Kell Brook in February, then defeated Patricia Berghult for the WBC crown on points seven months later. Promoter Shalom praised Jonas’ development in 2022 after those victories.
The year has been amazing, Shalom told Sky Sports. “It’s unbelievable that she won all three of her world title fights at 154 pounds in the course of one year.
“It’s incredible to think that although we were in Manchester for Khan-Brook in February, when she won her first global championship, she has since become a celebrity and won her third world championship.
“She has to be the British boxing fighter of the year, if not the entire globe, in my opinion. Nobody could have foreseen it, and it is unprecedented.”
Now the focus is on Jonas’ upcoming opponents, including a rematch with Katie Taylor and Jessica McCaskill, who lost to Chantelle Cameron earlier this month in a contest for the undisputed super-lightweight title.
It’s also possible to go up a division to compete against undisputed middleweight champion Claressa Shields. But Shalom thinks a matchup with Taylor, who defeated Jonas in the 2012 Olympics quarterfinals and triumphed via unanimous decision when they clashed in the pro ranks at lightweight the previous year, would be the best choice.
In a difficult setting, behind closed doors, Shalom said of Jonas, “I think we’ve seen she’s the one who’s pushed her [Taylor] so, so close in a challenging environment, perhaps not at the weight she feels most comfortable at.” She deserves a rematch, and I think the British crowd would be most enthusiastic about it.
She now only wants well-known names. She has accomplished everything she was capable of since becoming one of the first female boxers to compete at the Olympics.
“It just takes the big names, whether it’s Shields, McCaskill, or Taylor, to help her realise her dreams of becoming the undisputed world champion. McCaskill and Taylor seem the most logical to me.
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