"When you've got that edge of danger, that's when I'm at my best," Natasha Jonas warns Patricia Berghult ahead of their WBO and WBC super-welterweight world title unification in Liverpool on Saturday, live and exclusive on Sky Sports
Wednesday 31 August 2022 15:22, UK
Natasha Jonas believes her clash with Patricia Berghult on Saturday, live on Sky Sports, will be the defining moment of her career.
At the M&S Bank Arena in her Liverpool hometown, Jonas fights Berghult to unify the WBO and WBC super-welterweight world titles.
"Every decision, every up, every down has led me here. And I'm here for a reason," Jonas told Sky Sports.
Jonas has had a tumultuous career. She was the first British woman to qualify for and box at an Olympic Games. But her outstanding bout with Katie Taylor in 2012, which deserved to be a final, was drawn outside of the medal stages in the quarter-finals.
As a pro she suffered an early career defeat to Viviane Obenauf. That was a major setback. She fought her way back, only to suffer a highly unfortunate draw with Terri Harper for the WBC super-featherweight belt in her first world title fight.
She stepped up to lightweight to challenge Taylor for the undisputed championship, but after a fine performance lost a close decision on the cards.
In February she moved up three weight classes to super-welter for her third and what surely would have been her final world title shot. She had to win and did so with an explosive stoppage victory over Chris Namus to win the vacant WBO belt.
She goes immediately into a unification bout with WBC champion Berghult this Saturday.
"Sometimes I think it could only happen to me, all the bad things happen to me. Sometimes it does feel like that in boxing," Jonas said.
But she reflected, "I can't even say I've had bad luck because at the time it felt like bad luck but then certain things and events have led to certain decisions being made which have turned out to be the best decisions ever.
"The harshness of the draw against Terri led to the opportunity against Katie. Even the loss against Obenauf, I was doing things wrong from the get go that, because I was winning and because I was stopping people, I never really wanted to fix. So when that loss against Obenauf came, I literally had to go back to square one and build myself up both mentally and physically from the start, at the beginning and do the basics right.
"Even though nobody wants to lose, don't get me wrong, I didn't want to lose and have to fix myself, but it made me fix myself.
"I performed well against Katie and only lost by a round, so everything that has happened has led to a bigger opportunity and a better opportunity. So I can't really call it bad luck. It has really just happened for a reason.
"It didn't feel like good luck at the time but it worked out well in the end."
Saturday will also be Jonas' first fight in Liverpool for three years. This homecoming bout for her is essential.
"It's been so long," she said. "I wanted to be here. There's no place like home."
In Berghult, Jonas is expecting a hard fight against a difficult opponent. "I always wanted to be here and I didn't want to have easy fights because it's easy to switch off," she said.
"So you're better off taking the risky fights with the bigger rewards and you're mentally there with it. When you've got that edge of danger, that's when I'm at my best. When I've got a little bit of fear factor."
She hopes Berghult will hold her ground and fight fire with fire. But if she doesn't, Jonas is prepared to get on the front foot and chase her down.
"She stands and engages for a couple of rounds but then runs after that. Because she thinks she's ahead or she gets tired, I don't know what it is," Jonas said of the Swede. "I hope she has a little go and stands. But I'd understand if she didn't.
"Every base is covered. If she wants to stand there and fight, I'll be prepared for that. If she wants to run about and scoot about the ring, then I'll be prepared for that. You've got to prepare for the best of everyone and you've got to have plan A, B to Z in this game."
Though a champion, Jonas is still settling into her weight class and expects to be some way off the 154lb limit. But the Liverpudlian is still confident she can do damage against Berghult.
"I'm still going to be light, that's always going to happen," Jonas said. "I don't think she's a big super-welter either.
"I know she's not going to be 160lbs sweating down. I don't even think she'll be 154lbs.
"Joe [Gallagher, her trainer] is constantly telling me that I'm not the puncher that I think I am, but you can't just rely on power all the time. You might always have it in your locker but you've got to land it. So that means you've got to get your feet in, you've got to close her down, that means you've got to do a whole lot of things before you can unleash the power."
But she warned: "If anyone hits anyone at any weight in the right place - most people will fall."
The biggest fight in the history of women's boxing - Claressa Shields vs Savannah Marshall - is live on Sky Sports on Saturday September 10. Be part of history and buy tickets for the London showdown here.
