Harper vs Jonas is on Friday night, live on Sky Sports
Friday 7 August 2020 06:38, UK
Terri Harper has dismissed Natasha Jonas’ bold prediction of a knockout and insisted that she will triumph in Fight Camp’s historic world championship fight.
Harper defends her WBC super-featherweight belt against Jonas on Friday night, live on Sky Sports, the first time two British women have ever contested a world title.
After weighing-in at 9st 3lbs 3oz on Thursday, Harper told Sky Sports: "I'm very calm. It's nothing but confidence. I feel big and strong. I'm ready to go.
"I've got respect for Tasha and what she's done for boxing. This is a great opportunity for women's boxing.
"The talking is done. It's all about tomorrow. I'm not getting stopped - those belts are coming home."
Jonas was three ounces heavier and insisted: "There's no pressure on me. I'm sick of talking about it, I just want to do it.
"She didn't look up to me for no reason. I was an elite amateur at my best and I believe that I'm back there.
"Everything happens for a reason. You take opportunities for nights like these. This will be my night.
"I've got the power, I've got the strength."
It has been a spiky few days in 'the bubble' at Fight Camp, at Matchroom Boxing's HQ, where Harper has been forced to deny rumours that she was knocked out in sparring.
She then labelled Jonas and her team "unprofessional" for arriving late despite their scheduled entry time to comply with COVID-19 regulations.
Their respective trainers, Stefy Bull with Harper and Joe Gallagher with Jonas, have been constantly at each other's throats including at the press conference when they argued about the rival boxer's weaknesses.
But the weigh-in was a calmer atmosphere with no interaction between the trainers, while Harper and Jonas remained locked in eye contact during their final face-off.
There was confusion when Anthony Fowler and Adam Harper hit the scales. Harper weighed in at 11st 3lbs but Fowler's team insisted their agreed limit was a pound lighter, which Fowler made.
"I was told 11st 2lbs, I did my job," Fowler said.
Chris Billam-Smith and his challenger Nathan Thorley were both just inside the 14st 4lbs cruiserweight limit for their Commonwealth title fight.
Aqib Fiaz and Kane Baker made the lightweight limit, while Jonny Phillips needed to sweat off an extra pound to make the featherweight limit to face Hopey Price.
