Natasha Jonas dreaming of bowing out of the sport against Katie Taylor

Natasha Jonas is hoping that victory this Saturday against Ivana Habazin at the Exhibition Center in Liverpool could put her back on course to fight longtime rival Katie Taylor in her final bout. 

Habazin is no easy touch, however, and victory would mean that Jonas would add the WBC title to her IBF strap and set up a unification with WBA champion Lauren Price next year.

Habazin expressed her frustration that talks had already begun to set up a unification between Jonas and Price at the fight week press conference. Jonas agrees with Habazin and believes that it is too early to plan a unification when both she and Price are in tough tests on Saturday.  

“Listen, there’s loads of times, even in the amateurs, when you get your draw and you see which side of the table you’re on and then you look and you think, ‘Well they’ll beat them, and then they’ll beat them,’ then you kind of work out who you’re going to get next, and it never works out, ever,” Jonas told BoxingScene.  “Look at Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua. Has it ever worked out? No. For how long? Five years we’ve been waiting, saying, ‘Well if Fury beats this one, and AJ beats that one, then we’ll get that one.’ And it never works out. So, you’ve just got to focus on the fight that’s in front of you and not worry about anything else. 

“I agree with Habazin. It is a bit disrespectful just to think that these two are just going to be pushed over; we’re just going through the motions. We’re not. We’re in a fight.” 

Jonas has been picked to beat Habazin by most mainly because they have common opponents in Mikaela Mayer and Terri Harper. Habazin suffered defeat to both while Jonas beat Mayer and controversially drew against Harper.  

“It’s just easy for fans to do a comparison,” said Jonas. “It’s the same with Obenauf; Terri [Harper] beat Obenauf, and I didn’t, but then [me and Harper] drew. So, people just assume, ‘Oh well Tash can’t beat Obenauf, so if Terri beats Obenauf, Terri’s going to beat Tash,’ but that wasn’t the case. 

“And styles make fights so, like I say in boxing, nothing goes as planned, you’ve got to focus on the fight that’s in front of you.” 

Jonas, now 40, is nearing the end of her career. The original exit plan for her to face Jessica McCaskill after she defeated Mayer and then go out on a rematch with Katie Taylor. These plans were scrapped, however, when Price was handed the McCaskill fight instead – a decision that left Jonas contemplating retirement. 

“Yeah, so my whole idea was after Mayer, do McCaskill, then do Katie [Taylor] and then I was done in boxing,” she explained. “Obviously the Katie and Serrano fight got delayed, so I was waiting around, then the Mayer result happened and people were hovering around, and I thought right, I’m going to chase the rematch [with Taylor], I want the rematch, I think I can do a better job, and unfortunately it never happened.  

“Then they went and gave McCaskill to Lauren [Price], so it was a bit messy, and it was a bit of a frustrating time for me to be honest. But yeah, we are here, and I’ve got a fight, and that’s what I’m going for. 

“I think, you know, if I walked away from boxing now, there’d be things that I wasn’t satisfied with,” she continued. “That’s what got me coming back into pro boxing because there was stuff in the amateur career that I wasn’t satisfied with. So, I couldn’t just walk away.” 

Jonas was then asked to name her dream opponent for her career swansong and responded, “Oh, that’s a tough one. I’d have to go Katie [Taylor]. It’s twice she’s beat me [as an amateur and professional], and I just can’t get over it.”