Natasha Jonas insists she is happy about her next fight – despite failing to secure a showdown with Hannah Rankin.
The Liverpool super-welterweight holds the WBO world title at the weight and had been hoping to meet WBA and IBO champion Rankin in a unification showdown later this year.
Jonas (11-2-1, 8 KOs) won the belt with a stunning knockout at Manchester Arena in February, ending the challenge of Chris Namus inside two rounds on the undercard of Kell Brook’s win over Amir Khan.
And the 38-year-old southpaw, now under the guidance of Ben Shalom and Boxxer, quickly turned her attention to Rankin.
The Scot had been weighing up an offer to meet ‘Miss GB’ later this year. That was until it became clear that Terri Harper will be stepping into the weight division.
Patricia Berghult (15-0, 3 KOs), the WBC champion at the weight, is now next on the list for Jonas on September 3, exclusively live on Sky Sports.
The fight will be Jonas’ first in her home city as a world champion and will happen at the M&S Bank Arena, as part of the supporting cast to Liam Smith’s Liverpool return against former IBO champion Hassan Mwakinyo.
Jonas exclusively told Boxing Social about her next outing:
“I got a message last week asking me whether I wanted the fight.
“The message came in the morning and by the same night, it was done.
“We didn’t get Rankin and that’s disappointing, but we’re all happy and raring to go. It’s a really tough fight, it’s for a prestigious belt and I’ll probably get more from winning this than I would if I’d have got the fight with Hannah and beaten her.”
Boxxer head Shalom said that he had made an offer to Rankin that is “life-changing” in the hope to get her in the ring with former Olympian Jonas, but it now looks like Rankin will meet former WBC and IBO super-featherweight world champion Harper, with Social under the impression that Harper’s promoter Eddie Hearn – who used to look after Jonas –– looking to place it on a September show to be confirmed.
Jonas added:
“I’m happy that Ben did everything he could to deliver the Rankin fight and although he couldn’t, he’s delivered this one.
“It’s not like it’s a step down. If anything, it’s a step up, so we’re all happy and ready to go.”
Berghult was set to meet former undisputed welterweight queen Cecilia Braekhus (36-2, 9 KOs) on August 13 after the woman who had held at least one 147-pound title for over a decade revealed that she was moving up in weight.
That fight, however, fell off and it’s been to Jonas’ advantage as she gets the opportunity to add to her silverware in the paid code following on from her glittering amateur stint.