Katie Taylor v Natasha Jonas plans “torn apart” following shock knockout

As Brian Peters and many others have noted, there are a lot of potentially massive fights out there for WBA and IBF lightweight champion Katie Taylor.

Following the Wicklow woman’s dominant third round stoppage of IBF mandatory Kimberly Connor last month, some sections of the media lamented what they describe as a lack of depth in women’s boxing

Others have outlined how there are big fights out there which are set to come some, with names such as the Serrano sisters, Chantelle Cameron, Heather Hardy, Holly Holm, and Cecilia Braekhus all being mentioned.

One name, however, that looks likely to be struck from the list is Natasha Jonas.

The Liverpudlian was stopped in the fourth round last night by Viviane Obenauf.

Dropped three times by the Brazilian, Jonas’s trainer Joe Gallagher hurled the towel in in the fourth round as she took repeated, head-jarring right hands.

The shock defeat saw Jonas lose her WBA ‘International’ super featherweight rankings title and derailed plans for a pro rematch with Taylor [10(5)-0] who now looks set to defend her titles versus Cindy Serrano on October 20th [rather than October 6th as previously announced] in Boston.

The pair met in the quarter-finals of the London Olympics, with Taylor winning in one of the bouts and atmospheres of the tournament.

The charismatic Jonas would follow Taylor into the pros last year but, following six wins, her career lies in tatters.

It had been Gallagher’s plan for Jonas to pick up a title at super featherweight before moving up to lightweight and challenging unified champion Taylor next year.

Obenauf, who Taylor widely outpointed in her second fight, was intended to the final fight before a world title challenge on the Anthony Joshua v Alexander Povetkin undercard next month at Wembley Stadium.

The Swiss-based fighter, however, flipped the script and scuppered these plans with an inspired display.

With Jonas now 34 years of age and having suffered such a decisive defeat to a former Taylor foe, many believe that this could be the end of her career and a potential Taylor rematch.

Eddie Hearn, who promotes both fighters, admitted afterwards that a Taylor fight is off the table.

The Matchroom boss told IFL TV that “it was a shock, I don’t know what else to say.”

“Obviously plans for her to fight for a world title are just completely torn apart, plans for her to fight Katie Taylor are just completely torn apart.”

“Natasha Jonas has to be beating people like Viviane Obenauf if she’s going to go and fight for world titles and fight Katie Taylor.”

Hearn believes the Scouser now has some big decisions to make, reasoning that “the fact is, it was a devastating loss and she now has to ask herself ‘is this what I want to do?'”

“She’ll only know that when she wakes up tomorrow morning [today] and has a little bit of time to reflect.”

“Sometimes you might say ‘you know what? I gave it a go and I wasn’t good enough’ or you look at yourself in the mirror and say ‘this isn’t the end for me, I don’t want to go out like this,’ and you come back and you get your nut down, work harder than ever before, work smarter, and you go again, and we’ll make the [Obenauf] rematch.”

Watch Eddie Hearn’s interview with IFL TV in full below: