Promoter suggests Jonas is the perfect Katie Taylor Croke Park fit
Natasha Jonas is the biggest fight out there for Katie Taylor and should be her Croke Park opponent according to Ben Shalom.
The Irish sporting legend is lining up a massive homecoming fight and is currently exploring options for a summer showdown at GAA Headquarters.
Eddie Hearn hopes to tempt Amanda Serrano to Dublin and to re-run the ‘greatest female fight of all time’ on Jones Road.
However, Boxxer Promoter Shalom believes another former Taylor foe is a better fit and bigger fight.
The Liverpudlian beat Marie-Eve Dicaire on Saturday week to add the IBF super-welterweight championship to the WBO and WBC titles she’d already unified this year.
The fighter who has fought Taylor in both the amateur and the pros has been linked to Jessica McCaskill and Claressa Shields but Shalom told Sky Sports that a rematch with Taylor is the fight to make.
The Sky Sports aligned argues it’s a fight that makes sense for both and is one the fans would relish in seeing.
“That is the fight that makes the most sense if we’re all thinking about where we could go. We saw what Shields-Marshall did. If we take a step back and say ‘how do we make something really special’, I think Jonas is the biggest name now I would say from England in women’s boxing and Katie Taylor is a huge star of the sport, between her and Claressa Shields for the biggest star,” Shalom said.
“That for me is the fight that’s going to get the most attention from the casual fans, from the biggest audiences. I think it’s the fight that will get the biggest audience at this time with the support Natasha’s had on Sky and obviously where Katie Taylor’s at. So hopefully they may be sensible on the other side and we can make that fight.
“It has to appeal to Katie,” Shalom continued. “We respect Katie Taylor massively. She will have seen Tasha Jonas’ ascendancy over the past year and I think if she wants a legacy fight, if she wants the biggest fight possible and she wants something to take home that fans can really buy into then I think Tasha Jonas is the fight.
“I think I would not be averse to Natasha Jonas going to fight Katie Taylor at Croke Park.”
Jonas trainer Joe Gallagher, whose parents hail from Sligo, said, “Katie Taylor, we’d love to see that rematch, there’s talk about Croke Park, let’s do it at Anfield. Natasha Jonas is the one that’s come closest to beating Katie Taylor, when you go look at the scorecards.
“That’s another fight to see, Jessica McCaskill or Claressa coming down.”
