AmateurHeadline News

Taylor’s opponent in the fight that introduced Women’s boxing to the World retires

THE WOMAN that played a major part in the bout that won female fighting the respect of the World, Natasha Jonas has retired.

Jonas, the first female boxer to represent Great Britain in an Olympic Games, made history when she took on eventual gold medal winner and Irish sporting legend Katie Taylor in the first round of the women’s lightweight competition at London 2012.

That entertaining and well supported bout has since been credited with the clash that rid the World of the final few female fighting skeptics. The quarterfinal, a 26-15 win for the Irish boxing phenom, was one of if not the bout of the London 2012 Olympics and was so well supported the noise reached concert levels, officially recorded at 113.7 decibels.

Irish fans will always claim they brought the volume as well as the colour to the occasion and will point out the greatest female fighter on the planet Taylor played the chief role in what will be remembered as an important four rounds in World boxing, but will also recognize that Jonas played her part.

Taylor will go to Rio 2016 looking to cement her status as the best ever, but 30 year old Jonas has hung up her gloves.

Jonas, a former world and European bronze medallist, said: “It just felt like the right time to retire.

“Being away from camp to recover from my recent injury has given me time to think and I just came to the conclusion that I did not want to go back to the demands of full-time training.

“When I started boxing 10 years ago I was an overweight, unemployed scally from Toxteth and if you’d have told me then that I would win a world championship medal and compete in front of 10,000 people at the Olympic Games I would never have believed it, so I am very proud to have achieved those things and done so well in the sport.

“I have been to some great places, had some amazing experiences and being able to share them with such a fantastic group of people is something I will treasure forever.”

irishboxing

Integral part of the Irish boxing community for over 13 years

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