Natasha Jonas revealed that money prevented a fight against Claressa Shields from being made and explained her decision to drop down to welterweight.
Jonas made history when she became the first woman to win Boxer of the Year at last year’s British Boxing Board of Control Awards. The award came just a month after 'Miss GB' won her third world title in 10 months.
At the same awards ceremony, Shields, who beat Savannah Marshall last October to win the undisputed middleweight title, was crowned Overseas Boxer of the Year. The unbeaten Shields has previously gone undisputed at super-welterweight, the division where Jonas is now the unified WBC, WBO and IBF champion.
Jonas revealed at the turn of the year that she wanted a crack at the American, and although she received an offer from Shields’ team, it was nowhere near what she wanted in order to make the fight happen.
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Speaking to the ECHO, she revealed: "It was literally just money that let it down. She’s sick of talking about it, and I’m sick of talking about it, and now that I have gone back down, it is definitely off now."
After enjoying a 2022 to remember, the 39-year-old finally returns to the ring this weekend when she takes on Kandi Wyatt at the AO Arena in Manchester for the vacant IBF welterweight title.
As the first female British boxer to qualify for an Olympic Games, Jonas now has the chance to enhance her legacy further by becoming a two-weight world champion.
"It is four titles in a row, and it has been a bit of a slow and frustrating start to the year, but I will be happy to get it underway by getting back into the ring," she said.
"I would have stayed at super-welterweight if I was fighting Claressa. The fight would have been at 154.
"I am not a big 154, and I have never really been a 154 fighter; it was just that there were opportunities that I believed I could win that kept presenting themselves.
"I’d already said there is not going to be a Terri Harper fight, so the only option was to go back down because there was no one else there to fight."
