Lauren Price defeated Liverpool’s Natasha Jonas in the landmark all-female boxing card at the Royal Albert Hall.
Miss GB took on the Welsh fighter in a match to decide who would become the unified welterweight world champion.
Ring Walk
Price walked out first to ‘Yma o Hyd’ and the roars of the Welsh fans who had travelled for the fight.
Jonas then followed- she was introduced by poet Sophia Athakur, who made a special tribute to International Women’s Day and female empowerment within boxing.
Fight Breakdown
Price dominated the entire fight with her speed and high-energy performance proving too much for Jonas who struggled to land most of her punches.
Round one saw only Price land two clean punches and drive Jonas into the corner early in the round.
Price had Jonas on the ropes again early in round two, even offsetting Jonas’ balance at one point. Jonas tried to counteract Price’s quick punches but missed.
Jonas started to land clean punches with her right hand to Price’s head but for each punch Price had a response.
Despite growing in the fight in the middle rounds and landing head shots, Jonas remained on the back foot, finding Price’s speed too difficult to combat.
The first half of the fight was dominated by Price who remained energetic throughout.
Price continued her high energy landing a multiple wide arching hooks to finish round eight.
In round nine Jonas took a tumble, while Price made a huge connection early and continued to counteract every hit from Jonas.
Going into the final round Jonas needed a knockout to win after Price’s total domination.
Although the tenth round was Jonas’ strongest, it wasn’t enough to overturn Price’s incredible performance throughout the fight.
Judges Scores
Jonas knew at the end of the fight she had lost to Price as she congratulated the Welsh woman ahead of the score announcement.
The judges scores, 98-93 100-90 98-92, saw Price unanimously win nine rounds of ten.
Words from Jonas
The scouser thanked her travelling support and apologised for her performance.
She said: “To all my family and friends who travelled all the way from Liverpool, and my daughter whose here in the crowd I apologise for the performance, and I hope I still made you proud.”
Jonas also reflected on the significance of the fight for boxing.
She said: “To all the fans for coming out and making this a great occasion for female boxing.”
Jonas reflected on the and praised Price’s performance.
“Well done to Lauren.”
“I think I just didn’t get a way round the quick shot, and she does pack a bit of power to be fair to her as well which I didn’t expect.
“I was landing but I was only landing one single hard shot and it’s just not enough when you’re against a great operator like Lauren.”
Looking to the future
Jonas hinted at a potential retirement after the fight.
She said: “You know I think emotions are high right now and Joe’s been asking me to retire for a very long time.
“I enjoyed sitting next to you Andy, Anna and Johnny and commentating on everyone else’s performance so maybe we’ll look at that afterwards.
“Right now, I’m going to go home and spend some time with my daughter.”
For Price this fight now means she will fight the winner of Mikaela Mayer and Sandy Ryan.
