KHAN vs BROOK
THE UNDERCARD
RISK-TAKER: Natasha Jonas is moving up to super-welterweight Photo: DAVE THOMPSON/MATCHROOM
MUST WIN
Natasha Jonas has a third shot at a belt she craves and Olympic star Frazer Clarke goes pro on the Khan-Brook undercard, writes John Dennen ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ U N D E RC A R D
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ATASHA JONAS needs some silverware. The Liverpudlian was the first female British boxer to qualify for an Olympic Games. She was one of the élite talents to come out of the GB programme. A quality professional she was unfortunate to be held to a draw by Terri Harper for an alphablet super-featherweight belt and she also pushed Irish star Katie Taylor close. Well-supported, talented, an Olympian who’s
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fought the best available opposition, despite all that her career still would feel somehow incomplete if it finished without her winning one of the significant belts. But at 37, Jonas is running out of time. That’s why, as a natural super-feather or lightweight, she’s gambling by leaping up to super-welterweight to box for the vacant WBO strap at the Manchester Arena on Saturday (February 19). To complicate the risk calculation, a replacement opponent was confirmed with just over a week left to go as Chris Namús came in for Ewa Piatkowska. Namús hasn’t won since 2019 and Jonas is yet to fight in this weight class. A curious ‘world title’ fight, then. Namús is a Uruguayan who’s been operating
at super-welter since 2017. She has boxed good opposition too, losing to then welterweight champion Cecilia Brækhus over 10 rounds in 2016 and was outpointed by leading superwelter Marie-Ève Dicaire. But Namús has also lost to poor opposition. Her most recent fight was in 2020 against Ema Kozin, who was in the UK earlier this month to box Claressa Shields. The latter is the middleweight champion and while Kozin was a hefty underdog, her challenge was still underwhelming. She appeared unambitious and let Shields dominate proceedings. Jonas will have noted too that Namús’ two most recent defeats both came against southpaws like her. Despite being more accustomed to the weight, Namús is only fractionally taller than
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