Former British Olympic quarter-finalist Natasha Jonas (13-2-1, 8 KO’s) successfully beat Marie-Eve Dicaire (18-2, 1 KO’s) in a Junior Middleweight/Super Welterweight unification bout – for ten rounds – where Jonas’ WBC and WBO titles were on the line, while Dicaire’s IBF was also eligible to be won or retained depending on the victor. The judges unanimously scored the fight in favor of Jonas with scorecards of 98-92, 100-90 and 97-93.

While Jonas secured a pivotal victory, her bout with Dicaire proved to be challenging as Dicaire managed to corner her into the ropes at a certain point, and also managed to land a couple of crucial blows. Jonas however, was the better fighter offensively and managed to not only outpoint Dicaire in the majority of the rounds, but also resoundingly punish her on occasions with her own pressure and her work inside the pocket. Dicaire was resilient however, and didn’t relent in counterattacking or using her reach where she could all while making sure to stay just within range where she could outbox Jonas. Both fighters seemed to fluctuate between pressuring each other and backing off to gather some steam during the bout, proving that their contrasting styles were well-matched with each other. The match had already tipped in favor to Jonas by the championship rounds however, and after ten rounds she secured Dicaire’s IBF world title along with retaining her WBC and WBO titles.

Natasha Jonas’s accomplishments as a Super Welterweight are noteworthy, as she moved up three divisions from her original weight class (Lightweight) to become unify twice in the same year. Jonas’ first unification bout was in September – against Patricia Berghult (15-1, 3 KO’s) – who she also decisively beat by UD to win the WBC Junior Middleweight title while retaining her WBO belt. Terri Harper (13-1, 6 KO’s) is the only other champion left in the division as the current WBA (Super) champion is also British, and a contest between them will be an unprecedented undisputed bout for both British and women’s boxing, especially if The Ring lineal title – which is currently vacant – is made available for their potential match.

Jonas also had some encouraging words for women’s boxing in her post-match press conference.

“We produce some of the best fights in the sport at the minute.” Jonas said. “We got the athletes, we got the platform, we got the promoters to support us. I think we need to keep it going, and we want to fight as female fighters. We want to be the best, and we want to put on a show, and tonight, we did that.”