Natasha Jonas diary and Livefight readers Q&A
I’ve just got back from another competition, this time in the Czech Republic. It went really well and I got a bronze medal. I fought against Belarus, Bulgaria and the last girl was against the Russian. It wasn’t the same girl from the test event but a different one, Sofia Ochigava, and she’s even better. Pound for pound she’s rated number two in the world. I started a bit slowly and I think I gave her a bit too much respect. I was pleased with how it went but maybe the score didn’t reflect how close the fight was.
Our qualifier’s only a month away now! The time has flown by and because we’re always doing something you’re always looking for the next tournament. You’re not wishing your life away but you’re just hoping it’ll come around. We go to Crete for a competition, we’re back for a week and then we’re there.
Last month I agreed to answer any questions
www.Livefight.com readers may have so here we go!
LF: What does your training consist of? What does a typical day involve?
When I’m in Sheffield with the British team (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) we weigh in every morning at 7am and run at 7.30am. We then have a strength and conditioning session at about 10.30am and follow that with shadow. At about 3pm we do bags, pads and sparring.
When I’m back home, I run in the mornings and then do a session at my old amateur club the Rotunda. If I have a competition coming up I’ll also train either Saturday or Sunday.
LF: Do you spar with men at all? Who is the best - either amateur or professional - you have sparred with?
We do spar with men. Definitely Stephen Smith. He hits you with about a million shots and you can’t hit him back. I remember getting out of the ring once and thinking ‘I don’t think I’ve ever been hit in all my bouts before as much as I was in that one round’.
LF: Do you watch boxing? If so, who do you like to watch?
I’m not a big, massive fan but I do like to watch the big fights. I think Floyd Mayweather is class.
LF: How do people react when they find out that you box?
Oh, the usual! ‘You don’t look like a boxer!’ but what does a boxer look like?! I’d say it’s usually shock or they’re pleasantly surprised.
LF: How did you first find your way into a boxing gym? Were any members of your family involved?
A lady started ‘Women’s only’ nights at the Rotunda and she knew my uncle. I was training by myself in my uncle’s gym and she told me to come along instead of training alone. Once I went along, that was it.
I probably wanted to spar more than anything. I enjoy the physical contact of it. I wouldn’t say I decided it was the sport for me after the first time I sparred that probably happened after my first win. My first amateur fight was about four months after I started. It was pretty quick but my grandad had been a boxer and I had done Thai boxing and Karate so it wasn’t just something I fell into, I already kind of knew how to punch and how to block.
LF: How good is Katie Taylor and have you trained or sparred with her?
We’ve boxed! We’ve trained a couple of times. When I was with England we used to go over to Ireland for training camps a couple of times a year. Yeah, she’s good. I boxed her and lost 6-3 in the Strandja competition last year. There was a time when I first came on the scene that I looked at her and thought ‘nobody is ever gonna catch up to her’ but slowly and surely - even though she’s still winning the World’s – I don’t think there’s that much of a gap. There’s a bit more competition which is good. She’s got the quickest hands I’ve ever seen!
If you’d asked me if I could beat her two years ago, I’m not unreal and I’d have said ‘not a chance’. Now? Yeah, I think I could.
LF: If people want to see how good Natasha Jonas is, which fight should they try and watch? Which has been your best performance?
I don’t think there are that many online! I think there are only two, I never put them on. I think my win against Cheng Dong in the Olympic test event. I just did a lot of things right.
LF: What has been the best moment since you first began boxing?
Getting selected for Great Britain was big but the first time I ever won the European Union. Standing on the podium with people giving you flowers, getting the gold medal and hearing the national anthem….I was dead proud. I nearly cried. Nearly! I felt myself welling up.
LF: What would it mean to walk out at the Olympic Games opening ceremony?
Funnily enough, me and Tom Stalker were talking about this the other day. I couldn’t even put it into words. We go to places and people don’t boo you but they don’t clap either. To be at home and be the one getting cheered for would just be unreal. The test event was only small scale but even then I felt like I had home advantage.
I’ve never been to a competition anything like the Olympics. Obviously we have the European’s and World’s but it’s not on the scale of the Olympics. It’d be like a childhood dream come true. It’s hard to describe how you’d feel! It’s weird.
