Natasha Jonas

Natasha Jonas
Statistics
Rated at Lightweight (60 kg)
Height 5 ft 7 in (1.72 m)
Nationality England English
Born (1984-06-18) 18 June 1984
Liverpool, England
Stance Orthodox
Website natashajonas.co.uk
Medal record
Women's amateur boxing
Representing  United Kingdom
World Amateur Championships
2012 Qinhuangdao Lightweight

Natasha Jonas (born 18 June 1984) is a retired[1] English amateur boxer from Liverpool, England, who competed in the 60 kg (132 lb) lightweight division and represented Rotunda ABC & GB Boxing. She was ranked #5 in the AIBA world rankings. In 2012, Jonas became the first female British boxer to fight at the Olympic Games.

Amateur career

Jonas took up boxing in 2005 and by 2010 she had won five ABA Championships in the 64 kg Division for Liverpool club Rotunda ABC.[2] In November 2009 she became the first female boxer to compete for GB Boxing. In the same year she claimed gold in the 64 kg division at the 2009 Women's European Union Amateur Boxing Championships in Pazardzhik, Bulgaria, after she overcame Csilla Csejtei of Hungary in the final. Jonas another gold medal in the inaugural GB Amateur Boxing Championships in 2010, when she pipped rival Amanda Coulson by one point in an exciting bout in front of her home fans at Liverpool's Echo Arena.

2012 AIBA Women's World Amateur Boxing Championships

Jonas made history in Qinhuangdao, China in May 2012, when she reached the semi-finals of the 2012 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships to become the first ever female British boxer to qualify for an Olympic Games, she then went on to take the bronze medal and a place in the 2012 London Olympics back to Liverpool with her.

2012 Olympic Games

Jonas became the first ever British female boxer to compete at an Olympic Games. Jonas faced Quanitta Underwood of the United States in the round of 16, Jonas emphatically beat Underwood, 21:13 winning three of the four rounds boxed.[3] Her wins set up a quarter-final bout with four-time World Champion, and Ireland's flag-bearer at the Opening Ceremony, Katie Taylor.[3] Jonas lost to Taylor 26:15.[4]

Personal life

Initially intending to be a footballer, Jonas spent eighteen months at St. Peter's College in the United States on a football scholarship,[5] before returning to the United Kingdom and studying media studies at Edge Hill University, Lancashire. She was employed for five years by Liverpool City Council and was a mentor for the Youth Sport Trust for four years, helping to promote sport and healthy lifestyles to school-age children.[6]

Jonas is an older sister of footballer Nikita Parris.[7]

In The Media

In July 2012, Jonas appeared alongside Tom Stalker and James Dickens in Channel 4 documentary, Knockout Scousers, which followed her to Czech Republic and China on her pursuit for Olympic qualification, a production which she also narrated.

References

  1. ↑ Creighton, Jessica (7 April 2015). "Natasha Jonas retires: British Olympic boxer quits aged 30". BBC Sport.
  2. ↑ "Commonwealth Games Biography – Natasha Jonas". 8 August 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  3. 1 2 "Olympic women's boxing: Natasha Jonas wins Britain's first female bout". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  4. ↑ "Olympic women's boxing: Katie Taylor beats Britain's Natasha Jonas". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  5. ↑ Holt, Oliver (24 July 2012). "Proving her worth: Natasha Jonas is fighting for Team GB, for herself and to demonstrate that women's boxing is here to stay". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  6. ↑ "Natasha Jonas hangs up her gloves". www.gbboxing.org.uk. 7 April 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  7. ↑ Creighton, Jessica (6 August 2013). "Natasha Jonas: From dinner scraps to Olympic boxing battles". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
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