A Historic Night For Women’s Boxing: Terri Harper vs. Natasha Jonas

It has certainly been a rocky start to the year with many events being postponed and pushed back – despite the difficult start through March and April however many organisers were able to turn things around quickly. Horse racing had been amongst the first to get things kickstarted again. This came following the cancellation of the National, which is one of the biggest events in the sporting calendar.

One of the more high profile events has happened a little more recently however as a breakthrough event for women’s boxing in a historic title fight could have put the sport on the map in a big way. August 7^th saw Terri Harper and Natasha Jonas end in a draw as Harper was able to do enough to hold on to her WBC title. Promoter would go on to say, “We have to do that again. It was absolutely incredible. We are trying to push the women’s game but you can’t do it without the product. Women’s boxing is right up there and what a fight” – the statement really hits the nail on the head and without the talent to really show just how skilled these fighters are, it’s difficult to bring the sport to a wider audience but a few more big nights like this are exactly what’s needed to bring more eyes – there has been recent movements across combat sports as a whole particularly in the UFC to see women’s competition grow, and it’s certainly on its way.

In a sport that is over overshadowed by the men’s division, it is a night that certainly put all eyes on women’s boxing by creating a genuine rivalry that is being seen across this entire generation of women combat athletes. With such an impressive performance, it’s almost all but confirmed at this point that the two will meet again in a rematch but there are certainly other fights to come too – Harper still has eyes towards another title in the super-featherweight division with Matchroom Boxing signing Ewa Brodnicka specifically for that reason.

There’s a budding rivalry building underneath this too however – Brodnicka’s first mandatory challenge comes from the American Mikaela Mayer who has been repeatedly calling out Terri Harper – a statement issued by promoter Eddie Hearn reads “She doesn’t stop yapping” with Mayer warning “If they want to grow Terri’s career, they need to come to America for a fight against me.”

This weekend may have another blockbuster fight in store for fans too as Katie Taylor will put her lightweight title on the line against Delfine Persoon as they come together for a rematch – last year Persoon threw a bit of a tantrum after being declared the loser of their last bout whilst throwing shots at her rivals fighting style – this brings yet another rivalry to the sport and the publicity from a big fight and the feuds that are being created could be enough to propel women’s boxing into the mainstream.