An all-British unification contest is the carrot being dangled in front of boxing fans, but first LAUREN PRICE and Natasha Jonas must come through their respective world title defences in Liverpool on Saturday night.

Their potential clash next year would generate plenty of interest and would be a classic battle between the old guard and the new, so let’s hope they both prevail this weekend and we can look forward to a welterweight blockbuster in 2025.

Jonas has the chance to add another belt to her IBF strap when she takes on newly-crowned WBC champion Ivana Habazin in the main event of this Sky Sports-televised card.

Habazin (23-5) picked up the vacant title when comfortably outpointing Kinga Magya earlier in the year and returns to the UK for the biggest fight of her career to date. The 35-year-old from Croatia dropped a wide decision to Terri Harper on her only previous visit to these shores in May last year and a similar fate may beckon for her this time around.

The Indian summer of Jonas (15-2-1) has been quite spectacular, as she claimed three world titles at super welterweight with as many wins in a brilliant 2022, before dropping to 147lb to claim the IBF belt by stopping Kandi Wyatt.

The popular Scouser claimed her biggest scalp yet when nicking a razor-thin split decision over Mikaela Mayer in their January thriller, form which has been boosted by the American subsequently beating Britain’s Sandy Ryan, and she is a 1/8 favourite to register her 16th victory as a professional.

Despite her advancing years, the 40-year-old southpaw is showing no signs of slowing down and Jonas is fancied to land the odds in front of her home fans, most likely on points. Ten rounds of two minutes make stoppages harder to come by in the female game and it’s no surprise to see her only 1/2 to win this one on the scorecards.

There seems no real value in those odds, but the 100/30 about Price stopping Bexcy Mateus is big enough to tempt me in.

As suggested by her odds of 1/25, Price appears to have an easier task than Jonas, as the Welsh wizard makes the first defence of the WBA title she won in fine style against the experienced Jessica McCaskill in May.

That bout went to the scorecards in the ninth round due to the latter’s badly swollen eye caused by an accidental head clash, but Price was superb in dominating the fight from the get-go. McCaskill is a former undisputed champion in this division, and nobody has beaten her as convincingly as Price did that night.

The Olympic gold medallist was having only her seventh outing as a professional and while only one of those wins has come via stoppage, most of her opponents have come to survive and that is unlikely to be the case with Mateus.

Also boasting a perfect seven-fight record, the Colombian has halted six of her victims, but she has yet to fight outside of her native country and the standard of the opposition has been moderate, to say the least. All the clues suggest the visitor will come to fight and that can play right into the hands of Price, who represents a huge step up in class for the challenger.

Despite being big for the weight, Price has superb hand speed and the 30-year-old from Cardiff is also very quick on her feet. She bounces in and out of range with ease and is very accurate when she does let her hands go. All of this could be enough to overwhelm Mateus and while it is 3/10 for Price to win by decision, I am inclined to take a chance on her getting the stoppage at much bigger odds.

There is also action on DAZN as Matchroom stage their annual show in Monaco, where CHEAVON CLARKE challenges Leonardo Mosquea for the vacant European cruiserweight title.

Clarke is progressing nicely and has looked good in compiling his 10-0 (seven early) CV so far, most notably when halting Ellis Zorro inside eight rounds to claim the British title in May. He was made to work harder by Efetobor Apochi when earning a majority decision on his US debut in August, but it was another box ticked in his development and he is a best price of 3/10 to successfully get past Mosquea.

Mosquea (10/3) earned this shot by outpointing French trial horse Dylan Bregon in the summer and he is unbeaten in 15 outings (nine KOs) but hasn’t faced anyone of Clarke’s calibre yet and he looks up against it.

Clarke remains on an upward curve and the 13/8 available about the Kent-based southpaw registering the eighth stoppage of his career looks pretty fair.

Posted at 1050 GMT on 13/12/24

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