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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Connor O'Neill

Natasha Jonas plays down Claressa Shields fight talk despite Ben Shalom 'possibility' message

Natasha Jonas insists the potential prize of a super-fight with Claressa Shields in 2023 has not disturbed her preparations for her bout with Marie-Eve Dicaire.

Jonas will attempt to add a third super-welterweight world title to her collection when she takes on IBF champion Dicaire at the Manchester Arena a week on Saturday.

The 38-year-old went up three weight divisions to claim her first world title by stopping Chris Namus in February, before adding the WBC title by unanimously outpointing Patricia Berghult in Liverpool at the beginning of September.

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Jonas is set for the biggest challenge of her career against Dicaire, who is naturally bigger than Namus and Berghult. 'Miss GB' and trainer Joe Gallagher are watching all available footage of Dicaire's previous bouts, with her having only lost once in her career against Shields back in 2021.

"We go back and watch every fight," Jonas said. "There's habits that you pick up on. Yes, you will look at the Claressa fight, but you can't take too much out of it, because there are lots of other different factors, like we're both southpaw, so that's something different.

"I'm a little bit smaller, I might be a little bit quicker - everyone's different, so you can't take too much out of losses."

Speaking following her points win over Savannah Marshall last month, Shields said she would be open to returning to 154lbs, where she was formerly undisputed champion, to face Jonas in either the UK or the US.

"I don't really take any notice," Jonas told Sky Sports News when asked about the bout. "If the performance in this fight doesn't happen, then that fight doesn't happen.

"So you've got to take every fight as it comes, and concentrate on the fight that's in front of you, not the ones that are ahead."

But despite Jonas playing down talk of the bout, her promoter, Ben Shalom of Boxxer, believes there is 'a definite possibility' of the fight taking place.

He said: "It's a definite possibility. Claressa, now the biggest star in women's boxing, she's got options. But she sees that division and sees what a big star Tasha Jonas is, and she wants to come down to 154lbs."

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