'Chin up, kid, it all works out in the end' - Jonas' 'sliding doors' moments

Natasha Jonas v Lauren Price

Venue: Royal Albert Hall, London Date: Friday, 7 March

Coverage: Follow unrecorded substance commentary from 20:00 GMT and vigor sum from 21:00 connected BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Sounds, BBC Sport website & app

Setbacks pb to comebacks. Ages similar a good wine. A blessed combatant is simply a unsafe fighter. Natasha Jonas' vocation lends itself to plentifulness of overused boxing cliches.

A pioneer of women's boxing for much than a decade, the 40-year-old headlines an all-female paper astatine London's iconic Royal Albert Hall connected Friday.

Jonas volition enactment her WBC and IBF welterweight titles connected the enactment against Wales' WBA champion Lauren Price.

Price, 30, is the unbeaten Olympic aureate miss brimming with confidence. To usage different banal sporting phrase, she predicts a passing of the torch.

Let's not constitute Liverpool's history-maker disconnected conscionable yet, though.

Toxteth-born Jonas was the archetypal British pistillate to ever container astatine an Olympic Games. She has flooded injuries, disappointing defeats and juggled boxing with motherhood.

Through stellar punditry enactment oregon arsenic the archetypal achromatic pistillate to get a British Boxing Board of Control manager's licence, Jonas continues to marque waves extracurricular the ringing too.

But her beingness could easy person panned retired precise differently. Speaking to BBC Sport, Jonas reflects connected the 'sliding doors' moments which led to her becoming a two-weight satellite champion.

Jonas caught the sporting bug arsenic a four-year-old watching the Seoul 1988 Olympics.

Although her representation of those Games is somewhat patchy, she remembers "being overwhelmed and excited by each the athletics that was happening".

Two decades aboriginal she was nicknamed 'Miss GB' for her ain Olympic appearance.

When Jonas qualified for London 2012 astatine an lawsuit successful China, she shared a heartwarming infinitesimal with her mother.

"That's erstwhile Mum told maine astatine the airdrome however arrogant she was and that erstwhile I was a small girl, watching the Olympics connected TV, I told her 1 time I wanted to beryllium there," Jonas adds.

"Sometimes kids person large ideas. Sometimes beingness and the satellite gets successful the way. But aft 24 years and trying hundreds of sports, I got there.

"So looking back, I could accidental the '88 Games was the astir pivotal lawsuit of my career."

As a teenager, Jonas dreamed of representing her state connected the planetary stage, but not arsenic a pugilist.

"I watched Rachel Yankey and Mia Hamm and ever thought 'I'm a good amended footballer'," she says.

Jonas is "not the astir academic" but buckled down to gain a shot assistance astatine St Peter's College successful New Jersey.

"America was the spot to be," she says, with lone a fistful of English women's shot teams operating astatine a nonrecreational level astatine the time.

But a budding shot vocation was chopped devastatingly abbreviated erstwhile Jonas tore her cruciate ligament portion successful the States.

"If my wounded hadn't person happened I decidedly wouldn't beryllium getting punched successful the look for a living. It was a large turning point," Jonas adds.

Her sister, Nikita Parris, has 72 caps for England and was portion of the 2022 Euros winning squad.

Asked if she would swap her vocation for a large trophy, Jonas replies: "I'd alternatively spell connected to go an undisputed boxing satellite champion than a shot World Cup winner."

When Jonas returned to England she mislaid relationship groups made done shot and, with her genu successful a brace, began to enactment connected weight.

She concisely worked successful telephone centres but was sacked from each 7 jobs.

"Now looking backmost arsenic an adult, I recognise that I was depressed," Jonas says. "I mislaid my identity. Everyone said I was going to play for Liverpool and England but present I was nary longer 'Tasha the footballer' but conscionable Tasha."

In a bid to regain her fitness, Jonas, aged 21, stepped into the legendary Rotunda Amateur Boxing Gym.

"All the lads were similar 'who is she?'. They weren't utilized to having a miss successful their gym," she recalls.

"After a warm-up, the manager asked america to get into pairs to bash bags. I thought I'd beryllium the small miss who is past to beryllium picked, similar erstwhile I utilized to play shot with my cousins."

Instead, Jonas was greeted by the kindness of aboriginal light-middleweight satellite champion Liam Smith - 1 of the fashionable boys successful the gym. When helium saw a deflated Jonas enactment her caput down, helium offered to spouse up.

"I don't cognize if I would oregon wouldn't person stuck it retired if helium hadn't done that, but 1 small motion from Liam made specified a quality - determination was nary much awkwardness successful the gym aft that," Jonas adds.

Jonas called clip connected her amateur vocation successful 2014 with a grounds of 57 wins and 26 defeats. She gave commencement to her daughter, Mila, and was blessed to ne'er container again.

That soon changed aft the pro debut of a trailblazing Irishwoman and a telephone telephone from a erstwhile Team GB team-mate.

"I did immoderate punditry enactment for Katie Taylor's debut and Tom Stalker phoned maine afterwards," Jonas explains.

"He said determination volition beryllium a batch of accidental for pro females present and asked if I'd ever deliberation of coming back? I said 'shut up, Tom'."

Jonas says she was "happy with her routine". Mila had turned 2 and was successful nursery and the media enactment was keeping her busy.

But Stalker's words kept ringing successful her ear. After speaking to her contiguous family, Jonas realised the boxing occurrence was inactive burning.

"I phoned 2 cousins, my mum and dad," Jonas adds. "I trusted their judgement and they knew the bully and atrocious broadside to boxing.

"They were determination for maine erstwhile I cried for 2 days, aft losing to Katie successful the amateurs.

"But they each gave maine their enactment and said I had thing to interest about, particularly arsenic acold arsenic the babe is concerned."

Turning pro was a determination that paid off. In February 2022, Jonas stopped Chris Namus to go light-middleweight satellite champion and has since won each 5 world-title level fights.

"If I could spell backmost and speech to myself successful immoderate of those hardest moments earlier successful life, I'd accidental 'chin up, kid, it each works retired successful the end'," she says.