Natasha Jonas and Lauren Price Win in Liverpool; Cutler Upsets McKenna

“Collision Course” was the tagline for tonight’s card in Liverpool, a not-so-subtle reference to the fact that promoter Ben Shalom intends to match Natasha Jonas and Lauren Price in March in a unified welterweight title fight.

Neither did anything to mess that up.

Natasha Jonas, seeking to become a unified champion in a second weight class, won a lopsided decision over Croatian veteran Ivana Habazin, improving to 16-2-1 (9). The judges had it 100-90, 99-91, and 99-92. It was the seventh straight win for the 40-year-old Liverpool native who was coming off a controversial split decision over Mikaela Mayer. Acknowledging that her career is winding down, Jonas announced before the bout that this would be her final fight in the maritime city.

In the 35-year-old Habazin, Jonas was matched against a respectable foe. Ivana was 23-5 heading in with all five of her losses coming in bouts sanctioned for a world title. She came bearing a strap, having won the vacant WBC 147-pound title in her last outing with a unanimous decision over Hungarian slug Kinga Magyar.

Habazin was staggered in round four and round eight, but otherwise made a respectable showing, notwithstanding the lopsided scorecards.

Price

Thirty-year-old Welsh southpaw Lauren Price, an Olympic gold medalist who has yet to lose a round as a pro, had no trouble with overmatched Bexcy Mateus, winning by TKO at the 1:42 mark of round three.

Price (8-0, 2 KOs) had Mateus on the canvas late in the opening round, compliments of a left hook, and decked her again with a straight left hand in the second stanza.

In round three, Price stunned Mateus with back-to-back blows to the head, the second coming as Mateus had turned away from her with referee Steve Gray a beat behind as he rushed to her defense. A 29-year-old, heavily tattooed Colombian, Mateus entered the fray with a record of 7-0 (6) but against very soft opposition. Price retains her WBA belt.

Other Bouts of Note

The 10-round contest between super welterweights Stephen McKenna and Lee Cutler was inserted between the two female fights. It figured to steal the show and met that expectation. When the smoke cleared, Lee Cutler, trained by Shane McGuigan’s assistant Scott Pritchard, prevailed on a majority decision. The judges had it 96-92, 95-93, and 94-94.

Cutler scored a knockdown in the opening round. McKenna was ducking low when Cutler knocked him to his knees with a chopping right hand. McKenna, a 9/2 favorite, came back and won the next two rounds with his higher workrate, but was up against it when he hit the deck again with 30 seconds remaining in round seven, put there by a series of glancing blows after Cutler had stiffened his legs with a straight right hand. At this juncture, one could see that the fast pace was more wearying on McKenna although he never stopped throwing punches.

The older of two fighting brothers from rustic Monaghan, Ireland, both of whom are trained and managed by their father, McKenna was 15-0 with 14 KOs heading in. It was the eighth straight win for Bournemouth’s Cutler who improved to 15-2 (7).

Super middleweight Mark Jeffers needed less than three full rounds to chop down late sub Joshua Quartey. Jeffers, who looked very sharp, mixing up his punches well, had Quartey on the canvas twice before the referee waived it off at the 2:42 mark in round three. The first knockdown was the result of an overhand right and the second a left to the body.

Jeffers (19-0, 6 KOs) is expected to fight the winner of the Jan. 11 match in Sheffield between BBBofC belt-holder Callum Simpson and Steed Woodall. It was the first pro loss for Quartey, a Ghanaian who had stopped nine of his 10 previous opponents but was making his first start on foreign soil.

The show aired on Sky Sports in the U.K. and on the Peacock network in the U.S.

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE