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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Donagh Corby

Bellator's Sinead Kavanagh calls for crossover boxing fight with Natasha Jonas

Bellator featherweight contender Sinead Kavanagh would switch back to boxing for a fight with newly-crowned world champion Natasha Jonas.

The Irish fighter will take on Leah McCourt in an historic all-Irish co-main event at Bellator 275 on Friday night at Dublin's 3Arena in her first outing since facing Cris Cyborg for the belt last year.

But she initially cut her teeth as one of Ireland's most renowned amateur boxers, training alongside the likes of Katie Taylor and Olympic gold medalist Kellie Harrington.

And ahead of her massive clash with McCourt, the Dubliner has said that she would be willing to get back in the ring once again, naming super welterweight champion Jonas as a possible opponent.

"I wouldn't mind doing a boxing fight," Kavanagh told Mirror Fighting ahead of this weekend's action. "It wouldn't be original or anything.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind doing a 66kg (145lb) fight, that would be awesome, it would be great.

"Tasha Jonas would be a good opponent for me, I'd go with that."

Jonas defeated the veteran Chris Namus to finally become world champion on Saturday night on the undercard of Kell Brook's stoppage win over Amir Khan.

And at 149lb, she weighed in just 3lb heavier than Kavanagh will be allowed when she faces McCourt this weekend.

Kavanagh has been complimented by some of the biggest names in combat sport, including Taylor who told Mirror Fighting earlier this month that she admires Kavanagh as an athlete.

"I trained with Sinead for many years as an amateur boxer," Taylor said. "She's a great, great athlete.

"I was rooting for her in the fight with Cris Cyborg, but she obviously came up short and Cyborg is really a phenomenal fighter."

Would you like to see Sinead Kavanagh move into the boxing world to fight Natasha Jonas? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!

But for now, Kavanagh is laser-focused on getting back to the top of the featherweight division in Bellator by picking up a win over McCourt, who hasn't lost since her pro debut back in 2017.

The pair are ranked No.4 and No.5 respectively, and despite Kavanagh's recent loss to Cyborg they will both believe that a win sends them in the direction of a shot at gold.

"I started thinking about this fight when Sinead fought Cyborg," McCourt told Mirror Fighting. "I didn't think it needed to happen and I thought there were a lot more girls in the division to fight.

"But you look at it and I've fought three times in the last year, there really aren't.

"I truly believed Sinead could have landed that shot to win and I was thinking if Sinead had done that we could have fought for the world title in Ireland.

"But I also thought it could have happened since I was an amateur in the back of my head."

You can watch Bellator 275: Mousasi vs Vaderford live on BBC Three this Friday night from the 3Arena in Dublin.

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