Natasha Jonas from Toxteth became a world title holder in boxing after beating Uruguayan Christian Namus.
After stepping up three weights, Natasha won the vacant WBO Super Welterweight title in what was a powerful and skilled display against a quality opponent.
The referee stopped the fight less than a minute into the second round after Namus was floored by a quick combination in a fight that featured on the undercard of Amir Khan's match with Kell Brook.
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After winning, Natasha told the ECHO: “My biggest emotion was relief.
“I had thought if I lost, where would I go after here? I would’ve had to retire”.
Natasha said: “Before Saturday it would’ve been a lot of risk to other fighters who maybe feared losing their ranking if they lost to me.
“Now that I have a belt, fighters would take the risk to fight me.
“Every boxer wants to fight for a title and has a goal to be champ”.
Natasha made history as the first female to qualify and box in the 2012 Olympics, in London, for Britain.
After Saturday’s victory Natasha talked about big sacrifices and going to hell and back and she said: “My biggest sacrifice was losing time with my little girl.
Her daughter Mela who Natasha described as six going on 63 said she’s: “Really Happy about Mum winning”.
Natasha added: “It was hell losing in the Olympics to Katie Taylor.
“Snapping my toe in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, to Australia's Shelly Watts, led to me losing the fight.”
Due to the toe injury, and an operation, prevented Natasha from qualifying for the 2016 Olympics in Brazil and after missing out she decided to quit the ring.
Natasha said: “I just left boxing in 2015 and then struggled to find my identity and what to do next.
“I had been in Team GB since 2009 and had an income, enough to fund my life.
“After stopping I had to get a job and start again.
“Another of the down sides was being stopped by Viviane Obenauf who I don't feel I should have lost against.
“You can love boxing, but boxing doesn’t love you.”
After two years or more out of the ring Natasha was asked by Sky Sports to be part of the commentary for a Katie Taylor fight and this was the beginning of her comeback.
She said: "Tom Stalker who captained Team GB in 2012 called me and asked if I would come back.
“I had not boxed for two years, was overweight and I was like, come on Tom.
“I was the mum of an 18 month old child."
Thinking it over that night, Natasha said: “What’s stopping me? The baby is in nursery, has a routine, so I spoke to my mum and cousin about what they think.”
They were fully behind her and she called Tom asking what she had to do, he said find a manager and a coach.
Natasha said: “I was thinking who had taken someone and made them a champion, Joe Gallagher was the guy.
“I knew him as I had boxed at Rotunda with Paul Smith and brothers Liam, Callum and Stephen and would always go and watch them fight”.
The rest is history after losing to Katie Taylor and Terri Harper she was crowned World Champion after the second round stoppage.
Initially Natasha dreamt of being a professional footballer and in 2003 got a football scholarship in America.
Injury ended her career in football and she returned to the UK to finish her studies, but eventually left them.
Doing nothing for a year she found it hard to motivate herself and lost confidence and even friends.
Natasha said: “Not playing anymore I found myself out of the circle, out of the loop and you lose contacts.
“I had seven jobs in one year, as I kept getting sacked. I could not find motivation”.
The ECHO asked who her biggest influences are, Natasha said: “My nan and Mum are because they moulded me into the woman that I am now.
“Also Manny Pacquiao, a legend inside boxing and what he does outside of boxing with his influence on his own people.
“When he boxed the whole of the Philippines stopped to watch, now he runs for senator.
“I’m not saying I want to run for Parliament, but I want to help and constantly do talks in the community and more.
“I go into schools and speak to kids and tell them when I was five or six I’d tell my mum I was going to the Olympics, which took me over 20 years to get there.
Natasha spoke of the positive impact speaking to children and how it differs for them to hearing someone speaking on TV, she said: “When they see me face to face I tell them I’m just like you”.
Jokingly, she said: “I was a snotty nosed kid from Toxteth”.
Helping women's boxing, Natasha added: “Personally, I did the thing as in 2012 with being first to go. This increased 60 or 70 percent of girls wanting to box who then joined the club.
“We have been part of the development of the professional team, but now we are at the stage of getting big platforms like SKY and headlining fights.
“Women’s boxing is developing really fast and still has a long way to go to be on a par with men.
“This is not just down to me, but a general collective of women”.
The ECHO asked what happens next, Natasha said: “It opens doors.
“I will speak with my management camp, promoters and my coach Joe and we will all get together and see what is next.”
