By Declan Taylor


BOXXER kick off their 2024 schedule with a return to Liverpool where hometown favourite Natasha Jonas faces her toughest test for years. American Mikaela Mayer is the visitor and brings the requisite clout to ensure this showdown with Jonas tops a solid bill at the city’s M&S Bank Arena.

After an award-winning, hardware-gleaning three-fight run during 2022, last year was an altogether more frustrating one for Jonas, who boxed only once and stopped the overmatched Kandi Wyatt inside eight rounds in July.

But her and Boxxer wasted no time in making amends in 2024 and a crack at Jonas’ IBF welterweight title was enough to convince Californian star Mayer to make the trip to Merseyside for her fourth straight fight on English soil.

This welterweight encounter with Jonas will tick off the third different weight class in which Mayer has boxed since she suffered the first defeat of her career back in October 22 when Alycia Baumgardner nicked a split decision against her at the o2 Arena.

After that, she beat Lucy Wildheart a few miles across east London at the Copper Box in her lightweight debut before jumping up to light-welter to face Silvia Bortot at the Manchester Arena, where she won by shutout.

Now she will face Jonas at welterweight, a full 17lbs heavier than she was against Baumgardner 15 months ago. She will still enjoy a height and reach advantage against Jonas, herself a former world champion up at super-welterweight, but Miss GB believes she is the ‘naturally bigger’ of the two and the size advantage will make a difference.

Jonas has one of the higher knockout percentages in women’s boxing, with nine of her 14 wins ending inside the distance but a stoppage here for either of them seems unlikely. What looks set to unfurl is a phonebox battle between a duo who are both capable of mixing it on the inside. These two could combine for another classic for women’s boxing.

Who comes out on top is hard to decide but the pick is southpaw Jonas to win on points after a fight so close that whoever loses will feel aggrieved.

The pick of the undercard comes at super-middleweight where Jack Cullen defends his British and Commonwealth titles against Zak Chelli. Cullen, Little Lever’s Meat Cleaver won the belts in emphatic fashion, stopping Mark Heffron in three rounds just four months back in one of the best British victories of the year.

And he has been rewarded with another outing here, with Chelli the man selected for his first defence. The Londoner, still only 26, got back among the wins in September by stopping journeyman Jordan Grannum at York Hall. Before that, Chelli was beaten by Manchester’s Mark Jeffers in July, and this next trip north means another tangle with a man from the fast-rising Jennings Gym.

Cullen has been trained by the Jennings brothers, Michael and Dave since 2020 and it has been a rollercoaster ride for the team, with stoppage defeats to Kevin Sadjo and Diego Pacheco as well as victories over Avni Yildirim and September’s big win against Heffron, which gleaned the two belts he will defend for the first time here.

Given the manner of that victory a little over four months back, it is hard to pick against Cullen here against a man still rebuilding after that defeat to Jeffers. This looks like a pairing that guarantees action so it could turn into a British and Commonwealth barnburner which could be nip-and-tuck on the cards. Cullen, however, has the tools to grind Chelli down and win.

Jeffers, too, is in action here as he defends the English super-middleweight title against the tough former holder of that belt Germaine Brown. In fact, the 29-year-old Londoner lost the title to Chelli back in 2022 and then Chelli failed in his first defence against Jeffers.

But Brown has been given another opportunity to win the strap against the 25-year-old Northern Ireland-born Chorley resident. He was written off by many against Chelli, indeed this writer picked Jeffers to lose that fight, but he is a big favourite this time around with Brown priced as a 3/1 underdog with most oddsmakers.

Brown has lost twice in his career, both in his last three fights and both in 10-round contests. He has never been stopped, however, and is likely to hang tough throughout this one but the ever-improving Jeffers should win this on points.

A late and very welcome addition to the card comes at middleweight where rising Irish star Aaron McKenna faces former British title challenger Linus Udofia over 10. McKenna is 17-0 and had the first 10 of those in America but his last seven have taken place in England as he bids to build his profile here. There are high hopes for him and he is still just 24 but this clash against Udofia represents a real test of his credentials and will provide a decent measuring stick for his current position.

Udofia beat the current European champion Tyler Denny in 2019 and lost on a split against Denzel Bentley for the British title in 2022. His only other defeat came in October when swelling around his right eye got so bad in a clash with Kieron Conway that he was stopped in the sixth.

He returned with a low-key four-round points win over 2-6-2 Dylan Courtney in December and now, seven weeks on, gets the chance to secure one of the biggest wins of his career against McKenna, six years his junior. Even so, McKenna should have enough firepower to get through this safely on points.

There is also a step up for featherweight Kariss Artingstall who fights 9-1 Brazilian Lila dos Santos Furtado, whose only defeat came against another English woman – Raven Chapman – in their 10-rounder at York Hall in August.

This clash with undefeated Artingstall takes place over eight and will likely result in Furtado going 0-2 against the Brits.

Elsewhere on the undercard, Jonas-managed flyweight Mikie Tallon is in action over four while cruiserweight Jack Massey boxes over six.