Natasha Jonas’ Trainer Calls Out Lauren Price for ‘Huge Smack of Disrespect’

Joe Gallagher will not tolerate any “disrespect” from Lauren Price (8-0, 2 KOs).

The southpaw from Wales is gearing up for a welterweight showdown against Natasha Jonas (16-2-1, 9 KOs) at the Royal Albert Hall in London on March 7. They were scheduled to face off at the fight venue on Tuesday morning. Price ended up missing the face-off, which inadvertently left the speculative voices abuzz. Meanwhile, Jonas’ trainer, Gallagher, wasted no time calling her out for being “out of line.”

Talking to Sky Sports, he voiced his disappointment with Price for missing the face-off. “We came down last night to be here for this morning. We did the Board check weigh this morning, and then at half 10, we were told we’re not doing that [face-off] now. Why not?” he said.

While he agreed that Price is relatively new to the sport, Gallagher highlighted that she has experienced people around her who have been involved in major fights and stated that they should have informed her what fight night was all about. Moreover, he felt Price’s absence from the face-off was disrespectful to Jonas. However, he speculates that she missed the face-off as she is struggling to make weight.

“I just thought that was just a huge smack of disrespect, really for not making the effort to come down there,” he said. “The only other reason [for her absence] is that she’s struggling to make weight and stayed in Sheffield to burn weight off. In the amateurs, she boxed at 75 kilos. She’s a 75-kilo girl coming down to 67 when Natasha started as a pro at 130lbs, 135lbs, 154lbs, and walks around at 150. I really do [think Price is struggling]. When they both get in the ring, I’m sure you’ll see some size difference.”

Photo Credit: Lawrence Lustig/BOXXER

“It Gets Real”

While Gallagher hopes that Jonas will make easy work of Price, he is also not taking the Olympic gold medalist lightly.

“We’re not going away quietly. We’ve been in this position before, like with Terri Harper, and we’ve come back. There’s no pressure on Natasha; it’s all on Lauren,” he said. “Lauren’s going to bring the best out of Natasha again. Lauren does things that we feel we can capitalize on. It gets real.”


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