The point of Jade Jones' move into boxing was never supposed to be gentle progress. If a two-time Olympic champion from taekwondo is going to walk into a new combat sport, the ambition should be obvious from the start. And now it is. Jones has made it clear she would be happy to face Cris Cyborg in a boxing ring after her bout with Sheena Bathory, which is exactly the sort of leap that turns a novelty act into a storyline with real edge.
That matters because Jones has already shown she is not simply here to collect easy nights. Her two Misfits outings both ended in second-round stoppages, and the next one comes on September 12 against Bathory at Utilita Arena in Newcastle. That is still the immediate task, of course, but the bigger picture is now impossible to ignore. Jones is no longer talking like someone testing the water. She is talking like someone who wants the biggest possible names in front of her.
From taekwondo to boxing, the adjustment has been real
That jump is not as simple as it sounds. Jones comes from taekwondo, where the legs are the primary weapon of choice, and she has admitted the early stages of her boxing switch were brutally humbling. She described being exhausted after her first round of sparring, flinching with her legs, and almost falling back into the instinct to kick. That is what makes this story interesting: the reputation is there, but the habits are still being rebuilt from scratch.
Jones had already been open about the fact that she wanted to become a professional boxer after retiring from taekwondo, even if people around her did not immediately see the logic. Stephen 'Swifty' Smith reportedly questioned why she was not doing MMA instead, given her kicking background, while Jones said she felt almost too young to retire after chasing history through four Olympic cycles and trying to become the first person in taekwondo to win three gold medals.
Why the Cris Cyborg talk is the right kind of bold
This is where the Cris Cyborg idea suddenly makes sense. Jones is not pretending to be something she is not. She knows Cyborg is a different kind of danger, and she even joked that anyone who chooses to get slapped in the face has to be a bit crazy. That is not fear talking; it is realism. She also said she is buzzing that people are already discussing big fights, and framed the potential matchup as a firework fight between a legend in taekwondo and a legend in MMA.
That is a smart way to pitch it. Mams Taylor has already mentioned Cyborg as a possible opponent, so the idea is not random fantasy matchmaking. It is a natural escalation for a fighter who has already won twice by stoppage and now needs the next level of opposition to match the noise around her name. If Jones is going to keep this boxing run alive, she needs bouts that carry weight, tension and a bit of danger. A Cyborg fight would do all three.
For now, though, the Bathory fight has to come first. Jones still has no professional boxing experience to lean on, and the sport has already shown her it will not let her coast on reputation alone. But if she keeps winning and keeps talking like this, the path is obvious enough. Jade Jones is not just dabbling. She is building toward something far bigger.
