Katie Taylor and Natasha Jonas meet again - all you need to know

It's a rematch nine years in the making!

At London 2012, Katie Taylor beat Natasha Jonas on her way to becoming the first woman to win Olympic gold in boxing.

And the pair will finally meet again in the ring on 1 May at the Manchester Arena in England.

Irish hero Taylor was stunned by Mira Potkonen in the quarter-finals at Rio 2016, but her move into the professional ranks has been highly successful with 'The Bray Bomber' becoming world champion in just her seventh bout.

She has since unified the lightweight belts, twice defeating Belgian star Delfine Persoon in her perfect 17-0 pro record.

Jonas quit boxing in 2015 but, after having a baby, the Brit returned as a professional two years later.

A shock defeat to Brazilian Viviane Obenauf in her seventh pro bout halted her progress, but 'Miss GB' has resumed her rise and most recently drew with super-featherweight two-belt holder Terri Harper in her first challenge for a world title.

Now Jonas has moved up to lightweight to take on Taylor again, as she vowed to do when she made her return to the ring four years ago.

Read on to find out all you need to know about this eagerly-anticipated rematch.

London 2012 revisited

Taylor v Jonas Pt 1 was a bout which shook the walls of the ExCeL Centre.

The volume reached a deafening 113.7 decibels with only the track cycling Velodrome, a far smaller arena, witnessing higher noise levels during the Games.

Both boxers had plenty of support, with the Irish fans' rendition of "Olé, Olé, Olé, Olé!" met with chants of "Miss GB" from the home crowd.

The bout consisting of four rounds of two minutes was scored under the old system where boxers receive points for good punches as decided by the judges at ringside.

That certainly favoured Taylor's rugged, no-nonsense approach against the more stylish southpaw.

The Irishwoman was given the first round 5-2, and after she slipped to the canvas early in the second, Jonas gave her fans plenty to cheer with a left which jolted Taylor's head back.

Roared on by the crowd, the two went toe-to-toe and while the judges scored the round even, it was Jonas who had the momentum.

The home boxer landed early in round three, but Taylor then took charge with a left-right combination doing the damage and forcing a standing eight count.

Taylor led 19-11 going into the final round and, after withstanding an early barrage, fired back and made Jonas take another standing eight.

The win went to Taylor and, while it was certainly closer than the margin of 26-15 made out, she showed her class by going on to take the first women's boxing gold at an Olympic Games.

Footballers turned boxing trailblazers

Both Taylor and Jonas started out as footballers before dedicating themselves to boxing.

Taylor even played for the Ireland national team, making her debut against Switzerland in April 2006 as a 19-year-old.

Seven months later, she won her first boxing world title in New Delhi but continued to play football at international level and even scored a goal Lionel Messi would have been proud of.

After scoring two goals in 11 appearances for Ireland, Taylor switched to boxing full-time and the rest is history.

A stellar career in the amateur ranks saw her amass four world and five European titles as well as that gold at London 2012.

Rio disappointment prompted her to move to the paid ranks, and she quickly adapted to the longer format.

In just her seventh pro bout, she comfortably beat Anahi Ester Sanchez for the vacant WBA lightweight title before an emphatic first defence against Jessica McCaskill who is now the undisputed welterweight world champion.

The IBF and WBO belts quickly followed before Taylor earned a controversial split decision over Belgium's WBC champ Delfine Persoon to become the undisputed title holder.

After stepping up a weight to take Christina Lanardatou's WBO light-welterweight title, she won her rematch against Persoon with no doubt about the result this time.

That was last August with Taylor since retaining her lightweight belts on unanimous decision against Spaniard Miriam Gutierrez in November.

Jonas grew up in Toxteth in inner-city Liverpool and went to the United States on a football scholarship before returning to England to study at Edge Hill University.

She turned to boxing in 2005 while her younger sister, Nikita Parris, went on to become an England star and looks almost certain to be part of Great Britain's squad for Tokyo 2020.

After winning English ABA titles, Jonas was part of GB Boxing's first ever female squad in March 2010 alongside future double Olympic champion Nicola Adams and future world champion Savannah Marshall who remains the only woman to defeat Claressa Shields.

Jonas won bronze at light-welterweight (a non-Olympic weight class) at the 2011 World Championships before dropping down to lightweight where she took another world bronze and qualified for London 2012.

Before that defeat to Taylor, she became the first British female boxer to fight at the Olympic Games and scored a convincing win over USA's Quanitta Underwood.

Apart from a couple of wins over Taylor's Rio conqueror Mira Potkonen, Jonas failed to build on her previous showings and a first-round exit at the 2014 Commonwealth Games to eventual winner Shelley Watts was soon followed by pregnancy and retirement.

But in 2017, and inspired by daughter Mela, Jonas was back in the ring as a professional.

However, her hopes of a rematch with Taylor were dealt a hefty blow when she was stopped in the fourth round of her seventh pro fight by Viviane Obenauf who had previously been easily beaten by the Irish superstar.

Jonas has managed to get back on the winning trail, and a challenge for fellow Briton Terri Harper's WBC and IBO world super featherweight titles ended in a draw.

Now the 36-year-old has the contest she has long craved and, with Taylor one of women's boxing's main attractions, a bout which will command global attention and a sizeable pay cheque.

Taylor the strong favourite

While there was little to separate the pair at London 2012, Taylor has achieved far more than Jonas in both the amateur and professional ranks.

The pro scoring system, where the judge awards one boxer 10 points for each round, or both in the case of a very tight two minutes, and the longer distance of 10 rounds arguably favours Jonas compared to their Olympic Games encounter.

But Taylor is yet to taste defeat as a pro and her victories over McCaskill, Persoon and a flurry of former belt holders make her the overwhelming favourite to take her record to 18-0.

In a press release, Taylor said, "Natasha proved in her last fight that she is still performing at the highest level so it’s a great challenge for me and I’m really looking forward to it. It’s a fight that people have been asking for and those are the type of fights you want to be part of.

"People still talk about our fight in the 2012 Olympics and I think that proved to be a real eye-opener for people in terms of what women’s boxing is all about.

Meanwhile, Jonas is relishing her status as underdog and insists she has nothing to lose, telling Sky Sports, "There have been a lot of times in my career when I've been the favourite and things haven't worked out for me. But when I'm the underdog I get through the challenge."

Jonas, the older of the pair by two years, said she had not watched that London 2012 bout in its entirety until a year ago.

She recalled, "There are things that I'm frustrated by. I wish I had more rounds - which I do now.

"It was a great fight but, professionally, it's a whole different thing. More rounds, you have more time, you're not worried about points.

"I'm a different boxer now. I choose my shots better. There were a lot of things I did right - but she was better on the day."

When is the Taylor-Jonas rematch?

The rematch between Katie Taylor and Natasha Jonas is on 1 May at Manchester Arena.

The bout shares top billing with the men's heavyweight contest between Dereck Chisora and Joseph Parker.