What’s Next For Mikaela Mayer?

What’s Next For Mikaela Mayer?

By Daniel Gibbon

Ahead of this past weekend’s fights, most boxing fans were eagerly anticipating both the return of Tyson Fury (28-0-1) and the Warrington (29-0) v Galahad (26-1) showdown. With these two highly anticipated fights the return of Mikaela Mayer (11-0) was overlooked by most boxing fans.

Mayer returned this past weekend against Argentine boxer Lizbeth Crespo (13-5), on the Fury v Schwarz undercard. Mayer’s return to the ring was intriguing both because she is a joy to watch box as well as the fight being her first 10 round bout.

Mayer went into the fight as a betting favourite, and rightly so. Her unbeaten professional record and amateur pedigree meant that on paper at least, she was the more decorated and superior of the two fighters. Crespo was also, in my eyes, an easier fight than her previous opponent, Yareli Larios (13-2-1) who Mayer comfortably beat by unanimous decision; 80-72, 79-73 and 78-74.

The idea that Crespo would be an easier task for Mayer than Larios was proven to be correct, as Mayer scored another commanding unanimous decision victory on Saturday night. All three judges scored the bout in favour of Mayer; 99-91, 100-90, 98-92. After her victory Mayer said;

“I felt good going into the 10th. I didn’t feel tired at all, I was not breathing heavy. I think I am a good 10 round fighter, I come on strong later on”

Mayer’s comments certainly had an air of truth to them judging by her performance against Crespo. Crespo came out of the gate quickly throwing a high volume of punches right from the first bell, which seemed to initially catch Mayer off guard. Resulting in the underdog taking the first two rounds on my scorecard.

After losing the first two rounds Mayer adjusted well in the third, switching up her strategy to target the body more. This change in strategy helped Mayer find both her rhythm and her distance, resulting in Mayer consistently timing her shots perfectly to catch Crespo whenever she tried to get to the inside.

Mayer’s rhythm and timing did not dissuade Crespo in the slightest. The Argentine showed great determination by continuing to advance forward whilst throwing punches in bunches all the way to the final bell. However, this determination and volume were not enough for Crespo to win another round as Mayer remained calm, avoiding most of the incoming shots whilst simultaneously picking her own punches strategically. Mayer had a lot of success in the fight with the check left hook, straight right and the right uppercut consistently finding a home.

During the fight, Mayer wasn’t falling into her punches as much as she had against previous opponents. This meant that Crespo had very few opportunities to land counter punches or initiate a clinch to interrupt Mayer’s rhythm. Mayer had not only begun to fix this fault, but Mayer also started to tie up Crespo when she managed to get on the inside. This clinch work stopped Crespo from landing any damaging blows and is something that Mayer had not done against previous opponents.

After the fight Mayer was asked what she wanted next, to which Mayer responded:

“A belt. We know that Wahlstrom and the WBA Korean girl (Hyun Mi Choi) are champions at the minute, so if any are free in the next few months that is what we want next. We tried to get a title for this fight but that was not to be”

These post-fight comments have all but rubbished the reports that Mayer may be matched up against Katie Taylor (14-0) in 2019, as well as backing up her claim about wanting to conquer the super featherweight division before pursuing the super fight with Taylor.

Now that Mayer herself has confirmed she wants to pursue a world title fight for her next match up, I am intrigued to see which champion will accept her challenge. Any of the current champions would provide the step up in competition that Mayer both wants and needs, but I sincerely hope that Eva Wahlstrom (22-1-1) will be the champion to accept her challenge.

Wahlstrom has held the WBC super featherweight title since 2015 and faced the highest level of competition out of the current champions. Wahlstrom’s only loss to date came via a shutout decision when she moved up in weight to face Katie Taylor.

When Wahlstrom faced off against Taylor, she was systematically and clinically disposed of in Taylor’s 12th professional fight. If Mayer were to face Wahlstrom next it would also be her 12th professional bout. Although the matchup between Mayer and Wahlstrom would by no means give us a definitive answer to how a fight between Mayer and Taylor would play out, it would provide a basis for comparison between the two undefeated superstars.

Mayer’s next career move is something that I will be following closely because although she deserves to get the opportunity to fight for a world title in her next bout, she is by no means guaranteed a title shot.

Mayer’s next opponent may still be up in the air although one thing that can be said with absolute certainty though is; women’s boxing has never been more exciting than it is at this very moment, largely thanks to the quality currently being at an all-time high. The future truly looks bright for women in boxing as both the talent pool and interest in the female divisions continue to grow.