Mayer vs Baumgardner: On Reflection

Mayer vs Baumgardner: On Reflection

Unless an interviewer is too hard-hearted to care or is just in for the clicks, you grow closer to certain fighters the more you interview them. That emotional investment that takes it a little beyond interview and done. You feel their pain and share a little in their moments of triumph. There is something about them and their story that you gravitate to. You see the person, not just the fighter. In simple terms, you start to care. Sometimes you care a little too much.

Mikaela Mayer entered the ring last Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London not once thinking she would lose. She left it, thinking she hadn’t. The crowd who heavily booed Alycia Baumgardner and the decision agreed. But there is little solace in public opinion. The unbeaten record and her world super-featherweight titles now assigned to history.

Most agree it was a close fight with close rounds but that shouldn’t mean we have to accept the wrong person winning a fight. Especially one of such importance. The convenient excuse it wasn’t a robbery narrative gets pushed way too often. Too easily. Although on second viewing, a robbery wasn’t far off the mark.

Is the scoring criteria in need of serious reform? Or do the judges need a reminder of the criteria to score fights correctly? One bad scorecard after another. The same judge allowed to continue without remorse or further education. A broken system. A broken sport. Who actually won the fight gets lost. Once the frenzy dies down, it gets forgotten. Until next time. Rinse and repeat. Only the defeated fighter remembers.

The faithful PA and friend of Mayer would have spent the remaining hours of Saturday night, and many of the early hours the following day trying to console a fighter with the right words when in truth, there weren’t any. Mayer trying to process her thoughts, frustrated and more by a fight that started with the Spice Girls blasting out to a sold-out arena and two million people at home, and ending in such abject disappointment and rage. And more.

For much of the fight, I had the line, ‘Flawless Spice’ in my head. A fight report being written internally as her night seemed to be ending on an incredible high. A routine win, but two judges somehow saw it differently. A draw, at the very worst, was the least she deserved. But even that would have been an injustice. Opinions may differ, but some fights are not that hard to score. Subjective shouldn’t even come into it. I had Mayer winning from ringside 96-94, further viewing had me scoring it a little wider for Mayer. I couldn’t make any kind of case for giving the fight to Baumgardner. I found it a relatively easy fight to score. A score without bias or prejudice.

The morning after a fight is hard. There is no magic pill, only a bitter one that can’t be swallowed. I saw Mayer on Sunday morning, her loyal PA still by her side. Mayer alone in her thoughts, confused, lost, and still living with internal anger. Once the embrace and the awkward pleasantries were out of the way, Mayer was still incensed. As the conversation it was fighter and interviewer again, roles both of us can’t seem to let go of.

“I won the fight. I didn’t lose that fight.” There were more, hard words in a hard sport. Words that most will have sympathy with. It changes nothing. Harsh but true. A short enough exchange, but in different ways, we both needed it.

Baumgardner will quite rightly celebrate and enjoy her moment, but a little more humility and empathy could come with it. It could easily have been her in the same position as Mayer. Public consensus says it should have been her. Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall showed us how to win and lose later in the evening. There are many lessons to be learned from how they conducted themselves in the post-fight melee. It won’t be coffee and cake just yet, but you feel one day it might be.

Mayer needs time and patience. You sense calls and emails are already in play. Baumgardner says no rematch. But things change in boxing. Money often talks. But either way, Mayer will move on. Sometimes in boxing, you just have to.

Photo Credit: Lawrence Lustig/Boxxer