Mikaela Mayer: “I am in a new division now. I have a new path and I am not going backwards for Baumgardner. I am not going back down to 130.”

Mikaela Mayer: “I am in a new division now. I have a new path and I am not going backwards for Baumgardner. I am not going back down to 130.”

I have interviewed Mikaela Mayer many times, too many to remember in all honesty. Mayer is brash, and often outspoken but always brutally honest. Mayer sits at or very near the top of the most confident fighters I have interviewed. It’s an old line, but there was something about her words that leave you convinced of what she was saying. By the very nature of what they do for a living fighters need to speak with conviction and belief, many of them you know are just trying to convince themselves.

Mayer was always different, the American has backed herself in many ways in her life. A life that could have gone in a very different direction. A troubled early start, living the rock star life in a fledgeling band, playing bass guitar in a group that offered at least some release before boxing gave her what she needed. Boxing gave the teenage rebel a cause.

The confidence was always impressive, almost unwavering, but in our previous two interviews, something was missing. A few weeks after Alycia Baumgardner had taken away plenty in London last October, Mayer was different. The former unified world super-featherweight champion was still emotional, more than a little fragile trying to process what had gone wrong in a fight that she firmly believed should have gone her way. It was in truth a difficult interview, but Mayer found some of her old form, as our Zoom chat progressed. Another interview month or so later saw a little more of the old Mayer return but the feeling was she was still looking back rather than forward. The pain of that defeat to her fellow American will probably never leave Mayer, she called it grief. In many ways, that was exactly what it was. A punishing truth that may never leave her mind.

But as our Zoom connection found common ground earlier this week, it felt like everything was back to normal. A few weeks out from her fight with Christina Linardatou and a return to the scene of the crime from last October, Mayer was now looking forward to what lies ahead. An extremely poor attempt at an English accent that needs a little work, trust me I am being kind, opened our latest conversation, but very quickly it was apparent Mayer wants back what was lost last time out in London. The old confidence is the first thing that has returned.

A lot of things are different in her return that she refuses to label a comeback forcefully insisting that she has never gone away. The 0 has gone, and with it, her world titles. Mayer has now moved on and also moved up. The frame of Mayer has long been demanding the move up, the temptation to stay at 130 to chase revenge has now gone. Her body will be thankful for that.

Mayer has also recently landed a new lucrative six-figure sponsor with Only Fans:

“It’s certainly the biggest sponsor that I have ever had,” Mayer told me. “It’s another way for me to make money creating content. It’s definitely an awesome sponsorship. Sponsorships have changed so much. I don’t do sponsorships for products, and I am not going to be posting a ton of stuff on my social media platforms for a few hundred bucks a month. I am really selective about what I do. If it is not a big deal then it is just not worth it for me.”

A lot of fighters suffer from a lack of exposure, many sit and suffer in bitterness and do very little about it. If you say nothing, you will always be in the shadows. Mayer understands the business side of the sport as well as any fighter in the sport. A meeting in a Top Rank office which could have been the end of her boxing career back in 2016 a prime example:

“I’ve always had this business mindset. I always knew I had to go out and get sponsorships. I always knew if I wanted to make it in boxing I had to find a manager. I did some hustling, I met some people and set up some meetings. George Ruiz, who is still my manager, took me on as a favour in 2012 because the other agents didn’t really want to see me and we have done so much together since. But I always knew I needed representation and to build sponsorships. So I have walked into rooms before to sell myself, I did that with George. But at this point, I was going to transition to MMA with Bellator because I couldn’t find a promoter because that’s where women’s boxing still was in 2016. I just went in that room and told them that they needed someone to change the market in women’s boxing and that person is me.”

Mayer left her successful amateur career behind after the 2016 Olympics, but if she expected the riches of the professional ranks to quickly come her way, she would soon be disappointed. With a lack of offers on the table in boxing, Mayer had an offer to move over to the world of MMA. A contract with Bellator just needed her signature. But that meeting with Top Rank, the last throw of the dice, kept Mayer in her more natural environment:

“If Top Rank hadn’t signed me I probably would have moved over to MMA because that is where I was being offered the opportunity. So if Top Rank would have said no then who else would I have gone to. There are only two promoters in America signing women right now and that meeting was seven years ago. So yeah, I would probably have gone straight to Bellator. But Top Rank sent over a contract within two weeks of that meeting.”

Top Rank saw something in Mayer, and that initial investment has proven to be more than shrewd. Mayer claimed the WBO super-featherweight title in 2020 and added the IBF bauble to her resume in one of the greatest fights you could ever wish to see the following year against Maiva Hamadouche. Mayer proved many things in that Las Vegas ring. The Baumgardner defeat will always be a bitter pill to swallow, but Mayer now has new goals, a different path and one she can’t wait to set foot on.

Mayer returns to London in April, and despite some saying, Top Rank has given up on her or they don’t know what to do with her now, Mayer insists another visit to England makes all the sense in the world:

“Fighting back in the UK again is all part of the plan. Top Rank knows how much the UK fans took to me when I was there for the Baumgardner fight. And my publicist assigned to me by Top Rank is also from the UK and she was also pushing for me to fight again over there. I had the option of fighting in America on April 1st as the co-main event for the Robeisy Ramirez Isaac Dogboe fight in Tulsa, Oklahoma. But as when I fought Baumgardner in the UK, everything goes through me, so I chose to listen to my publicist and to continue to build on my momentum in the UK. So I could fight here in Oklahoma as the co-main event or go back to the UK and fight on a much bigger card and double my audience with it being on BT Sports as well as ESPN+. So why wouldn’t I do that? Top Rank thinks it is a good idea, and they know exactly what they are doing, but people will think what they want.”

The move up to lightweight might only be five pounds, but those few additional pounds of comfort look like making a massive difference for a fighter who looks set to go even higher up the weights in the coming years:

“It is making a huge difference. This week I am thinking about getting my weight down, but before I was thinking that ten weeks out and cutting my calories. And doing that never allowed me to build muscle and strength. If you want to build muscle you have to eat and consume protein and I was only eating 4oz of protein per sitting a couple of times a day. That wasn’t enough for any human never mind an athlete. I now feel a lot stronger and a lot more comfortable. I am excited to see how I will feel in an actual fight.”

Mayer is now 32, and coming into her peak years and Linardatou looks to be the perfect dance partner to begin the next phase of her career. The former two-time world champion is the only fighter who holds a win over Baumgardner and her only two defeats have come at the hands of Katie Taylor and Delfine Persoon. Mayer has been more than clever in selecting Linardatou for her first fight at lightweight. Make no mistake, Mayer has selected Linardatou for a reason:

“I am in my prime now, I am boxing better than I ever have before. It feels so weird coming off a loss when I feel at the height of my career. I just need to remember that and show it in my fight with Christina Linardatou because she has a style that will force me to do a little bit of everything. Baumgardner wanted to be a little more elusive and not engage too much and just try and counter me. You’ve seen all my fights before and that’s not me, I am an exciting fighter. So that didn’t make for an exciting fight, so I am going to go back to that style now because Linardatou has an exciting style that everyone wants to see.

“She is a top-quality opponent, I always said I wasn’t going to take any steps backwards. I wanted a top contender and that’s her, she has only lost to Katie Taylor and Delfine Persoon. And it also continues the Baumgardner storyline, I think it is a story that the fans will be able to follow. It keeps people excited for the potential rematch and the fans don’t want me to fight somebody nobody has ever heard of or someone with no background story.”

A decision made in the last few days gives Mayer an immediate route back into the world title picture:

“They are putting the WBC Intercontinental title on the line. Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano have had their fight put back, so I will have another fight after Linardatou and then I could be mandatory to fight the winner. I just have to beat Linardatou, she will come out hard, but this is my way back.”

The rivalry with Baumgardner will likely never die. Mayer has described it as a once-in-a-lifetime rivalry. Mayer is right. They are made for each other, with money left on the table, and a feud that is still very much unfinished business. Mayer thinks Baumgardner will come knocking again despite the early reluctance to give her the rematch:

“Let her learn the hard way. If she wants to shut down the rematch and run around thinking that she has everything in the bag. But at the end of the day, a champion has to defend their belts and put on big fights. I am in a new division now. I have a new path and I am not going backwards for Baumgardner. I am not going back down to 130, regardless of the belts it is taking a step backwards. I am staying with my plan at 135 and will continue to move up because of my body type. I still see the rematch happening but not at 130, the fans don’t give a shit what weight it is at. So it can happen somewhere down the line but right now I am concentrating on the goals in front of me. One fight can’t take away what I have built for myself in this sport. I am curious to see who they put in front of her, she has to continue to build up the hype. Someone like Persoon would beat Baumgardner and Maiva Hamadouche has a style that is all wrong for Baumgardner.”

Mayer has her path, a victory over Linardatou gives Mayer a route back to world title glory. She knows there are many moving parts and how quickly she fights for a world title again is largely dependent on how certain fights play out in the coming months. But winning the WBC Intercontinental belt on April 15th will push her within touching distance of that precious mandatory position. Eventually, whoever sits at the top of the lightweight tree as 2023 winds down will not be able to avoid fighting Mayer for too long. Mayer could even move to 140 to fight Chantelle Cameron if she upsets Katie Taylor in May. Mayer has options and plenty of them. If Baumgardner does come knocking, Mayer might not answer.

But Mayer will not sit and wait for those doors to open. Plans are already in play for Mayer to fight in the summer and on US soil, a possible female double-header if all parties do their part to set up such an occasion. Born on the 4th of July in 1990, Mayer has shown her independence multiple times throughout her life and career. The Baumgardner experience has made her show it again. Mayer has achieved plenty in her time in boxing, but April 15th looks like the beginning of more. Much more.