Mikaela Mayer: “It’s a big fight and a fight that motivates me. This is where I want to be.”

Mikaela Mayer: “It’s a big fight and a fight that motivates me. This is where I want to be.”

Mikaela Mayer has returned to her adopted fighting home. The fourth consecutive fight in England is only days away. Mayer will head to the lion’s den on Saturday night to face Natasha Jonas for her IBF welterweight title. It will be an emotional headline hometown gig for Jonas. But for Mayer, it perhaps has even more meaning.

The American has seen her career stalled in recent times. The first visit to the UK fifteen months ago was a bittersweet experience. A hotly-disputed defeat to her fellow American Alycia Baumgardner cost Mayer plenty. It wasn’t just the unified world super-featherweight titles that Mayer lost. It wasn’t even about her unbeaten record that two judges cruelly took away from her. It was the damage that shattering defeat left in her mind.

Mayer called it her grieving period. The legacy that she demanded from herself was at risk. The big fights were now not part of her immediate future. With no world titles to her name, Mayer lacked leverage. The two fights that followed didn’t do anything for her. Something was missing. Lucy Wildheart and Silvia Bortot didn’t inspire Mayer. They couldn’t give her what she needed the most.

But all those long months spent in the cold did give Mayer precious time. As the mind grew strong again. So did the body. That once slim, tender frame is no more. Her career needed the move up to welterweight. Her body also. Mayer looks different. She feels different. She sounds different. This time, Mayer has headed to England with purpose. And ambition.

“It’s definitely been a slow and long year. I know there is a different feeling inside me getting ready for a fight like this,” Mayer told me. “Fighting somebody that people know and someone I have come up with in the sport. It’s a big fight and a fight that motivates me. This is where I want to be. The last year has been like when I was first coming up when I knew I was going to beat them, girls. It just felt like a step back for me, but ultimately, I made some changes.”

Mayer has moved lock, stock, and barrel to Las Vegas. A realisation that Colorado couldn’t give her what she needed any longer. Maybe the former unified world super-featherweight champion felt she was going stale. But regardless, Mayer knew that she wanted something different. A move that, in many ways, has taken her out of her comfort zone.

“I still think I am growing and learning new things, and part of that was switching my situation. It has been working for a long time, but I have always been the type that when something is not working or I need to make an adjustment, I do it. I didn’t even tell Coach Al that I was going to move to Vegas. I just did it. I knew I had to do it. Colorado had got a little quiet. I didn’t have the strength training there that I needed. Not a lot of fighters were doing their camps there anymore, so there was a lot of downtime there. But there is so much more happening in Vegas.

“The UFC Performance Institute is here. I am doing my strength and conditioning here, and I knew I was moving up, so that was a big factor. Just having more sparring partners here, and Coach K is here as well. I just knew I had to move here, and I didn’t tell anyone. I just did it. I could just have sat back and stayed comfortable, but I didn’t, I put myself in a position to get better. People don’t think I will evolve and get better. But I definitely will. I am still in my prime.

“I came out to Vegas. It wasn’t as though my situation in Colorado was that bad. It was just time for an adjustment. So it gave me a year to make those adjustments and slowly move up in weight, which is obviously, important because you can’t just jump from 130-147 and go up against somebody like Natasha Jonas. I want to do it right, and I am excited again.”

The period in the boxing wilderness. The time spent away from the top table has allowed Mayer to grow in many ways. A quieter, more thoughtful fighter has risen from the ashes of despair, certainly in comparison to what we saw during that period of intense rivalry with Baumgardner.

“I’ve changed a lot in the last year. I think I’ve simmered down a lot,” Mayer admitted. “You really don’t see me as much on social media anymore. I’m not jumping down people’s throats. I’m a little bit more to myself now. I’ve become a little bit more introverted and a little bit more peaceful. It’s been nice, I’ve just been focusing on myself. Tightening things up in my personal life and my training. There is probably a little bit of maturity and growth there as well.”

Wildheart and Bortot may not have given the American what she needs. A fighter who wants the light shining on her, and not one who thrives further down the card. But in Liverpool, Mayer will be back at the top table. Sharing the headline slot with the hometown hero. Mayer has a golden opportunity to get back what was taken away from her in October 2022.

“I’ve hated the fights I have been in during the last year. They don’t inspire me. I want to be in big fights like this. Tasha will bring the best out of me. You will see the best of us both.” Mayer says. A fighter who has seemingly got her edge back.

Mayer, at 33, knows she can’t afford another defeat on her resume. A second career reversal might not be the end, but the immediate fighting future will likely resemble what we saw in 2023. Mayer knows the importance of her fight with Jonas better than anyone.

“I think every fight is important to me at this point in my career. But every fight is important in this sport. In every fight, your career is on the line. This sport is so unforgiving. After one setback, there is no room for me to have another because I don’t want that kind of career.”

Mayer is entering the phase of her career that will define the legacy she will leave behind when the gloves are finally laid to rest. A win over Jonas, the rest of 2024 will be a year of more big fights, and further visits to the UK. With the Liverpool fighter having a rematch clause, a return with Jonas will follow. A repeat win over Jonas and Lauren Price will more than likely enter her world. Mayer knows she is on the verge of those legacy-defining fights. If Mayer leaves the year still standing, more will follow.

“I want the big fights. It’s not even I want a belt at this weight or that weight or to go undisputed. I am not thinking about those details anymore. I want to challenge myself against the top opposition. I want Chantelle Cameron on my resume. I am still gutted I and Katie Taylor never got to fight. I want to continue and test myself. That’s where my heart is right now, and my legacy will be built on that.”  

Mayer is on the brink of reigniting her career. The odds say that a win on away soil is no forgone conclusion. Jonas is slightly favoured to retain her title. But Mayer is motivated in a way that she hasn’t been of late. A fighter who craves, demands even, the spotlight. Mayer has the light again. But she will need to beat Jonas in her hometown to stay there. Jonas will get two chances to beat Mayer. Mayer will only get one. Will that be the difference on Saturday night? Mayer will certainly hope so.

Photo Credit: Lawrence Lustig/Boxxer