Mikaela Mayer: Down, But Not Out

Mikaela Mayer: Down, But Not Out

The pain of defeat was plain to see when Natasha Jonas was announced as the winner moments after their epic brutal war had ended on Saturday night. The eyes of Mikaela Mayer closed when the ring announcer told her that it wouldn’t be her night. The pain and disappointment obvious to all.

Mayer gave everything. On that score, there can be no regrets. The American had done everything she possibly could to once again call herself a world champion. The IBF world welterweight title remains in Liverpool, and Mayer can only now hope Jonas will grant her a rematch. Or a door opens for her elsewhere. The quality of her performance and the controversy over the scoring should mean that those doors will indeed allow Mayer a way back in.

It will be of little consolation to Mayer, but if she had to lose and suffer her second career defeat, then that was the way to do it. The fight on Saturday night was an obvious early contender for the Fight of the Year, and the decision was widely condemned, and the view was that Mayer had been robbed of a rightful victory. Even in defeat, the stock of Mikaela Mayer has undoubtedly risen.

Backstage, the smell of hometown bias was rife. The Mayer team incensed by the scores that had denied their fighter a famous win on away soil. Coach Al Mitchell strongly believed his fighter had won seven of the ten rounds when I spoke to him in the baltic cold of those backstage corridors. Even the next morning, other members of the Mayer inner circle were still in rage mode complaining about once again not got getting a fair deal on British soil. After what happened against Alycia Baumgardner fifteen months ago, you can’t not have at least some sympathy with their viewpoint.

But Mayer took the defeat with grace and class. Jonas equally so in victory. Not that you’d expect anything less from two fighters who are a shining example of everything good about the sport.

The fury about the scoring will rage on. But was Mayer really the victim of daylight robbery? No. But could she still feel hard done by that she didn’t get the nod on the cards? That is a completely different argument. There is a big difference between the two. Mayer can justifiably claim that she won the fight. But Jonas can also. It was just that kind of fight. How you scored the swing rounds will determine who you had winning the fight. Each argument has merit.

While the usual post-fight online analysis seems to favour Mayer and probably heavily so. It’s by no means a clean sweep. Dan Rafael, the veteran American scribe, for example, scored the fight for Jonas, and we have to remember that the American judge did also. But for balance, plenty of British journalists scored the fight for Mayer. From ringside, I couldn’t split them on the night and after a fight of such beautiful savagery. On repeat viewing, I changed my opinion on three of the rounds. But my overall view still remains as it did on the night. I thought it was a 5-5, 6-4, either way type of fight. And still do. I thought the robbery cries were far more applicable to the Baumgardner fight. But Mayer can still rightfully claim that she won her fight against Jonas. But it was a fight that in truth, could have gone either way in this observer’s humble opinion. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have empathy and sympathy with Mayer because, in many ways, I do.

While Mayer will know the scoring of the fight will never change, the American can still rebound from her second career reversal. At 33, Mayer is anything but done.

Jonas talked post-fight about Katie Taylor and Jessica McCaskill. But both have fights scheduled or incoming for April/May and while fights can fall or go away for a multitude of reasons, both seem likely to be unavailable if Jonas returns on the next Boxxer all-female card which will likely happen around the same time. That seems to leave only Lauren Price or another fight with Mayer for the Jonas sweepstake, unless ‘Miss GB’ sits and waits until further in the year for her preferred opponent to become available. Which seems unlikely.

Boxxer seems intent on pushing Price for a showdown with Jonas, but without a world title belt to her name as yet, the Liverpool fighter is seemingly lukewarm to the idea of defending her IBF bauble against Price. With the controversy surrounding the first fight with Mayer, that does seem the fight that is the easier sell to the masses. Jonas will also have noted the online criticism about the scoring, and may well want to run it back to remove any lingering doubt. Who fights Jonas next will likely come down to money.

But whoever is next for Mayer, she proved against Jonas that she still belongs in world-class. That is the level where she should stay. Mayer may follow the Jonas/Terri Harper route and have a quick dabble at 154, pick up a world title there if nothing happens quickly enough for her lofty ambitions and then return to 147 for the really big fights that will satisfy those ambitions. The former unified world super-featherweight may not currently have a world title for the leverage that she spoke about pre-fight, but there are still some very big fights out there for her in the next year or so. Mayer may be down, but she is anything but out.

Photo Credit: Lawrence Lustig/Boxxer