Mikaela Mayer: “If the money makes sense to rematch Sandy right away, then I will do that. If it makes sense to fight Jonas next, then I will do that.”

Mikaela Mayer: “If the money makes sense to rematch Sandy right away, then I will do that. If it makes sense to fight Jonas next, then I will do that.”

I have memories of seeing and speaking to Mikaela Mayer after a big fight. Hard and painful memories that epitomise the brutality of the sport.

It was the morning after her defeat to Alycia Baumgardner in 2022. A fighter alone in her thoughts in a deserted hotel foyer. A broken fighter. A fighter trying to process what had happened the night before. A few careful words were exchanged.

More words were spoken a few weeks after over Zoom. Fighting back tears, Mayer was still suffering. The scars you can’t see. It was a difficult interview. Beyond difficult. You remember things like that. In truth, you can’t forget things like that.

For two years, Mayer suffered. A fighter looking to find a way back in. Two stay busy fights in 2023 didn’t satisfy or inspire. Mayer got another crack at a world title opportunity earlier this year. But she was left frustrated again on UK soil. Another fight that Mayer thought she had won. Another decision that didn’t go her way. But Mayer never stopped believing. Never stopped hoping that something would change. And it did.

A return to American soil after four fights scattered across various cities of England. A visit to the iconic Madison Square Garden last month to challenge Sandy Ryan for her WBO world welterweight title. Ten hard rounds. Another split verdict. This time, it did go her way. And deservedly so.

There were no tears this time as we connected over Zoom. Just a fighter who has been in party mode since her win over Ryan. A victory that made Mayer a two-weight world champion.

“I hurt her at the end of that fight. I was cracking her that hard, and my hands have never ached so much after a fight,” Mayer told me as she recalled the fight with Ryan. “She was walking into everything. So I knew I was up on the cards. I was boxing her in the beginning, then in the middle rounds my coach said to me, “Get back to your boxing.” I thought, “Oh shit, I was getting caught up in the fight, and I didn’t realise it.” So, I am glad I had my corner to snap me out of it. So then I went back to my boxing, and she started to run into these big shots. Sandy was ducking right into them. So I was positive that I had won the fight.”

After those two wafer-thin defeats to Baumgardner and Jonas, Mayer, despite being convinced that she had beaten Ryan, was understandably still a little nervous as she waited for the decision to be announced.

“My team was celebrating that I had won the fight. But I said, wait, let’s get the decision first,” Mayer told FightPost. “We had celebrated before remember thinking we had got the fight. Kofi was saying no, Mikaela, you have got the fight, but I said we have been here before.

“I got a little nervous because I looked up at the screens and saw Mark Kriegel’s scores, who had Sandy winning, and I thought what. My brain just started spiralling, is that his score or the real score. So that made me a little nervous. But when that second score of 97-93 came in, I knew it was for me because there could be no way it would be for her. I just felt it. I felt confident.”

Mayer was now in full flow with her words. Her mind drifting back to the night where she got control and leverage back on her career.

“We knew that she would go straight back. So I doubled up my jab, and I knew she would walk straight into my right hand. That was part of the game plan to get ahead in the beginning and make her catch up. All she does is come forward. There is that saying, something like a charging bull can’t run in circles, and that is kinda her style. And she didn’t have the experience in her corner to help her adjust.”

Despite coming off that narrow defeat to Jonas in January and the mental scars of that heartbreaking loss to Baumgardner still lingering somewhere deep within, Mayer went into the fight with supreme confidence.

“I was really confident going into that fight,” Mayer told me. “I had already been through the worst, so it was only up from here. I knew I had done all the work. We had a good game plan. I just felt so confident. There was no doubt in my mind. This would make the last two years all worth it. I knew this was my fight.”

The WBO bauble will now give Mayer an extra little bit of importance at the negotiating table. The missing piece of the puzzle.

“I did feel incomplete without a belt,” Mayer says. “I totally felt like that. I felt nervous as to what was next. I had a vision of what I wanted my legacy to be, and I was so close to having one of the best stories ever. But this just makes my story more real. It just shows that a career does have ups and downs. I could see everyone else having a perfect career, and mine was just falling apart. But this has just made it worth it. It feels like I am back to where I belong.

“I like the fact that people thought that Sandy would bully me and make me crumble. It made me want to prove them wrong. I always knew what would happen.”

A third career defeat could have left Mayer on the brink of the feared pink slip. Cut loose from the Top Rank family and facing an uncertain future in the sport that had made her. A sport that probably saved her.

“In my head, I thought I had nothing to lose. Let’s go,” Mayer of her pre-fight thoughts. “I took the pressure off myself, and I just went out there to do the best I possibly could. I thought if I can’t beat Sandy, then I don’t deserve to have that position. So I just took all that pressure away, I knew I was the better fighter, and I went out there to prove it.

“I definitely think it was the best win of my career just because there was so much on the line. She was a game opponent who made me use all my tools. It was also live on ESPN at Madison Square Garden. It was probably the best slot I have had on a card. Then there was the rivalry, and I was the underdog.

“We had a great press conference. I knew that I had truth on my side going into this rivalry with Sandy. She couldn’t go toe-to-toe in spitting the facts with what actually happened. it sold the fight, and it was a good little way to sell the fight.”

The issue with Ryan being covered in red paint as she left her hotel was an unsavoury and regrettable incident that no fighter should be subjected to. Mayer has denied any involvement, and despite some thinking otherwise, the American would have had far too much to lose to be involved in that type of behaviour. Anyone suggesting that Mayer was involved should think a little deeper. Mayer has every right to be angry at the culprit also. And she is.

“People are coming at me as though I planned it. It’s not tarnishing my win because nothing can take this belt away from me. But there are some people who think that I cheated and I only won because I tried to sabotage her. But they are just the internet trolls.

“What if she had pulled out of the fight. I don’t know who threw the paint, but it doesn’t make me happy because it could have jeopardised everything I had been working for. Sandy could very easily have pulled out of the fight.”

Talk of another fight with Sandy Ryan is an obvious narrative. One of the greatest female fights of all time. Throw in the paint controversy, and you have something that would sell incredibly well again. A second fight isn’t being ruled out by the new WBO champion.

“We are open to a rematch with Sandy. I’ve always wanted to give the fans what they want, and if the fans want a rematch, we will do the rematch. It will be a big money rematch and it would be great for the sport. But we also want the Natasha Jonas rematch. So, right now, my team and I are figuring out timelines and what’s best. They will come back to me with all the options.

“The money is definitely a factor. If the money makes sense to rematch Sandy right away, then I will do that. If it makes sense to fight Jonas next, then I will do that and then do the rematch with Sandy after that. There are a lot of moving parts at this point.”

After four fights in England and suffering those two defeats on UK soil, a return doesn’t seem to be an option for Mayer. “I am not going to the UK. Why would I do that? That would be the stupidest business decision ever.”

When Top Rank made a second improved offer for Ryan to come to America to defend her world title, it would seem that having the security of a rematch clause would be an obvious addition to the contract. But it wasn’t forthcoming, and even Mayer can’t believe there wasn’t one in place.

“It’s pretty crazy what they did with Sandy,” Mayer says of that decision. “I didn’t have a belt, so they could very easily have got a rematch clause. Especially as it was on a Top Rank card. That would have been the trade-off.”

But Mayer, now free from any mandated contractual obligations has plenty of options going forward. Rematches with Ryan and Jonas, but also a possible fight with Chantelle Cameron. A fight that Cameron is more than interested in. Mayer has an obvious interest in unification and beyond. But any major fight is a possibility for the now two-weight world champion.

“Undisputed would be great. I want to collect the belts,” Mayer relayed to FightPost. “But I think I care more about making the big fights rather than going undisputed.

Mayer wants to return early in 2025. January or February, the preferred dates for a return to action. “I think I want the Jonas rematch first,” Mayer replied when I asked her for one name of who she would fight next in a perfect world.

There have been two years in the boxing wilderness for Mikaela Mayer. The story could have easily been a case of what could have been. Mayer could easily still be unbeaten. Luck hasn’t always been on her side. But she is now back on top. There have been tears and disappointment along the way. But her belief never wavered. A fighter now far more appreciative of her journey.

“I think it’s more authentic now. This story makes more sense to me now. Not having the perfect story is much more Mikaela Mayer. There have always been ups and downs in my life and my career. My first tattoo was ‘perseverance’, and I really hope it is an inspiring story because boxing has created this narrative that it is too hard to come back.”     

Mayer talks about perseverance, but she should add resilience also. In truth, you need both and much more to survive in boxing. It seems that Mikaela Mayer is a born survivor.

Mayer is living in the moment. After the last few years, she has every right to do exactly that. You sense that there are a few more moments still to come.

Photo Credit: JP Yim