Mikaela Mayer: “Some might say my win over Sandy Ryan was a hometown decision. It wasn’t, and I will do it even better next time.”

Mikaela Mayer: “Some might say my win over Sandy Ryan was a hometown decision. It wasn’t, and I will do it even better next time.”

It was a year of contrasting fortunes. A near miss in January against Natasha Jonas in Liverpool. It ended with a deserved victory over Sandy Ryan in New York. Two attempts at world welterweight glory that ended very differently. But that victory over Ryan that earned Mikaela Mayer the WBO welterweight bauble has given the American leverage. And a thirst for even more.

Mayer, a unified world super-featherweight champion in a previous reign as a world champion, will now look to replicate that and much more at welterweight. 2025 could be a year that ends with her being the undisputed queen at 147.

Jonas and Lauren Price clash in March at the Royal Albert Hall with the three remaining world welterweight titles on the line. The pre-fight betting odds heavily indicate that Price will leave London with three belts around her waist. But Mayer isn’t quite so sure that is what will happen.

“I think everyone is assuming that Lauren is a shoo-to-win to win,” Mayer told me over Zoom. “But I don’t think that. Unless Lauren really cracks her, I mean she is strong. But she fought a nobody in December, but Lauren is physically very strong, so there is always a chance that she can catch Tasha. Especially with them both being southpaws. They might line up differently from what they think, and they both might get hit a lot. But I think it will be a really close fight. I think Tasha has a higher punch count, so if it is close, that could push it her way. She is busier than Lauren. But we’ll see. I think it is a really good fight and really competitive. But I’m not like everyone else who is saying that Lauren Price will ‘kill’ Natasha Jonas.”

With Mayer also scheduled to return in the same month, almost certainly in a rematch in with Sandy Ryan, everything seems in line for an undisputed showdown before the year is out. “The timing works out perfectly. I just have to do my job in March,” Mayer says of what potentially lies ahead.

“I couldn’t be more excited for it. I have worked so hard to get myself back into this kind of situation. I lost sight of going undisputed because I wanted to make the biggest fights possible. But now it is attainable. It is right there, and that still includes having the best fights possible. I am in position now. I now have such an amazing coach. I am learning so much. I am feeling so confident. Even at 34, I feel as though I am just getting better and better. I am learning so much every day.

“I have my belt. Jonas and Price can go and unify for me, and then they will need me. I can’t be frozen out of this at all. They will need my belt. So it’s going to be a really exciting 2025.”

It seems so long ago now. A winter’s night in a bitterly cold Liverpool back in January 2024. A split decision reversal against Jonas that seemed so unfair to many. The Mayer team incensed by what transpired. But despite the protests and the cries of robbery, Mayer didn’t have anywhere near the same dark feelings that she had when Alycia Baumgardner took away so much in 2022. The deep sense of ‘grief’ that followed that painful night wasn’t what she experienced after her fight with Jonas.

“I feel like the Jonas fight was so long ago now. Even after that fight, you knew I wasn’t as devasted as I was when I lost my belts at super-featherweight. I felt I beat Jonas, and I felt that people saw that as well. Everyone saw that I would be an asset to this division, and I knew that I would get another chance. And I did, and I was able to capitalise on it this time. Perseverance was my first tattoo, and I keep showing that. Persevering through adversity. I feel as though all of these boxers are looking at me and seeing that I lost my titles two years ago. Then I got that bad decision against Jonas. And then I came back and beat Sandy, who was supposed to be the baddest girl in the division. Some might say my win over Sandy Ryan was a hometown decision. It wasn’t, and I will do it even better next time.

“They see it as pretty inspiring, especially in a sport that always counts you out after a loss. It’s very unforgiving. But I feel as though I have rewritten that narrative now. So, hopefully, I can inspire people to keep going and not let the boxing world retire them. It is possible to navigate your way back after a loss. I hope that it becomes an inspiring story.”       

The story of Mikaela Mayer is already exactly that. Drifting along in her formative years. There was no direction. A road to nowhere before boxing found her, and her life was changed forever. It’s been far from easy for Mayer. That devastating setback against Baumgardner. A pain that still lingers. Multiple attempts have been made, including in recent times, to get the two bitter rivals running it back again. In many ways, it is unfinished business. Money left on the table as they say. And big money at that. You sense at some point, all parties will realise that it makes business sense to reignite one of the greatest-ever rivalries in women’s boxing history. In truth, it’s just common sense.

But with or without Baumgardner, Mayer is back in control of her career. FightPost is of the understanding that the rematch with Ryan is edging ever closer. Not so long ago, her options seemed extremely limited. Now, they are seemingly endless. As she says herself, very much a story of perseverance.

Photo Credit: YP Yim