Mikaela Mayer: “I am so wanting the stoppage for sure. I do have the ability to get Mary Spencer out of there.”

Mikaela Mayer: “I am so wanting the stoppage for sure. I do have the ability to get Mary Spencer out of there.”

Mikaela Mayer will head to Montreal on October 30th to challenge Mary Spencer for her WBA super-welterweight title. The fight will give Mayer the opportunity to become a three-division world champion.

Mayer was previously the unified world super-featherweight champion and is the current WBO world welterweight champion after back-to-back victories over Sandy Ryan. The American knows that her Canadian opponent will be the bigger fighter in Montreal, but training hasn’t deviated too much from what Mayer is used to.

“I’ve not changed anything just because I am fighting at 154,” Mayer told FightPost over Zoom. “I think it is just training with Kofi Jantuah. It’s a lot of volume. A lot of rounds. A lot of work. But it’s helping with my strength. I will be the smaller fighter, so I want to be strong. We are not focusing on the weight too much in this fight. Kofi said I will be quicker and slicker. I am not going to put on a bunch of weight, which would slow me down. We did a six-week strength program to put on a bit of mass, and that has definitely worked.”

Mayer has been involved in some of the most high-profile fights in women’s boxing history. Intense rivalries with the likes of Alycia Baumgardner and Sandy Ryan generated millions of views worldwide, but the fight with Spencer is seemingly not getting the publicity it most certainly deserves. “It is going under the radar a little, but I expected that,” Mayer concedes. “Top Rank have had to send their fighters out to keep them busy while they sort out their next TV deal. But it’s not really what I am used to. I am used to the big events. But it’s fine, I just want to stay busy.”

There is undoubted respect from Spencer towards Mayer, but the current WBA welterweight champion cites that incredible toe-to-toe war Mayer had with Maïva Hamadouche in 2021 as a reason why Spencer believes that she could stop Mayer later this month. Spencer has referenced the number of punches Mayer took in the fight with Hamadouche in their super-featherweight unification fight nearly four years ago. Despite that bold prediction from her opponent, Mayer doesn’t seem overly concerned.

“That doesn’t bother me,” Mayer says. “She has to pump herself up in some ways. The first thing she thought of is that I have come up from super-featherweight, and she will be the bigger, stronger fighter. She should probably use that to her advantage, but we’ll see if she will be able to do that. The Hamadouche fight was a long time ago; I have grown a lot since then. At the end of the day, I am a busy fighter. I do have that volume. I have that busy style. That’s what the lighter weights have over the heavier weights. So we’ll see if she can hang with me conditioning-wise.”

Mayer is the strong betting favourite in the early pre-fight odds, with a points victory viewed as the most likely outcome. But with Spencer predicting a stoppage victory in her favour, Mayer thinks it could be her who records an inside-the-distance victory.

“I want to,” Mayer responds when I ask her if she thinks that she could stop her bigger opponent. “I would just be smiling all the way home. I have been working for so long. I have always said this: the jump from 130 is a lot, and it takes time. It’s been a couple of years, and I am now really beginning to see that strength come through. My body has filled out. I am so wanting the stoppage for sure. I do have the ability to get Mary Spencer out of there.”

The fight with Mary Spencer offers much intrigue. And reward. Spencer believes a victory could push her towards a dream fight with her old amateur rival, Claressa Shields. But for Mayer, a third world title sets up a tantalising 2026. An undisputed fight with Lauren Price at welterweight could be next, and a fight with Chantelle Cameron at super-lightweight could also land at her door next year and an opportunity to win a world title in a fourth weight division.

It might be a fight that is going under the radar somewhat, but it is undoubtedly a fight of much importance. The rewards could be significant, but it could also be a late candidate for the fight of the year honours. It is most certainly a fight that deserves a lot more attention than it is currently getting.