Melissa Takimoglu: Beyond The Ropes

Melissa Takimoglu: Beyond The Ropes

As a long-standing publicist for Top Rank, Melissa Takimoglu has worked with the likes of Tyson Fury, Josh Taylor and many others in recent years. The founder of Melt PR, Takimoglu, has been at the helm of some of the biggest fights of the current era.

But when the initial hook-up with Top Rank materialised, there was one fighter in particular that she wanted to work with. Mikaela Mayer is a publicist’s dream. I often reference Mayer as the fighter with an endless supply of million-dollar quotes. The three-division world champion knows the importance of the grind of doing media interviews; the job of guiding her ‘client’ is relatively easy. At least to some degree.

Boxing is a rollercoaster of emotions. Mikaela Mayer knows that better than anyone. I saw Mayer in her London fight hotel the morning after that gut-wrenching defeat to her bitter rival, Alycia Baumgardner, in the autumn of 2022. A dejected, broken fighter still trying to process how the judges somehow gave the fight to Baumgardner. Defiant outwardly. But the inward scars of that painful setback were already clearly visible.

Mayer was getting ready to fly back home to America on that painful Sunday morning. As ever, Melissa Takimoglu was by her side. They are friends. Very good friends. I sensed, despite the memories of the night before still incredibly raw, in truth, that remained the case for many months, the road to redemption and claiming another world title was already being planned by both publicist and fighter.

Mayer desperately wanted that rematch with Baumgardner. It never came. Two low-key fights in England followed, but Mayer wanted more. The old super-featherweight body craved a few more pounds, and by early 2024, Mayer had landed at welterweight, and in Liverpool.

Mayer was in town to challenge Natasha Jonas for her IBF world welterweight title. The Mersey blew a harsh, bitter wind. A bitterly cold, wet winter’s night competed with the heat that was inside that old ‘Echo’ Arena. Jonas and Mayer waged war over ten brutal rounds. Mayer thought she had won clearly. Many agreed, but Jonas edged the fight on a bitterly disputed split-decision. It was another night where Mayer felt she was the victim of a gross injustice.

Takimoglu was close by again, another moment when the right words needed to be found.

“When you go into the ring to greet your fighter, and they don’t get the decision, you are already preparing what to say to them,” Takimoglu told me over Zoom. “How to comfort them, and as you know, we are close. As I got in the ring, I could see in her face that she was devastated and really angry. Mikaela says what she thinks, but you have to protect her at times. I didn’t want her to say anything; I wanted her to come out as a gracious loser. She was looking at me as if to say, this isn’t fair. I said you most definitely should have won, but don’t attack Tasha. I managed to keep her head straight, and we got her out of there. Obviously, in the locker room, it was a different story.

“We were gutted, and it makes it worse because Natasha Jonas is such a lovely person. But we bounced back. It takes a really strong person to come out of that. Especially when that has happened several times. She handled it really well afterwards.”

Boxing is a brutal business. Business being the keyword, and in the immediate aftermath, there must have been fleeting thoughts that Top Rank, after two defeats, could have cut her loose. But Takimoglu never thought that would happen.

“When Mikaela first came onboard with Top Rank, it was Todd DuBoef who was really interested in her. Todd has got this real soft spot for her. He sees her, like we all do, as the full package. If she fought badly, and it was a bad loss, and it was after another bad loss, then business is business, and you might let that fighter go. But that wasn’t the case. Top Rank is very much behind her, and because Mikaela is so great at everything, there was no way that she would be let go.”

Despite suffering her second reversal at the highest level, Mayer kept her belief that she would be a world champion once again. Jonas and Mayer wanted the rematch. A deal was agreed. But boxing politics got in the way. Mayer moved on and set her sights on another British world champion.

Mayer had beef with the WBO world welterweight champion, Sandy Ryan. A war of words was in full flow. Kay Koroma was in Mayer’s corner in Liverpool eight months earlier; now he was training Ryan. A seed for Mayer to let loose was formed. It was fuel for a fighter who is no stranger to a heated rivalry.

In another classic, Mayer beat Ryan in New York. A world champion once again. On the night, a deserved winner. But it wasn’t quite that simple. The rivalry had got toxic. A story that just kept on running as Fight Week progressed.

“I try to delete that from the archives,” Takimoglu says of that build-up. “That period of time. I was in the UK, so I was working remotely. I spent a lot of time with Sandy as well; we work with both fighters. I was really excited for the fight.”

But reminiscent of what Mayer had with Baumgardner, the rivalry was getting more and more heated. This was going deep. Deeper than it perhaps should have done. Takimoglu was getting concerned.

“I spoke with Mikaela, and I told her to calm down a bit because you are coming across as the aggressor. I said, try to keep your cool. Some PR people like that and want more of that. I don’t. Mikaela has this perfect image; she is a role model, and little girls look up to her. So I didn’t want all that. As fight week built up, it got worse and worse.”

And worse it got. An escalation nobody saw coming. As she left her hotel to go to the arena on fight night, Ryan was doused in red paint by a still unnamed attacker. “We have a security guy in the arena, and he texted me to tell me what had just happened,” Takimoglu says of when she was first made aware of the incident.”

Despite being over 3,000 miles away, there was work to do. “I’m thinking even if Mikaela does win this one, how will it look fair. It will look like it’s all her fault. While all this was going on, I was speaking to Sky. I said if she wins the fight, I want her live on Sky straight after that fight. They said no problem. We needed to get ahead of this.

“I spoke to her before and asked her point-blank, did she have anything to do with it, and she promised me it had absolutely nothing to do with her. So I said, I will back her 100%. I made her go on Sky, and she fiercely denied it because if he hadn’t, the story would be all about the red paint. It would never have been about her win. We had to take the sting off it. Sandy is a British fighter with a British press in her corner. Mikaela not only had to deny it, but she also had to apologise for what Sandy went through. Luckily, she agreed with me. It definitely sold the fight and made it more exciting. But it was for the wrong reasons.”

In March last year, Mayer and Ryan ran it back. This time, without the intense drama that occurred six months earlier. “I was there for that one,” Takimoglu says. “I don’t miss Vegas fights, that’s where it all started. It was lovely. Because she lives there, it was a totally different vibe. It was a completely different build-up. Mikaela and Sandy were fine. They worked well together. There were no issues. I get on very well with Sandy’s team. We really sold the fight with Andy Scott from Sky. It was a great build-up. A great fight. It was like redemption. Mikaela fought great, and there were no excuses now. No red paint. No distractions. Nothing. It was a much more solid win.”

Mayer retained her WBO world welterweight title with a clear points victory over Ryan in another very good fight that was a credit to their side of the sport. Six months later, Mayer moved up to super-welterweight and beat Mary Spencer in Canada to become a three-division world champion.

A lot has changed for Mikaela Mayer since that October morning in 2022. A story of perseverance if ever there was one. Melissa Takimoglu was a constant presence through the good and the bad times. What started as work became a little more.