Mikaela Mayer’s Greatest Hits

Mikaela Mayer’s Greatest Hits

Mikaela Mayer has been involved in some of the best female fights of the modern era. A couple of incredible rivalries. One finished. One that isn’t. The 35-year-old already has a Hall of Fame resume. With the promise of more to come. I take a look back at some of her greatest nights, including those two highly controversial defeats.

In November 2021, Mayer, with more than a helping hand, served up something quite remarkable.

Mikaela Mayer vs. Maïva Hamadouche

Mayer defended her WBO world super-featherweight title against the IBF champion Maïva Hamadouche in Las Vegas late in 2021. It was an incredibly brutal war. An unrelentingly savage battle, with exchanges that were beyond brutal in their ferocity. The two warriors exchanged nearly 1500 punches between them. Hamadouche threw more. Mayer landed just six more punches than Hamadouche in a fight that will live long in the memory.

The scores were perhaps a little wide and do not reflect what we got served up. Mayer unified her division courtesy of the unanimous scorecards of 100-90, 99-91, 98-92. Every round was super competitive, but like the three scoring officials, I had Mayer winning most of those rounds. Mayer deservedly got the decision, but we shouldn’t forget the contribution of Hamadouche. Between them, they gave us one of the greatest female fights of all time.

By September 2024, Mayer already had one heated rivalry behind her. She had another.

Sandy Ryan vs. Mikaela Mayer

Mayer headed into her first fight with Sandy Ryan with maybe her entire career on the line. Mayer had moved up to welterweight, but after one failed attempt at a world title at 147, the American knew she was under immense pressure to deliver at the second time of asking. Ryan defended her WBO world welterweight title against Mayer at the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York. Top Rank had put enough money on the table to tempt the British fighter over to America to defend her belt.

The heated build-up that was formed out of Mayer’s old trainer, Kay Koroma, now working with Ryan, intensified further just prior to the fight. Ryan was covered in red paint as she left her hotel to go to the arena on fight night. The disgraceful, unprovoked attack could have put the fight at risk, but Ryan bravely still fought Mayer when many questioned her decision to do exactly that.

Ryan, fighting with raw emotion and no little anger, and Mayer went at it like the bitter rivals they were. It didn’t quite match the heights of Mayer-Hamadouche, but it came mightily close. It was a back-and-forth ten-round war. It resembled a street fight at times, albeit one with unmatched skill, heart, and desire. It was a truly breathtaking spectacle. Ryan and Mayer don’t like each other. They didn’t try to hide it. There was anger and spite. This was now about so much more than a trainer crossing the street.

Mayer, after losing two close fights to Alycia Baumgardner and Natasha Jonas, must have been concerned it would happen again. But Mayer finally had her hand raised in victory. One judge couldn’t split the pair, scoring it dead-even at 95-95. But he was overruled by scorecards of 96-94 and a wider 97-93 that made Mayer a two-weight world champion. All things considered, this was the most important fight to date in the career of Mikaela Mayer.

Mikaela Mayer vs. Sandy Ryan 2

The bitter taste of the red paint attack and the ferocity of the fight itself meant it was very much unfinished business. Six months after their incredible first meeting. They did it all again. A rematch between Mikaela Mayer and Sandy Ryan was a natural. The controversy, the fight they served up the first time around, and the incredible viewing figures on ESPN almost guaranteed that we would see it again.

There was an argument that Ryan was deeply affected emotionally by the red paint attack just hours before she made her ring walk. The Derby fighter wanted revenge and redemption. Mayer wanted to remove all doubt. And she did.

In March, Mayer won the rematch far more clearly, and almost certainly, it was the best performance of her career. Ryan, after a decent enough start, looked lost at times, as Mayer unleashed a work rate that Ryan just couldn’t handle. The American threw over 500 punches, not that far off from her stats from the Hamadouche fight in 2021.

Ryan found some semblance of a groove and hope in the closing rounds. A clash of heads left Mayer with blood streaming down her face from a bad cut on her left eye. Ryan briefly thought it might be her night, but Mayer overcame the brief adversity in some style. There was little doubt that Mayer had won again at the conclusion of their rematch in Las Vegas. This time, the cards were unanimous, with Mayer winning by scores of 97-93, 97-93, and a wider 98-92. Mayer settled their personal feud with a typical patented Mayer-like quote, “I wanted to kick her ass, and I did.”

Mary Spencer vs. Mikaela Mayer

After the two wins over Sandy Ryan, Mayer moved up to super-welterweight to fight the Canadian Mary Spencer. The WBC, WBA, and WBO 154 world titles were up for grabs.

Spencer, an elite amateur and the much bigger fighter, was confident of upsetting the odds. But Mayer was far too much for her. A relentless American outpunched Spencer throughout the ten rounds. It is perhaps an underrated performance from Mayer. She won wide on the cards and crowned herself a three-division world champion in the process. Not for the first time, Mayer went on away soil to fight. For once, it went her way. But this wasn’t close enough for any argument.

It would seem somewhat strange to include two defeats, but they are very much part of the Mikaela Mayer story. Two fights that arguably Mayer didn’t lose.

Natasha Jonas vs. Mikaela Mayer

Mikaela Mayer went to the hometown of Natasha Jonas early in 2024 to try to take the IBF welterweight title away from her. It was another ferocious battle, and many will claim Mayer was robbed of a rightful victory at the M&S Arena in Liverpool.

Jonas and Mayer raged a savage war over ten pulsating rounds. Both had their moments, and it was one of those fights that was a real privilege to be ringside for. At the finish, I couldn’t split them, but the vast majority of media row had Mayer winning. Jonas won by way of a debatable split-decision. The Mayer inner circle was incensed by the result, and it was difficult not to have at least some sympathy for Mayer. Mayer lost on the cards, but her performance and the fight itself left many convinced Mayer would become a world champion again in the not-too-distant future.

Mikaela Mayer vs. Alycia Baumgardner

Mikaela Mayer and Alycia Baumgardner had one of the greatest rivalries in women’s boxing history. Both knew how to use their mouth to generate interest in the fight. They traded insults as if their life depended on it. They defended their various world super-featherweight baubles in a highly anticipated unification showdown at the O2 Arena in London on that historic all-female card that was headlined by Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall.

It wasn’t the greatest fight we have ever seen. It didn’t quite catch fire in the way many thought it would. It was more riveting and absorbing rather than the expected war it promised to be. Mayer fought a disciplined fight, following the game plan. Mayer seemed the likely winner at the end of the ten rounds, but Baumgardner got the benefit of the doubt on the cards on a controversial split-decision. The London crowd booed Baumgardner heavily, and Mayer was distraught after seeing her unbeaten record and her world titles go in such a manner.

I had Mayer winning comfortably enough, and from ringside and multiple viewing, I couldn’t make any kind of case for Baumgardner winning. If you want to be super critical, Mayer probably could have done a little more to cement her victory. “I don’t care if I think I am winning by a mile,” Mayer later told me. “I am going to continue to put my foot on the gas. It is a reminder that you never know what the judges are seeing.” Words that probably helped her get over the line in those two titanic fights with Sandy Ryan. Lessons learned.

Even all these years on, Mayer is still chasing that rematch with Baumgardner. Unfinished business. Money left on the table. You’d suspect all parties will realise another chapter makes all the sense in the world. We live in the hope that the boxing gods realise it has a once-in-a-lifetime rivalry that shouldn’t go to waste.