Mikaela Mayer: “Fighting Claressa is going to be fun. Beating her is going to be fun.”

Mikaela Mayer: “Fighting Claressa is going to be fun. Beating her is going to be fun.”

It was another thoroughly dominating performance from Claressa Shields on Saturday night. Shields moved back down to middleweight and dismantled the brave Australian Kaye Scott to rip away her WBC and WBA world middleweight titles in Atlanta, Georgia.

Shields stopped Scott in six rounds and turned in another impressive display. It was a performance of precision, and ultimately, power. A couple of stunning left hooks were the beginning of the end. Not long after, the Kaye Scott corner had seen enough.

Scott told me on Sunday morning that Shields was just too good for her. An honest assessment. And a rare one. There were no excuses, just an acknowledgement that she had met an opponent who was far too good for. There is no disgrace in that. Nobody has come close to beating Shields. The search goes on for someone who is a legitimate threat to her.

Post-fight, the 31-year-old mentioned the likes of Lauren Price, Mikaela Mayer, and the Canadian Tamm Thibeault, who recently claimed the WBO and IBF world middleweight titles in just her fifth fight, as possibilities for her next opponent. Either would tick every box imaginable. Three opponents, at least on paper, who pose a serious threat to the unbeaten Shields.

It would seem that the wind is blowing firmly in the direction of Shields next facing the unified world welterweight champion Lauren Price either later this year or early in 2027. But if talks do break down between the two Olympic champions, another fighter on the aforementioned Shields ‘hit list’ has said she is willing to step in and fight within that timeline.

Mikaela Mayer will face Chantelle Cameron in a big world super-welterweight unification showdown in Birmingham on August 29th. But Mayer says she is ready to ‘rumble’ with Shields once her fight with Cameron is out of the way if a fight with Price hits the proverbial stumbling block.

Mayer knows that she faces a tough task against the former undisputed world super-lightweight champion. Cameron is the only fighter to defeat Katie Taylor in the pro ranks, and victory is far from guaranteed for Mayer. A contractual rematch clause is in play, and that is likely to push back any fight with Shields until 2027.

But the three-division world champion understands the value of keeping her name in the frame for a superfight against her fellow American. Boxing often moves in mysterious ways, and nothing is guaranteed in boxing. Shields/Price might not get over the line, and Mayer might beat Cameron in such a convincing manner that prompts Cameron to swerve an immediate rematch. In boxing, you just never know. It doesn’t hurt to keep more than one active line of enquiry alive.

“Everybody wants to fight the GWOAT,” Shields told me recently. “Mikaela knows I am down for that.” Whether it’s sooner or later, it does seem somewhat inevitable that Shields and Mayer will fight at some point within the next twelve months.

Mayer, who has moved up from super-featherweight to win world titles at 147 and 154, is clearly relishing the prospect of sharing a ring with her former amateur teammate. “She is used to fighting girls who don’t have that high punch count,” Mayer told FightPost. “I think I am the only girl who can match Claressa there. I don’t think she has had that before. Her size is not a concern for me, because I am a gangster like that.

“Fighting Claressa is going to be fun,” Mayer added. “Beating her is going to be fun. The payday is going to be fun.”

Both Claressa Shields and Mikaela Mayer have business to take care of first, but if a fight between the pair can get signed, sealed, and delivered next year, as Mayer says, it could be a whole lot of fun. It might also be the biggest fight to make in women’s boxing in 2027.

Photo Credit: Salita Promotions/Most Valuable Promotions