Mikaela Mayer: Third Time Lucky?

Mikaela Mayer: Third Time Lucky?

Another fight night is fast approaching for Mikaela Mayer. Her third world title fight on UK soil. The 36-year-old American will hope it is third time lucky. Mayer lost the previous two. Many will say that she didn’t lose either fight. Split-decision reversals to Alycia Baumgardner in 2022 and to Natasha Jonas in 2024 were widely viewed as fights that should have gone to Mayer.

“When I go in there this weekend, I’m going to start quick, start fast, start from round one, not let anything get away from me, and not leave it in the hands of the judges because you can’t always trust the judges.” They were the words of Mayer at Thursday’s post-fight press conference. Mayer knows she can’t let her fight on Saturday night in Birmingham go to the wire.

Mayer defends her WBC and WBA world super-welterweight titles against fellow pound-for-pound fighter Chantelle Cameron, who puts her WBO 154-pound bauble on the line. On paper, Cameron is Mayer’s best opponent to date. It’s a tough ask. Even tougher to do it on away soil, especially when the scars of the Baumgardner and Jonas fights still linger.

The odds favour Mayer to finally win a ‘big’ one in the UK. But the betting lines are close. Mayer knows the fight itself can’t be close. The three-division world champion will know she will have to put clear daylight between herself and Cameron. If there is doubt after each round, the ‘away’ fighter is usually the one who isn’t given the benefit of the doubt. The Mayer game plan will be to remove all doubt.

Mayer started too slow against Baumgardner and Jonas. If she does so again against Cameron, she will probably lose again. The early rounds will be crucial if Mayer is to reverse what has happened previously in a country that is widely perceived as being a touch cruel to her.

But Mayer seems a different fighter now. Kofi Jantuah joined the Mayer inner circle three fights ago. The two fights with Sandy Ryan, and late last year against Mary Spencer, showed a more rounded Mikaela Mayer. At 36, Mayer is seemingly getting better. Against someone with the pedigree of Cameron, she will have to be better again.

“I told Mikaela I don’t want any close fights,” Jantuah told me a few months ago. “We will go into fights where everyone can see that you won. You have to make it clear.”

Mayer will hope it is third time lucky for her. But she will hope to take luck out of it. Jantuah is right; it has to be clear. Sometimes throwing more and landing more isn’t enough. Even if Mayer does both, there will still be plenty of nerves in the Mayer corner. If Mayer does have her hand raised, it will come with joy and more than a hint of relief.