Mikaela Mayer: “In the rematch, you will see the Mikaela Mayer you expected to see in the first fight.”

Mikaela Mayer: “In the rematch, you will see the Mikaela Mayer you expected to see in the first fight.”

Mikaela Mayer went into her first fight with Chantelle Cameron, the betting favourite. But for the third time on UK soil, the American came up short on the scorecards. Mayer won’t have long to wait to try and put things right. Cameron and Mayer will run it back on Christmas Eve in Dubai with the unified world super-welterweight titles on the line.

It was a reflective three-division world champion I found on Zoom last week. “I have evaluated things that went wrong in the first fight,” Mayer told FightPost. It sucked. It really did. But my mind is now locked in. I know what I need to do. There are no excuses; it is what it is. But I have to reflect on what I could have done better. So I don’t repeat it again. I felt like I didn’t sharpen up that fight week in Birmingham. I should have known better. I was just so tired; I had forgotten that feeling of travelling and being jet-lagged. I wish I had pushed to go over there at least seven days out. The gym was an hour away, and we only got there once. All the other workouts we just did in the hotel lobby or in our rooms. So it wasn’t as intense as it should have been to keep that sharpness. I felt a little flat, so I started a little slow. I could kick myself for that fight week. I hadn’t fought in about a year, and I was in the gym for most of that time. I was probably in there for too long.”

“There was also a little bit of confusing bout the game plan,” Mayer added. “I’m learning so much; I have a million tools now. But it doesn’t take a million tools to win a fight. It’s about staying disciplined and sticking to the two or three things that will win you a fight. That’s the sweet science. That’s what it is. I want to get back to what got me here, and still add in what Kofi has shown me. I didn’t dial down in my toolbox. I have all the tools, and we know what we are dealing with now. And I can and will make those adjustments for the rematch. But if I can’t do that, and I lose again, then I have to give Chantelle her props. But I have every intention of fixing my mistakes and winning the rematch. I want to at the very least give the best version of myself, so I can say I gave my absolute best. I don’t think I gave my best in the first fight. So that is where my hunger is for this rematch.”

I am of the understanding that the rematch will be contested over three-minute rounds. But at the time of writing, the press release that formally announced the rematch made no mention of the extended duration, and BoxRec has the fight being listed as being over two-minute rounds. But if Mayer has to fight Cameron over three-minute rounds, the American doesn’t seem overly concerned with the extra stipulation.

“I feel fine about the three-minute rounds,” Mayer says. “I always thought it would benefit me and my style. I still have goals of going undisputed, and I wasn’t willing to vacate my WBC belt just to do three-minute rounds for the first fight. I do think there are several fights where having the longer rounds would have benefited me, whether it be getting the win or the knockout.”

After suffering defeats to Alycia Baumgardner and Natasha Jonas, the defeat to Cameron in August was her third reversal in a career that has brought world titles in three separate weight divisions. Mayer will never enjoy the feeling of not winning, but previous experiences have helped her process her latest setback. “It wasn’t anything like after the Baumgardner fight,” Mayer told me. “It’s not that I will ever get used to losing, but I have confidence in myself, knowing that I have come back from losing before. And I know I can do it again.

“I have taken on the biggest challenges out there in my career. I have always done that. I have never dodged anyone. But that is what happens when you take on tough challenges and go to other people’s backyard. Sometimes you come up short. But I don’t think any of my defeats were because I got beaten by a better fighter. I think I just beat myself, and it’s just experience over time. I am now coming to the end of my career, and I can’t afford any more learning experiences. I have to go in there and get it done.”

For different reasons, Mayer never got rematches with either Baumgardner or Jonas, but she has with Chantelle Cameron. With lessons learned, Mayer firmly believes everyone will see a different version of her, and a different result the second time around. “In the rematch, you will see the Mikaela Mayer you expected to see in the first fight.”