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Alycia Baumgardner doesn’t believe Mikaela Mayer will ever get over her loss.
Last Saturday night in front of a sell-out crowd at the O2 Arena in London, Baumgardner defeated Mayer over 10 rounds via close split decision to add Mayer’s WBO and IBF junior lightweight titles to her existing WBC and IBO versions.
The fight was the chief support to the middleweight undisputed title fight between Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall, which Shields won by unanimous decision.
Baumgardner-Mayer was a competitive affair, with Baumgardner starting off strong in the early rounds and Mayer gaining control in the middle rounds. Many observers seemed to be in agreement that both fighters had a good case for claiming victory. In the end, two judges had it 96-95 for Baumgardner, while a third one saw it 97-93 for Mayer.
The two have made no pretense of their dislike for one another during the lead-up to their fight, and that sentiment does not figure to change anytime soon.
“She’s going to be salty for a very long time,” Baumgardner said of Mayer in an interview with SecondsOut after her win. “She’s going to be salty. This is what I mean. This is what I really want her to know is, be humble. Don’t overlook somebody. I just felt she was constantly overlooking me because of her position she was in. The spoiled brat didn’t get what she wanted tonight and it showed. She showed that.”
As close as the score cards may have been, Baumgardner is confident that she “dominated” Mayer.
“I dominated each round I believe,” Baumgardner said. “I showed the better shots. She was moving, I was moving. I looked like the better fighter.”
Mayer, in turn, has said that she believes she deserved to win, citing the reaction from the crowd and on social media.
Baumgardner, who was born in Ohio but resides in Detroit, rejected the idea of giving Mayer, a Southern California native, a rematch. Baumgardner insisted that her only objective now is to make an undisputed 130-pound fight with WBA 130-pound titlist Hyun-Mi Choi of South Korea.
“The undisputed fight with Choi [is what I want next],” Baumgardner said. “She can’t hide for too long. I need that fight. I need all the belts.
“Honestly, I’m half Korean. To be in (South) Korea (for the Choi fight) that would be my grandma’s biggest dream. But wherever it’s at, I’m just thankful for any opportunity but we want that belt.”