There was nothing that was going to stand in the way of Mikaela Mayer’s next title shot.
Another road trip and move up the scale is proof of the confidence exuded by the former unified junior lightweight titlist, who will next challenge two-division and reigning IBF welterweight titlist Natasha Jonas. Mayer will once again travel to jolly old England and specifically to Jonas’ Liverpool hometown for their January 20 Sky Sports/ESPN+ headliner from M&S Bank Arena.
“It’s a fight we both wanted and it was pretty easy to make because we both wanted it,” Mayer stated. “Even when—and I’m sure she had to deal with the same thing—but even when George [Ruiz, Mayer’s career-long manager] came back to me with the topics of negotiation, I said ‘Yeah, yeah.’ You want to have it in Liverpool? Yeah, yeah.
“We both wanted to make the fight. This Is just proof of when you have two fighters who genuinely want the fight to happen.”
Mayer (19-1, 5KOs) will fight in her fourth weight division in as many ring appearances, all of which will take place in the UK. Her last appearance at junior lightweight came in a bitter split decision defeat to Alycia Baumgardner in their unification clash last October 15 in London.
The entirety of her 2023 campaign was spent abroad. Mayer—California-born who lived and trained in Colorado Springs before relocating to Las Vegas—beat Lucy Wildheart via unanimous decision in her lightweight debut on April 15 at Copper Box Arena in Hackney Wick. Another move up in weight saw the 33-year-old Mayer defeat Silvia Bortot over ten one-sided rounds in a September 2 junior welterweight clash in Manchester.
The opportunity to become a two-division titlist was immediately seized by Mayer, aided by the willingness of Jonas (14-2-1, 9KOs) who has enjoyed a similar career trajectory. The 39-year-old southpaw fought for titles at junior lightweight and lightweight before finding success in the 154-pound division where she claimed the WBC, IBF and WBO belts in a massive 2022 campaign.
Jonas moved down to welterweight earlier this summer and stopped Kandi Wyatt in the eighth round of their vacant IBF title fight to win her second divisional crown. The bout versus Mayer will mark her second at this venue as a defending titlist—she fought here last year in a ten-round win over unbeaten Patricia Berghult to defend her WBO 154-pound title and claim the WBC strap.
Mayer had no qualms about traveling to her opponent’s backyard.
“I already figured it would be in the UK because she’s the champion,” noted Mayer, who has not fought in the U.S. since last April. “I’m realistic there. So, what’s the difference between Liverpool and (anywhere else in) the UK? It might be a little bit rougher to walk into that scene. That kind of excites me. I usually rise to the occasion under pressure like that.
“Everything that Natasha has accomplished, she deserves a hometown fight in Liverpool. I suspected that would be something that they asked for. I had no problem giving it to them.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox