Mikaela Mayer has ‘chip on her shoulder’ as ex-world champ guns for gold again
Mikaela Mayer admits there's a chip on her shoulder as she prepares to return to the ring following her first career loss.
The former featherweight world champion, whose record now reads 17-1, lost her WBO and IBF titles in a controversial split-decision defeat to fellow American Alycia Baumgardner at the O2 Arena last October.
Six months to the day, Mayer is back in London to take on Christina Linardatou (13-2) as the co-feature of Joe Joyce vs Zhilei Zhang at the Copper Box Arena this Saturday (April 15), looking to get back on track.
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Reflecting on her last outing, she exclusively told Daily Star Sport: "At the end of the day, you can’t take it back. It is what it is. I still have that loss on my record, my belts are gone and it’s just a reality that you have to face.
"That takes time, it does, it took some time. I really went through kind of different stages where for one second I was fine, then my heart was ready to just drop to my toes.
"There was no really way to solve it, to fix it overnight. It was just something I had to go through the motions and eventually hope that I would feel ok and I do."
Who did you think won between Mayer and Baumgardner? Let us know in the comments section.
Mayer was eager to bounce back quickly from the defeat to Baumgardner, a fight which many boxing fans felt she'd done enough to win.
"I think what really helped was getting this fight locked in, I really wanted to fight immediately after that fight," she said. "I called everyone, I called my team.
"I was like 'please fight me, please fight me' because I still felt physically, like my boxing ability, I felt like I was boxing beautifully. I felt like I was in great shape and boxing better than ever and I didn’t want this to be a setback.
"I wanted to keep going and prove myself, take on a big fight. Prove that I’m still great, still the best. So this fight took a little longer than I wanted but once I got it locked in it definitely helped get me over a little bit of a hump."
Mayer will be making her debut at lightweight against Linardatou, who handed Baumgardner the only loss of her 14-1 career. And that's not the only change for the 32-year-old after her first taste of defeat.
She continued: "If I would’ve known the judges were seeing it that way, I would’ve pressed her more, I could’ve done more. But I had a game plan that I thought was working and so I was sticking to that.
"But it definitely left a bit of a chip on my shoulder because if I think I’m winning this fight I’m gonna remember that and I’m gonna say ‘steal the rounds, one more combination’. So maybe it’ll benefit me along the line and I’ll see why this has all happened."
Mayer is not only wanting to get back to winning ways, but is also eager to be in the title picture once again – with the undefeated Katie Taylor in her sights.
The winner of her and Linardatou will be crowd interim champ for Taylor's WBC title. Mayer added: "I’m excited about being at 135 now.
"I’m excited by the fact that the WBC interim belt is on the line for this because that means winning against Linardatou puts me right back in position for a world title.
"And that’s what I’m here for, that’s what I believe I need at this stage of my career. Like I’m in my prime, I’m in my best. I don’t want any easy fights. Whatever division I’m in, I wanna go for the champion so I’m motivated, feeling good. I’m better now."
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