Mikaela Mayer has responded to “ridiculous” comments made by Alycia Baumgardner about her rise to the top of women’s boxing.
Mayer and Baumgardner fight for the unified super-featherweight titles this Saturday at The O2 Arena in the first-ever all-female card in boxing history. Mayer is unbeaten in 17 professional fights heading into the grudge match whilst Baumgardner hasn’t lost in over four years. While both women hold world titles at 130lb, Mayer is the more experienced of the two boxers as she had an outstanding amateur career before turning professional in 2017.
Mayer won multiple amateur world championships and even competed at the 2016 Olympic games, but Baumgardner has insisted she didn't have the financial support to land herself in the same position as her rival. "She basically said that she didn’t have the finances and the privileges that I had,” Mayer said. "This girl knows nothing about my personal life growing up and to suggest that I only made it to the top in the amateurs because of these handouts is ridiculous."
"My dad was a single dad and he did everything he could to take care of us because my mum couldn’t. I would work, walk to school and run to the gym for years, saving my money and hustling to get to these tournaments. Don’t let this girl fool you, she was at the exact same tournaments but she just didn’t win.
"So, instead of taking responsibility and giving me credit for what I accomplished - in half the time that she did - she wants to go and make an excuse. It pisses me off because it’s not true.
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“It’s completely discrediting me and it’s just a lie, it’s not true. It’s a horrible assumption to make. We all worked our butts off, this is women’s boxing so no opportunities just fall into our laps. She wants to come into the scene and say I’m trash, I’m not s***. She’s mistaken, she needs to take me seriously and recognise that I’m her biggest threat."
Baumgardner is an underdog heading into the unification clash and she looks to pull off another upset having defied the odds to win her world titles against Terri Harper last year. Responding to Mayer's comments, she said: "Mikaela put her own words in her mouth, she's trying to switch her words up. I've never mentioned her finances ever, I spoke about my personal experience. My road was different, that's what I was speaking on."
