Mikaela Mayer and Alycia Baumgardner re-establish fierce rivalry before title unification | Boxing News

Mikaela Mayer and Alycia Baumgardner need to be kept apart by security as the American duo continue their fiery rivalry on Wednesday ahead of this weekend’s title unification game at the O2 in London.

The pair clashed during their Face-Off taping after Baumgardner suggested that her promotion did not benefit from the “resources” and “income” that Mayer was entitled to.

Mayer went on to explain that she was “bored of that story” before Baumgardner reiterated her intention to “hurt” her opponent on Saturday night.

Speaking at Wednesday’s Grand Arrival event from The O2, Mayer insisted she’s focused solely on the WBO, IBF and WBC belts she’s competing in rather than anything deemed bad blood.

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“That’s what it’s always been to me, Baumgardner seems to have taken it all into a much more personal way,” Mayer told Sky Sports.

“She seemed very emotional, she seemed to hate me a lot, maybe because she wanted to fight me for a long time because I have always been the number 1 girl of this division in the amateur world and now a pro. Karma.

“But for me it’s all as unquestionable as I intended, when I start doing something, I’ll do it and I’ve been chasing every champion.

“If you don’t like me as a fighter that’s okay but you can’t say I haven’t tried to do the biggest fights because that’s what I’ve done and this is just a step towards achieving it. that undisputed title.”

An ongoing war of words between world champions has headed for a Fight of the Night contender, marking the penultimate contest before Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall claim the undisputed championship title. .

Baumgardner said: ‘She was very antsy and the stuff I knew was under her skin but that was great.

“You need to get into this fight because it’s going to be a game to watch. You have two world champions, one underdog, one favorite and again, underdog. have advantages.

“I showed it when I fought Terri Harper and became world champion and you’ll see it when I beat Mikaela Mayer on Saturday night.”

Baumgardner declared himself with a fourth-round TKO win over British star Harper to claim the WBC title in November 2021, and has since successfully defended the belt with a decisive unanimous victory ahead of time. Edith Soledad Matthysse in April to improve her record to 12-1 (seven KOs).

Mayer (17-0, year KO) returned to action for the first time since defeating Jennifer Han by unanimous decision in April by unifying the WBO and IBF belts in a thriller against Maiva Hamadouche in October. 11 years ago.

The 32-year-old is bracing for Baumgardner’s lauded punch power, showing she’s one-sided when it comes to the threat she poses.

“I obviously didn’t feel like bearing her power on every stroke, but I trained as if I was up against a very strong opponent, I was stupid not to,” Mayer said. .

“We’ll see, we’ll know the first round. We have a game plan and we know how to handle it and I still feel very confident regardless of her strength or not because I I feel like a better fighter and I can fight in any area of ​​the ring.

“Once that power doesn’t work on her and she can’t hurt me the way she thinks she can, she won’t have a Plan B. I’m ready to go.”

Mayer added that her willingness to take part in any fight in her career is crucial in the continued growth of women’s boxing, which reached new heights with today’s historic all-female card. Saturday.

“I had all the experience I needed and for women’s boxing to take off we had to do something different, we had to be bigger and bigger and we had to put our tails on the line.” , she said.

“I’m doing my part well by making the biggest battles possible while I’m still at my peak. I have three years left and I feel like those are just big battles from here. .”

Watch Mikaela Mayer and Alycia Baumgardner meet to unify the WBO, IBF and WBC titles live on Sky Sports from 19:30pm on Saturday.