Alycia Baumgardner Calls Out Mikaela Mayer
Boxing is a competitive sport that is built on confrontation. Fighters will eye and call out each other either to rate themselves against one another or as a method of seeking a fight. Prospects will bark for a fight against a contender, contenders will call out a world champion, world champions will call out each other. And in the era of social media, this is now more prevalent than ever. The latest case of this iteration is women’s 130-pound contender Alycia Baumgardner (9-1, 6 KOs).
She raised some eyebrows from fans after declaring she would beat Undisputed Women’s World Lightweight champion Katie Taylor (16-0, 6 KOs). She has now declared she would do the same to top-ranked women’s Junior Lightweight contender Mikaela Mayer (13-0, 5 KOs).
PROVING GROUNDS
During an interview with Ring IQ Boxing Talk, she talked about, among other things, her frustration with women boxers who are more concerned about protecting and padding their record than fighting the best available competition. During the dialogue, Gardner mentioned Mayer’s name specifically.
“That’s where my other fire comes in too. I took my loss. And these girls like Mikaela Mayer… I feel the shorter reward always catches up to you. They’re all gonna get their tests.
But I got a test early in my career to see what things I got to change and what I’m lacking, what can I do to get better. So that’s the experience that I got.”
After the interview, Gardner took to Twitter with a general message that talk is cheap. Mayer must have received word of Gardner’s comments on Ringside IQ, attempted to put two and two together, and decided to clap-back.
On paper, a Mayer – Baumgardner showdown would be a good fight. However, a showdown between these two will have to be placed on the back burner. That’s because Mayer will fight WBO Women’s World Junior Lightweight champion Ewa Brodnicka (19-0, 2 KOs) next. If she was to defeat Brodnicka and become a world champion, it could be the perfect set-up for a world title defense against one Baumgardner.
A couple of things are evident as the ladies verbally sparred with each other on Twitter. There was an attempt to get them in the ring previously, but negotiations fell through. More importantly, nothing will be settled until they do battle. It would be nice if all this social media sparring results in the eventual trading of fists in the ring.
By: Michael Wilson Jr.
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