Women’s boxing is hot right now, and while we will have to wait a little while longer for the intense grudge-match that is Claressa Shields-Savannah Marshall (Marshall having had an arm op and needing more time to get 100 percent for the fight), it has been announced how female warriors Mikaela Mayer and Alycia Baumgardner have agreed to get it on in a 130 pound unification clash later this year.
“Mikaela Mayer’s prodigious talent is only matched by her tremendous ambition,” Bob Arum said today. “She wants the biggest fights and Alycia Baumgardner is a worthy champion. This is a huge event and one of the most anticipated matchups in women’s boxing.”
31 year old Mayer, 17-0(5) holds the WBO and IBF super-featherweight titles, while 27 year old Gardner, 11-1(7) is the WBC champion. Both women have given us some terrific action in the ring and there seems to be no way the fight between them is not a great one. Mayer’s November 2021 war with Maiva Hamadouche was one of the best action fights of last year, while Baumgardner’s disturbing KO of Terri Harper, also from last November, was, well, disturbing.
Credit to both women for wanting to lay it all on the line in this unification clash. Who wins this one? It’s tough to say, for a number of reasons. Mayer has had more experience, Baumgardner is the harder puncher. Mayer has never lost a fight, Baumgardner has tasted defeat (this at the hands of Christina Linardatou back in 2018, the fight being a split decision win for Linardatou).
We got a classic women’s fight with the recent Katie Taylor-Amanda Serrano battle, and Mayer-Baumgardner could be just as good, just as special. We await date and venue confirmation. As of right now, all we know is the fight will take place in “late summer, early autumn,” but the fight is happening and we can’t wait.
With women’s boxing being at such a high quality right now, the men are having to fight hard to keep up. Some people feel women should fight three-minute rounds as men do, while others feel those two-minute sessions are the key to ensuring the kind of blazing action we’ve been treated to.