Mayer hope is that force is with her against Lina
MIKAELA MAYER admits she’s still grieving the first defeat of her career after a split-decision loss to arch-rival Alycia Baumgardner in October.
But rather than letting that grief consume her, the 32-year-old American is dealing with it in the only way she knows how – jumping straight back into the ring for another big challenge that she hopes will help her career and women’s boxing take another big step forward.
Now she will take on Dominican Republic-born Greek fighter Cristina Linardatou at 135lbs after moving up from 130lbs.
The winner is set to become the WBC’s mandatory challenger to the winner of Katie Taylor’s rematch with Amanda Serrano this year.
Mayer, whose bout with Linardatou is the co-main event alongside Joe Joyce’s heavyweight clash with Zhilel Zhang at London’s Copper Box Arena a week on Saturday, said: “The rumours are true that you learn more about yourself in defeat than victory.
“Going through something like this, it isn’t just one emotion, it isn’t just one lesson and sometimes you can’t even pinpoint what those lessons are.
“It has been five months and I’m still going through the stages.
“It’s like a roller-coaster of emotions that over time settles or eases and then you realise you have so much to be grateful for, not much has changed, before you fully start to see the positives.
“It’s like the stages of grief. Everyone can relate to that, whether it’s losing a fight or breaking up with a loved one, something like that.
“In that process, your mind doesn’t stop, so you’re constantly going through it.
“Then I’ve been in the process of having to go through another camp and staying focused on what I have in front of me and not being stuck in the past, so it has definitely strengthened me in a lot of ways.
“But one of the things I love about women’s boxing is that it’s not like the men’s, we have completely changed the narrative now.
“With this fight there’s a WBC Intercontinental belt on the line and the winner will become the mandatory for the winner of Taylor-Serrano.
“So I’m already back in position if I win this fight and it just shows that we have really changed the sport in a way that one loss doesn’t dictate your entire career and there is a way back to the top.”