Mikaela Mayer is Off to Hostile Montreal, Seeking a Title in a Third Weight Class

Today (Monday, Oct. 27), Mikaela Mayer heads off to Quebec where she will lock horns with Mary Spencer on Thursday in the featured bout of a 7-fight card at the Montreal Casino. A more lucrative assignment – a date with Lauren Price – awaits Mayer if she can pass this test, but this is no tune-up.

Spencer (10-2, 6 KOs) turns 41 in December, but female boxers have more staying power than their male counterparts in the smaller weight classes. Akin to Mayer, Mary Spencer – an Indigenous Canadian on her father’s side — had a long and decorated amateur career. As a pro she has lost very few rounds. In her last contest, she swept the board on two of the scorecards while turning away Venezuelan veteran Ogleidis Suarez. That victory solidified Spencer’s hold on the WBA 154-pound strap. She entered the contest as the defending champion, having been bumped up from “interim” when Terri Harper vacated the belt.

The 35-year-old Mayer (21-2, 5 KOs) is the reigning WBO world welterweight champion and was previously a unified champion at super featherweight. She will enter the ring a solid favorite, but has two things working against her: (1) Spencer is naturally bigger; Mayer is moving up two weight classes; and (2) Spencer, a Montreal resident, will have home field advantage. (And for whatever it’s worth, female boxers from the French-Canadian province are on a nice run. Kim Clavel recently won the IBF light flyweight title. Leading featherweight contender Caroline Veyre represents Quebec, as do junior lightweight Leila Beaudoin who challenges undisputed 130-pound champion Alycia Baumgardner on Nov. 14 in Miami on Netflix, and fast-rising middleweight contender Tamm Thibeault who has the look of a future star.)

A Los Angeles area native, Mikaela Mayer has been training at the DLX Gym in Las Vegas where she has been getting good sparring with undefeated Bulgarian transplant Joana Nwamerue. This will be her third fight with trainer Kofi Jantuah after her acrimonious split with Kay Koroma. She is 2-0 with Jantuah after two fan-friendly fights with Sandy Ryan. The third member of the team, venerable Al Mitchell, has been with Mayer since her amateur days. He supervises her workouts as her training camp is winding down.

Regarding Lauren Price, she’s a 31-year-old former Olympic gold medalist who owns three pieces of the world welterweight title after only nine pro fights. She’s widely regarded as the best all-around female athlete ever from Wales.

Mayer says that Top Rank tried to make Mayer vs. Price for July 26. That would have been Top Rank’s final fight for ESPN. When negotiations with Price’s promoter BOXXER fell apart, Top Rank went to Plan B, Xander Zayas vs. Jorge Garcia.

Mayer doesn’t blame Price. “My gut feeling is that [BOXXER boss] Ben Shalom wasn’t completely forthright with Lauren as the negotiations proceeded and she finally decided it wasn’t worth the hassle.”

The venue was a sticking point. Lauren Price’s team would expect some concessions if the fight were held in the United States and the same goes for Team Mikaela if the bout were held in Wales.

“I would be fine with a neutral site like London,” says Mayer, an odd choice as London would hardly be neutral. Lauren Price would have the crowd solidly in her corner anywhere in the UK. But Mayer has cultivated a little following in London where she fought twice preceding dates in Manchester and Liverpool.

Of course, all this talk is putting the cart before the horse. On Thursday, Mary Spencer can spoil the soup.

NOTE: Mikaela Mayer vs. Mary Spencer and selected undercard bouts will stream live and exclusively in the U.S. on Top Rank Classics FAST channel. The livestream, which is free, begins at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT.

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