Mikaela Mayer will fight Chantelle Cameron next weekend, but unlike her English opponent, she has accepted that she won’t get to fight Irish great Katie Taylor.
Cameron split two memorable fights with Taylor, who is expected to bow out of the sport after her September 5 fight against Flora Pili.
Mayer, 36, naturally hoped she would one day do battle with Taylor, but now knows that dream fight will not happen.
“I always thought we would fight and I always wanted that fight. And I think I just assumed it would always happen,” Mayer told BoxingScene.
“And so I also knew that Katie was sort of in the driver’s seat when it came to who she wanted to fight so it was like, ‘Oh, no, it’ll happen down the road, but it’ll happen when it’s time when Katie seeks me out or something like that.’
“I don’t know, but I think ultimately, I probably stayed at 130 a little bit too long and missed that Katie train, because when I finally moved up to 135 and I won the interim belt, they told me I would be mandatory for the winner of Taylor-[Amanda] Serrano, except they had a trilogy. So when I heard that, I was like, ‘Cool.’
“But then, when I heard the rematch was happening,’ I was like, ‘I’m not going to sit around and wait. I don’t have the time. I’m going to continue on.’”
It was then when she landed the fight with Liverpool’s Natasha Jonas and there had been whispers that Mayer, 22-2 (5 KOs), had been in the frame for the September 5 date at Croke Park. Not so, said Mayer.
“I was sitting out crossing my fingers like everyone else,” Mayer said. “I would have loved to get that call. But, you know, that would have been pretty, pretty ballsy of Katie. I feel like I’m in my prime.
“I’ve had some really great fights the last few fights and this is her last fight.
“So I wasn’t sure that she’d want to take on someone like me. And, again, I know that she had the privilege to kind of decide who she wanted to fight.
“I was crossing my fingers, but I was realistic about it.”