Mikaela Mayer Targeting The Winner Of Sandy Ryan & Terri Harper

FightPost: MMA & Boxing News

March 22

It might not quite be a case of winner stays on, loser goes home on Saturday night in Sheffield, but it's not a million miles away from that often too lazy narrative that gets thrown around far too often in the new and not always wonderful digital age of media reporting.

Sandy Ryan defends her WBO world welterweight title against Terri Harper in a fight where the winner can look forward to more big nights, and the loser will face a far less certain future. Both fighters are coming off a draw. One was highly controversial. The other was anything but. But both Ryan and Harper will hope that they will leave Sheffield with their arm raised in a victory that that will keep their careers on an upward trajectory.

The welterweight ranks are seemingly the go-to division for many a fighter. Fighters coming up or coming down to join the party at 147.

Ivana Habazin and Kinga Magyar will do battle for the vacant WBC welterweight bauble in April. The winner will be very much in demand for, with the greatest of respect to Habazin and Magyar, for fighters with a far greater profile and standing in the sport. They will, within seconds of victory, become the hunted. Their phone will undoubtedly ring. And incredibly quickly. They might already have had their numbers dialled.

Jessica McCaskill will defend her remaining welterweight titles against the undefeated Olympic hero Lauren Price in May. A hometown gig for Price, that looks set to propel her from the ranks of blue-chip prospect to world champion. It looks like the perfect piece of matchmaking for Boxxer and Price.

Price, with a victory, could land herself a big in-house promotional unification showdown with the IBF world welterweight champion Natasha Jonas. Ben Shalom told FightPost that he was planning something big for Jonas for September. That almost certainly indicates he wants Jonas and Price to trade blows in an end of summer blockbuster. But Jonas has other ideas. She wants to fight sooner. Much sooner. That potentially could scupper any thoughts Shalom might have for September. An interesting little side dish before we get whatever main course is eventually served up for 'Miss GB.'

The welterweight ranks could even have Chantelle Cameron enter the fray in the next few months. Cameron hopes that she gets a third go at Katie Taylor. But if that doesn't happen, she might look for pastures new. Jonas and even Mikaela Mayer have more than expressed an interest in fighting Cameron. Don't be surprised if she joins that 147 party. Alycia Baumgardner will surely arrive at some point also. It is by far the hottest division in their side of the sport.

Out of the many interested spectators, it is perhaps Mikaela Mayer, who will view Saturday night's fight with the most immediate interest.

Mayer announced her intentions to fight at welterweight last year and, in January, lost a disputed split decision to Jonas in Liverpool. But the manner of her performance and the disputed nature of her defeat left Mayer losing very little in truth. If anything, her stock was heightened despite suffering her second career reversal.

"Plan A is the rematch with Tasha. Plan B is the winner of Sandy Ryan and Terri Harper. But I am open to other offers." The words of Mayer a week or so after that, in many ways, painful defeat to Jonas.

Mayer talked pre-fight about the need to beat Jonas and going back home to Las Vegas with the IBF bauble safely in her possession. The need for leverage and taking back control of her career. But Mayer still has options, maybe even more so now. Free from obligations to fulfil that she would have had in victory against Jonas, the American can now explore multiple different routes back to the ultimate end goal and capturing another precious world title. At 33, Mayer has lost none of her ambitions. Or importance to her sport. Her rivals will see her as a money fight. With good reason.

The former unified world super-featherweight champion will have one eye on next month's vacant WBC title fight and will no doubt look at Habazin or Magyar with more than a touch of glee. And while the Jonas rematch isn't imminent, FightPost is of the understanding that it isn't quite dead in the water just yet. I wouldn't totally rule out Jonas and Mayer doing it all over again in the coming months. A number of options are currently being explored. On both sides.

But Mayer will still view Ryan and Harper as perhaps a far more viable immediate option. Preliminary calls have already been made. They will surely only intensify once Ryan and Harper have settled their differences in Sheffield. Make no mistake, Mayer wants to fight the winner. You just know that if you have a belt, Mikaela Mayer will be coming for you.

While the odds are seemingly against her, a Terri Harper victory will reignite a previous little feud that didn't get to reach its natural conclusion inside a boxing ring. The once rival world super-featherweight champions left a rivalry unfinished several years ago. Another sign that if you have something that hot on your hands, use it, because if you wait, it often gets lost. Alycia Baumgardner stunned Harper in Sheffield in 2021. At that very moment, we lost Mayer/Harper. But in that very same Sheffield ring, we could get it back. A natural fight. And a very good one.

But a fight with Sandy Ryan should she, as expected, beat Harper, is not without a little back story. Ryan and Mayer would almost certainly be a Fight of the Year contender.

But regardless of who wins at the weekend, Mayer wants back in. She won't care too much who wins. Mayer has no prejudice in that regard. Within seconds of the final bell, the social media posts requesting a seat at the table will likely come. And with some venom.

"I couldn't care less who wins I'll whoop them both." Mayer says of Saturday night's fight that could produce her next opponent. Words of confidence. And intent.

Photo Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing & Lawrence Lustig/Boxxer