Mikaela Mayer hits back at jibe from Alycia Baumgardner: "She just wasn't as good. She didn't hustle as hard"; Mayer meets Baumgardner in a world title unification fight on the undercard of the Claressa Shields vs Savannah Marshall undisputed title clash live on Sky Sports this Saturday
Wednesday 7 September 2022 12:26, UK
Alycia Baumgardner and Mikaela Mayer are both world champions. The former is the WBC super-featherweight champion, the latter holds both the WBO and IBF titles.
But ahead of their unification fight on Saturday, live on Sky Sports, Baumgardner has labelled Mayer "pampered".
"I think it comes with being part of USA Boxing and then her turning pro, being with Top Rank, ESPN, she feels entitled, she feels like she runs the show, which is fine - you got there for a reason - but you're not better than anyone else and you're definitely not better than me," Baumgardner told Sky Sports.
"She's been pampered. She's been given what a fighter at her stage is supposed to be given so it's understandable. It's showing through her character. It's showing through the things that she says. You're pampered, you're privileged. You can tell when people talk and what they say."
"She's spoiled - she's had the platform and the TV, for me it's like you think you're better than me because of the attributes that you have and that's not the case."
The WBC belt-holder insists she has had a longer, harder route through the sport to reach this point.
"Let's be honest - not everyone has those kind of platforms. Yet I'm building to get there, and here I am, and I showcased that when I won the world title," she said.
"I came over here and got knockout of the year, defeated the champion [Terri Harper] in her backyard and went home. That's telling.
"I did take a longer route to get here but I had faith, I had hustle and I executed when the time was necessary."
Mayer, for her part, completely rejects the assertion that she hasn't earned her current position.
"Do you want know why I have an Olympic background? Because I won. Because I had to fight my way, win my way to the Olympics. No one just gets handed an Olympic spot," Mayer told Sky Sports.
"You win the Olympic trials," she continued. "Then you have to go overseas and qualify over there so there's a whole process of that. You're not just gifted an Olympic spot.
"But she's just jealous. She's jealous she could never get to that point and she wants to make an excuse for it.
"She just wasn't as good. She didn't hustle as hard as I did."
Fight week is only just beginning but already the two have engaged in a tense stand-off.
"She is just so emotional. Like she's so mad. She's so mad that she's not getting the attention that she feels like she should have gotten. That it took her this long to get to the top," Mayer said of Baumgardner. "She's just not used to being in the spotlight.
"I feel like I'm ready for it because I've had everything I need to get me there. She sort of didn't have that. She capitalised on an opportunity.
"Your head gets big when you skip levels. I think that's just where she's at right now, and she feels like in order to make up for the lack of experience she has to hype herself up and pull that type of energy from somewhere."
If that is the case, Baumgardner is determined to prove herself. For her, winning this fight means everything.
"It tells a story, it tells a story about a girl who was overlooked, overshadowed, given the opportunity and she won," Baumgardner said.
"People are going to put some respect on my name after this fight."
The biggest fight in the history of women's boxing - Claressa Shields vs Savannah Marshall - is live on Sky Sports on Saturday September 10. Be part of history and buy tickets for the London showdown here.
