Former WBO and IBF super featherweight champion Mikaela Mayer 19-1 (5) is ready to steal the spotlight from IBF welterweight champion Natasha Jonas 14-2-1 (9) when she challenges for the title at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England on Saturday night.
The 33-year-old American is riding a two-fight win streak following her razor-thin split decision loss to Alycia Baumgardner 15-1 (7) in their four-belt unification bout in London in October 2022.
If Mayer is successful, there will be the option for 39-year-old British southpaw Jonas to enforce an immediate rematch.
Mayar, The Ring’s number 10 ranked female pound-for-pound boxer, will enter the fight as a slight underdog against the 100-year-old magazine’s number seven ranked female boxer.
“This is a big fight, you definitely have that big fight feel but these are the fights that I want to be in,” Mayer told Sky Sports.
“I want the name Natasha Jonas, I want to be in her hometown, I want to be in a huge arena like the M&S Bank Arena, I want the spotlight because I feel like that brings out the best in me.
“It [opens the door] of a rematch, contractually, so there is that but one fight at a time.
“I have got to beat Natasha Jonas twice. That is my main focus.”
At five-foot-nine Mayer was always tall for the 130-pound weight class, where she has campaigned for the bulk of her career. She believes the 147-pound division will suit her lengthy frame well.
“I am a lot more natural at this weight. I think a lot of people are taken back by how big I look but what they don’t understand is it took a big toll on my body to keep cutting down to an unnatural weight at 130,” Mayer said.
“Cutting all the way down and fluctuating in between and having such an extreme, that does a lot to the body and the hormones.
“This is the first time I have allowed myself to have that weight on and also build muscle.
“This is the best I have ever felt and we are close to the weight already. I am just excited to get in the ring and show what the new weight does to me.
“I am an athlete and this is my body and I know my body well. I know I have been doing everything right.
“I am OK with the extra weight. Being skinny all the time and on the calorie deficit was not fun.
“For me, to cut down to 130, it was a 10-week calorie deficit and camp would be really hard so I am enjoying boxing a lot more now.
“I think clearer, I am happier, I am more confident. Trust me, I am a better fighter for it.”