Alycia Baumgardner never doubted that her next fight would be a title unification fight.
The reigning WBC junior lightweight champion looked confidently but cautiously to the future during the fight week that led to her victory on April 16 over former unified featherweight champion Edith Soledad Matthysse. Next in her sights was a targeted showdown with WBA champion Hyun Mi Choi, after which she planned to take on IBF/WBO champion Mikaela Mayer for the undisputed crown.
The plans didn’t work out that way, though that’s not to say it wasn’t a plan Baumgardner always had in mind.
“I had the option, that was something that I love as a champion,” Baumgardner told BoxingScene.com. “I had the choice as a champion to fight Choi or fight Mikaela. I wanted both, we wanted Choi and then Mikaela for all the belts.
“When the Choi fight couldn’t happen, I told my team, ‘Go find Mikaela. Give me a full camp and I’ll take the fight. That’s what happened and we didn’t have to question it. Here we are.”
At the moment, the two are still scheduled to collide in a three-belt clash as the main event of an all-female card on ESPN+ and Sky Sports from The O2 in London. The entire event could be postponed. A concrete decision is expected on Friday, regarding the UK’s mourning protocol regarding the passing of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday.
The fight itself comes with great anticipation given their natural rivalry, which went from zero to one hundred seemingly from the moment Baumgardner (12-1, 7KOs) jumped onto the title scene. The 28-year-old from metro Detroit traveled to then-undefeated Terri Harper’s home region last November, and immediately shot to stardom after a sensational fourth-round knockout to win the WBC title on Nov. 13. spent in Sheffield, England.
The victory came eight days after Mayer (17-0, 5KOs) unified the IBF and WBO titles after beating Maiva Hamadouche in a fiercely contested ten rounds last November 5 in Las Vegas. Mayer immediately called for more unification fights, but found himself briefly looking outside when a Baumgardner-Choi fight was believed to be on the cards.
Things changed drastically a few weeks after Mayer and Baumgardner posted multiple wins in April’s title defense. At that time, the two of them had exchanged many harsh words in which a fight between them had to occur. His teams — Top Rank and manager George Ruiz for Mayer, Marshall Kaufmann’s Matchroom Boxing and King Boxing for Baumgardner — went to work securing a deal, which was formally announced in May and has remained among the most anticipated fights in the sport. since then.
An almost universal take has the winner emerging as the true champion of the 130-pound division. For Baumgardner, the fight, while the biggest of his career to date, is the necessary next step in his long-awaited journey.
“Undisputed at 130 remains the target,” promised Baumgardner. “There was a time when I loved Choi and then Mikaela. So now, the goal is to beat Mikaela first and then Choi, and then go up to 135.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
