Mikaela Mayer has promised her world super welterweight title unification bout against Chantelle Cameron will be “the female fight of the year”.
British world champion Cameron (22-1, 8 KOs) faces American Mayer (22-2, 5 KOs) at the bp pulse LIVE arena in Birmingham on August 29 – live on Sky Sports – with every bout on the MVPW-06 main card pitting a UK fighter against a US opponent.
Unified WBC and WBO lightweight world champion Caroline Dubois and three-weight world champion Terri Harper also feature on the card, but Mayer believes she and Cameron will deliver a main-event fight for the ages with all three world titles on the line in their 10-round contest.
“We know how great this fight is because we made it,” Mayer said at the MVPW-06 press conference. “It’s a fight we’ve both always wanted, a fight that will help grow and develop women’s boxing, a fight that we need.
“We’ve both had amazing careers as pros and amateurs. We’re older and wiser now, and we know what works and what doesn’t for us,” the 36 year old added.
“We’re at a very similar stage in our careers and are getting each other in our primes. We’re both still very strong and dominant, so there is just no way this won’t be an action-packed fight.
“I’m predicting the female fight of the year, 100 per cent. I don’t see anyone else who can top this.
“Considering our styles, there is no avoiding [standing and trading]. We like to come forward and let our hands go, but we’re smart enough to know we can’t bang it out the whole time. There will be a lot more high-level boxing than that.”
Mayer said she was gearing up to reach a new level of performance, adding: “I’m confident in myself. I’m not going to make it close – I’m that confident in my skills right now.
“People think you cannot get better at this age, that you plateau or that you’re as good as you’re going to get, but that is not the case with me.
“I’ve made a lot of changes in my camp, brought fresh eyes in, and I’m getting better, stronger and smarter every day. I feel better now than when I was 26. I’m excited to go out there and show you another level.”
Mayer’s two career defeats – to Alycia Baumgardner in 2022 and Natasha Jonas in 2024 – came on British soil but her affinity with the UK remains unwavered.
“I won’t let things that happened in the past scar me or make me fearful of taking on big challenges in the future,” she said.
“I’ve always loved the UK crowd. I’m like an adopted Brit, I’m 73 per cent British. Every single time I fought in the UK the energy has been unmatched. You’re energetic, that pumps me up.”
‘I’m a different breed’
The 35-year-old Cameron won the WBO super welterweight title – a belt Mayer had vacated just months after beating Mary Spencer for it – with a dominant victory over Michaela Kotaskova in April.
Now Mayer is looking to reclaim the belt and unify the division alongside her WBA and WBC titles, but Cameron believes she is more than capable of rising to the challenge.
Asked why she was backing herself to come out on top, Cameron said: “My mindset. I’m a different breed. The tougher the challenge, the better I am.
“I know Mikaela is a tough test, but that will bring the best out of me. I shine when I have opponents like that in front of me. I think I’m unstoppable.”
Watch MVPW-06 in Birmingham, headlined by Mikaela Mayer vs Chantelle Cameron and with Caroline Dubois also in action, live on August 29 on Sky Sports. Get Sky Sports or stream boxing with no contract.
Leave a Reply