Alycia Baumgardner beats Mikaela Mayer by split decision to unify WBC, WBO and IBF super-featherweight titles | Boxing News
Alycia Baumgardner silenced bitter rival Mikaela Mayer with a hard-fought split decision victory in their world super-featherweight title unification clash.
Baumgardner’s powerful counter punches off the back foot caught the eyes of the judges as she added the WBO and IBF titles to her WBC belt with two scores of 96-95, while the third official scored it 97-93 to Mayer at The O2.
A heated build-up evolved into a tentative first round as the pair found their distance until Baumgardner launched her first assault with a sweet left hook in the second followed by a fierce upper cut into another hook that forced Mayer to hold.
Mayer began to find gaps in Baumgardner’s defence in the third, to which the latter cried ‘what’s up?, seemingly welcoming the fight from her rival.
Mayer had success with her accurate jab
The pair preceded to fight on the inside which unlocked a thumping Baumgardner upper cut to push Mayer’s approach back.
Mayer’s best spell came at the end of the fourth when she stalked Baumgardner into her own corner with accurate jabs only for her progress to be halted by the bell.
She began to take control immediately after the restart, though, picking off a laboured Baumgardner defence with two clean right hands and a distance-controlling menu of jabs to stay the busier fighter.
Baumgardner responded with powerful counter punches
Baumgardner came back into it in the sixth when she exposed a cut to Mayer’s right eye amid an unloading of right hooks that forced her opponent to catch her breathe for a second.
The heavy blows continued in the next round, Baumgardner connecting with a left hook to the face before absorbing one in return from Mayer.
The Mayer jab returned as a factor in the latter stages while Baumgardner occasionally sought to take the fight to the inside in view of throwing her uppercut.
Baumgardner earned victory on two scorecards
Both raised their hands with the confidence they had done enough, but it was Baumgardner who earned the decision to prompt huge celebrations from the new unified champion.
