On Saturday night in Manchester, former super featherweight world champion Mikaela Mayer returned to the ring and secured a lopsided ten round decision victory in her first fight at 140-pounds with a rugged opponent in Silvia Bortot, who was happy to trade blows in the center of the ring from the first bell where others may have attempted to reduce their exposure to punches to scrape their way to the final bell.
Bortot's aggression did start to fade as the rounds continued as Mayer was able to break her opponent down with well-placed counter punches and lateral movement, but Bortot continued to show true grit to make the final bell despite 10 rounds of fast-flowing action.
Last year, Mayer suffered her first career defeat in the form of a split decision loss to Alycia Baumgardner in their high-stakes unification at 130-pounds.
Mayer would head up to the lightweight limit of 135 for her next fight, and now 140.
But she's not done yet.
Mayer is very motivated to move up another seven pounds, to the welterweight limit, to challenge IBF world champion Natasha Jonas, who was sitting at ringside and watched Mayer's fight.
"I don't want easy fights, I've got some big fights ahead of me, one of them is sitting right there (Natasha Jonas)," Mayer said.
"I'm ready for that fight, I'm preparing my body for that fight, it's a big jump going from 130 to 147. I'm prepared to go to 147 and take on Tasha Jonas straight away.”
Jonas, like Mayer, moved up by several weight classes in to become a unified champion at the junior middleweight limit of 154 pounds. She then dropped down to welterweight to capture a title earlier this year.
