LONDON (Oct. 16, 2022) — Last
night Alycia Baumgardner (13-1, 7 KOs) is now one step closer to
becoming undisputed champion after scoring a razor-thin split
decision victory over Mikaela Mayer (17-1, 5 KOs) to unify the
WBC, WBO, IBF and Ring Magazine junior lightweight titles
Saturday evening at The O2 Arena.
After several months of trash talking, the two finally squared
off in a historic night for women’s boxing. However, despite the
heated exchanges outside of the ring, Baumgardner initiated the
bout by calmly boxing from the outside, using her legs to move
left and right when necessary and countering Mayer’s offense
with short hooks and overhand rights around her guard.
In the fourth and fifth rounds, Mayer started to get her rhythm
and landed more jabs and even landed a set of consecutive
straight right hands. It was clear that the Olympian needed to
increase the intensity of the fight in order to win some rounds.
However, Baumgardner got her second wind and began landing more
power shots in the later rounds, while Mayer landed more jabs
and occasional right hands.
Baumgardner won with two scores of 96-95, while one judge saw
Mayer the 97-93 victor. Without a doubt, the scorecards
demonstrated just how close the fight was.
“I just want to first thank my lord, Jesus Christ, for blessing
me and getting me through this moment,” Baumgardner said. “I
worked my ass off to get here. Like I said before, my steps were
ordained. I’ve claimed this. I’ve received it. I practiced this
speech and what I was going to say.
“I landed the cleaner shots. The harder shots. I had her cut
above her forehead. I was the harder puncher. I dug deep. That
girl ain’t getting no rematch. I’m going after Choi [Hyun-Mi]
like I said. Undisputed is what I claimed. It’s what I’m going
to do.”
Mayer said, "I'm really confident that I won that fight. She was
defeated. I saw it in her eyes. She was tired. She knows she
lost the fight. She was shocked by the decision. She got lucky.
I think the crowd believes that I won that fight. I took control
of the fight from the second round on, for sure. At the very
least, I won seven rounds clearly. I felt like I had it. I hope
that she gives me a rematch. I think I deserve it, and I feel
that the fans wants to see it."
Shields Defeats Marshall in Slugfest
Claressa Shields is now a three-time undisputed champion, the
first person to achieve such a feat in either men's or women's
boxing. Shields defeated Savannah Marshall (12-1, 10 KOs) via
unanimous decision to unify all the belts at middleweight in an
action-packed slugfest.
Marshall's plans were clear: overwhelm Shields, push her against
the ropes and land power shots. But Shields, who possessed more
speed and accuracy, countered Marshall's constant pressure with
rights and lefts that were thrown with all of her strength.
Shields (13-0, 2 KOs) earned the win with scores of 96-94 and
97-93 2x, cards that demonstrated her superiority inside the
ring.
“I bit down in every round,” Shields said. “In every round, it
felt like she would hit me with a big shot, and I would hit her
with a big shot. If she hit me to the body, I’d punch her to the
body. But I know that I did the most work today and that I was
winning with my inside combinations.”
In undercard action:
Welterweights: Lauren Price (2-0, 1 KOs) scored a fourth-round
technical knockout against Timea Belik (6-7, 2 KOs). Time of
stoppage: 1:18.
Lightweights: Caroline Dubois (4-0, 3 KOs) retained her
undefeated record via fifth-round TKO against Milena Koleva
(10-15-1, 4 KOs). Time of stoppage: 1:53.
Featherweights: Karriss Artingstall (2-0) scored a decision win
against Marina Sakharov (5-17-2, 3 KOs). Score: 60-54.
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