Mikaela Mayer has recently hinted at having made some changes in her corner, with one of her longstanding trainers having been dismissed from service. Presumably, either Al Mitchell or Kay Koroma―both of whom have been in Mayer’s corner as trainers for a number of years―will no longer assist Mayer in her training.
While the individual that has been dismissed from Mikaela Mayer’s (19-2, 5 KO’s) camp has not yet been identified, FightPost has claimed that Kay Koroma is the trainer in question that has been fired. Koroma currently serves as USA Boxing’s assistant coach, and has previously worked with former 154 lbs unified champion Jarrett Hurd (25-3, 17 KO’s).
The decision by Mayer appears to have been prompted by a conflict of interest with Koroma also responsible for training British WBO welterweight champion Sandy Ryan (7-1-1, 3 KO’s), who Mayer has expressed interest in fighting prior to Ryan defeating domestic rival Terri Harper (14-2-2, 6 KO’s) on March 23 this year. Mayer further reignited the possibility of a fight with Ryan yesterday, putting out a post on Twitter/X to reiterate her desire to face the British world champion.
“Not anymore. Let’s run it.” Mayer responded yesterday, May 23, to a video of Matchroom chairman Eddie Hearn explaining the possible opponents for Sandy Ryan who is signed to Matchroom.
Though it now appears Mikaela Mayer is focusing her attention on Ryan, she had previously been looking to rematch Mayer Natasha Jonas based on their first match held on January 20th earlier this year. According to Jonas, the rematch no longer likely to occur following a breakdown of negotiations.
“We was in discussions. I’ve been in contact directly with Mikaela Mayer’s team for a rematch,” Mayer told boxing media outlet Seconds Out. “From what I can understand from speaking directly with my team, it was being agreed and now there’s a bit of backtracking.
“I don’t know who’s that from, [or] if there’s issues with what the date is going to be. I don’t really know.“
The alleged backtracking that Jonas appears to think occurred during negotiations with Mayer’s team may be related to the recent changes in Mayer’s training staff.
The more pertinent issue concerning Mayer, however, does not revolve around her coaching team but her management team who is suspected to have been involved in negotiating several fights for Mayer that put her at a disadvantage.
Most prominently, this concerns Mayer’s October 15, 2022 match against Alycia Baumgardner (15-1, 7 KO’s) which saw her lose to her American rival by a controversial split-decision in the United Kingdom. No rematch had been negotiated for that fight.
The second controversy occurred when Mikaela Mayer faced Natasha Jonas earlier this year―also in the UK, which culminated in an even more controversial outcome with Jonas being ruled the winner by split-decision despite Mayer having visibly appeared to win the majority of the rounds.
As most fights are arranged with the help of a manager, there appears to be a common trend in Mayer’s career where she is forced to fight on foreign soil and gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to the judges’ scorecards.
While Mikaela Mayer was thought to have been re-signed to Top Rank after extending her contract with the promotion in 2022, the American former world champion has not fought under the promotion’s banner since defeating fellow American fighter Jennifer Han on April 29, 2022. Mayer has fought thrice in events promoted by Boxxer, which includes her last two fights, while still being listed as a Top Rank fighter―suggesting she has been outsourced over her last couple of matches.
