Natasha Jonas and Mikaela Mayer meet today in what should be a solid, entertaining matchup to kick off women’s boxing main-event schedule for the year.
Mayer (19-1-0, 5KOs) is making a big jump in weights here, having fought at super-featherweight until her loss to Alycia Baumgardner in 2022. She took 2023 to bulk up a bit, taking an interim title fight at 130lbs and then a catchweight 142lbs fight, but Jonas is her first top-level opponent since that loss.
She won’t be as physically outmatched as that might make it sound, though, since Jonas (14-2-1, 9KOs) is actually the shorter of the two and previously campaigned at super-featherweight herself, before challenging Katie Taylor in the division above and making a leap to super-welter after she lost there. Having collected three belts pretty quickly there, she dropped down to welter in July last year to win the belt she now defends.
Both women typically turn up to fight, and both, having lost to previous elite opponents, have something to prove, so we should be in for a fun one here.
The undercard isn’t the flashiest, with Boxxer apparently saving their biggest names for the Joshua Buatsi vs Dan Azeez card in two weeks time- but it should still be entertaining, with Jack Cullen and Zak Chelli fighting for Cullen’s British and Commonwealth super-middleweight titles in the co-main. We’ll also see some promising prospects in Aaron McKenna, Kariss Artingstall, and Mark Jeffers, although McKenna’s tasty-looking bout with Linus Udofia was scrapped as Udofia came down sick shortly before the fight. He fights Mickey Ellison instead.
The card starts at 2pm ET (7pm British time), with main event ringwalks expected at around 5.30pm (10.30 British time). The prelims start at 12pm ET (5pm British). The card airs on ESPN+ in the US and on Sky in the UK, although all but the main event will be on youtube as well. The stream is below- as a Sky stream we’ll see if it’s available internationally, but fingers crossed.
update: looks like it is geoblocked. Well, we’ll keep you updated with results and highlights if you can’t see the fights.
Further update: it looks like what Boxxer termed ‘undercard’ was actually just the prelims, and the main card will not be on youtube. Which does make sense, but it’s a weirdly amateur mistake for what is supposed to be a major-league promotional outfit to not make that distinction. Anyway, the televised portion of the card starts in 15 minutes, which is also when ESPN+’s coverage will come online.
Final update: alright, we’re coming up to the main event, ringwalks coming. Join me for the play-by-play below.
Natasha Jonas vs Mikaela Mayer: Main event play-by-play
Round 1: The Liverpool crowd caused some furore by booing both national anthems. Scousers regularly boo the British anthem, so no surprise there. Jonas gets off to a quick start, getting accurate shots home despite being on the back foot, then stepping in with combinations. Mayer stars pressing a bit more strongly in the second half of the two-minute round, circling away from Jonas’ lead left hand, but Jonas winds the round. 10-9 Jonas.
Round 2: Jonas just looking the faster fighter early doors. Part of it is that her technique is cleaner, much straighter and smoother, but there’s an actual handspeed and footspeed advantage too. Mayer’s setting her feet to throw, and getting left behind. Lovely right-hand dig to the ribs as Jonas pivots out. Straight left down the pipe a good punch for her too. Mayer once again letting her hands go in the second minute, but Jonas’ bodywork probably takes the round home. 10-9 Mayer, 20-18
Round 3: Mayer’s right hand is getting home fairly regularly, but it’s more or less her only punch. Lot more variety from Jonas, and she’s really working the body. The shovel hook withher leading right hand (from southpaw) is gravy. Jonas struggling to close the distance, and Jonas intercepts her as she closes distance. Mayer’s having some balance issues. She’s not out of this fight, don’t get me wrong, but the cleaner, consistent work is coming from Jonas. 10-9 Jonas, 30-27
Round 4: Mayer opens the round better, gets a good right hand or two home. Doing a bit better at taking one more step with the lead foot before she thorws, and she’s laying it on Jonas a bit. She’s doing well to close off the ring, stepping right when Jonas wants to circle left and vice versa. Good round from Mayer. 10-9 Mayer, 39-37 Jonas
Round 5: Joe Gallagher just confused the rounds and told Jonas the wrong score. That’s pretty rubbish tbh. Anyway, he gave her a talking to about tapping Mayer too much, and Jonas has taking that to heart, going on the front foot and sitting in the pocket to trade. Shakes up Mayer with bodywork in the middle of the round. Good right from Mayer puts Jonas to the ropes, but she spins out and works the body again. Straight left lands. Much improved rounds, Mayer walking in to slug and giving up the speed advantage again. Finishes the round strong, but 10-9 Jonas, 49-46
Round 6: Jonas on the back foot again to open round 6, without throwing, then stops to trade after 30 seconds, Mayer getting the better of the exchange. Jonas at her best, if not on the back foot, when she can turn Mayer. Mayer switches southpaw for a moment and catches Jonas off-guard, hits her body. Jonas back on her toes to close the round and this time Mayer isn’t cutting the ring as well, but still, she did enough work earlier on to take the round. 10-9 Mayer, 58-56
Round 7: Jonas connects with an intercepting 1-2 as Mayer tries to start strong. Clean start to the round this time. This is a cracking fight, full of constant shifts of momentum and strategy. Great bodywork from both as they stand toe-to-toe again. This round has been terrific and they take a break for a few seconds before finishing strong again. 10-9 Jonas, 68-65
Round 8: Lovely short right from Jonas to open the round, then they clinch up. They free up then come together and Mayer starts to do some damage, some great work upstairs and downstairs clearly affecting Jonas. Jonas responds in kind, working that shovel hook under the left elbow. Another terrific round and they finish exchanging. 10-9 Mayer, 77-75
Round 9: Huge left by Mayer opens the round, then works the body. Jonas a bit hurt here. Not like fight-ending but she’s taken damage. Jonas, as ever, responds in kind, then circles out. Working behind the jab for the middle portion of the round. Then sets up a nice little left with the jab. Mayer comes in with another hurtful bodyshot. Jonas with a sharp right that catches Mayer on the move, but Mayer comes back strong! Then Jonas gets her work in! This is a great round! Back-and-forth from bell to bell! 10-9 Mayer, 86-85
Round 10: Final round, and honestly these scores could be any which way, this has been so close. Terrific tear-up. It looks like Jonas is a bit more tired of the two, Mayer starting to push her around a bit, and Jonas’ head snapping back with shots in a way it wasn’t before. Jonas still responding, but then she takes a left hook and holds on. Her left eye is in a bad way. Right-left combination staggers Jonas, and Mayer will be hoping this was 12 rounds because she’s taken over. I’ve got it 95-95 a draw, but either could win this. What a fight.
Official scores: 96-94 Jonas 96-95 Jonas,, 97-93 Mayer
Jonas wins by split decision
There’s some controversy around the decision online, with most people seeing Mayer winning it. Which I can see, even though I scored a draw- if I went back there’s probably more cards I might swing to Mayer than the reverse. But I don’t think it’s awful the way some are seeing it.
Natasha Jonas vs Mikaela Mayer: Full card results and highlights
IBF women’s welterweight title: Natasha Jonas SD Mikaela Mayer 96-94 96-95 93-97 .
British and Commonwealth super-middleweight titles: Zak Chelli UD Jack Cullen 116-113, 116-115, 115-114
- This is a rematch, with the pair fighting to a draw back in 2020. That was controversial, with Chelli being seen as the winner by many observers, but Cullen has probably had the higher level opponents since then (albeit with 2 losses). Chelli himself lost to the then-unknown Mark Jeffers last year, so he’ll be hoping to win here not just to gain these two belts but to set up that rematch.
- Cullen’s nickname is ‘Little Lever’s Meat Cleaver’, which is an all timer (Little Lever is his hometown, for those none-Brits among you).
- Not the most exciting fight in the world in the first half, with Chelli successfully slowing down the pace and controlling it at a comfortable tempo, while also posturing a lot without throwing so much. Cullen not getting .much going at all, though, so Chelli is pretty clearly up.
- Apologies for claiming this might have been a good fight. 12 truly dreadful rounds.
- The scores of 116-113, 116-115, 115-114 are narrower than they probably should be, given Chelli clearly controlled most rounds, but whatever.
- There won’t be any highlights, because there weren’t any highlights.
Women’s featherweight: Karriss Artingstall def Lila dos Santos Furtado 77-75 (ref’s stoppage)
- Artingstall is a well-rated rising star from the UK with a 5-0 record. Furtado has a bit more experience, at 9-1. It’s kind of hard to tell how this is gonna go since it’s sometimes hard to gauge levels in women’s boxing when one or neither fighter has fought the elite opponents. Artingstall will be favourite because she’s being built up so they presumably didn’t pick a banana skin deliberately, but you never know.
- Bit of controversy at the end of round 1, as Artingstall scores a knockdown on the bell, which Furtado claims was after. Furtado came back with pressure after that though, and Artinstall looks like she’s got a damaged left eye after round 3- though Furtado is marking up a bit too. Both those things may have come from a head clash in round 2.
- Turned into a good fight in the end, with the narrow score of 77-75 reflecting it. The potential controversy over the KD probably won’t ultimately have made a difference- Artingstall was winning the round anyway, most likely, so it’d have been a one-point win instead of two- but Furtado may feel hard-done-by anyway. She certainly showed up, and gave Artingstall real problems.
Middleweight: Stephen Clarke vs Vasif Mamedov
- Clarke is making his debut here. Pushed surprisingly high up the card rather late in the day, presumably because Boxxer claim he sold a thousand tickets for the arena. Mamedov is 3-46-5, so, you know, Clarke should be winning here.
- Clarke looked clean and tidy, dominated as expected. A weird stoppage when Mamedov turned his back and refused to re-engage even on the ref’s orders, leading the ref to stop it as Clarke stepped in to throw punches round the sides.
Middleweight: Aaron McKenna TKO-6 Mickey Ellison
- The 24-year-old McKenna is a highly rated prospect out of Ireland. Ellison was a last-minute replacement after expected opponent Linus Udofia dropped out. Udofia would have been a stern test- Ellison will probably be less so, but sometimes last-minute opponents upset the applecart.
- Ellison gave it a go, but had neither the quality nor the stamina to last the scheduled 8 rounds.
- McKenna showed some things to work on – his footwork was a bit ropey in places- but he also showed a good varied attack at all ranges and put the pedal down in the 6th to force the ref to step in.
Cruiserweight: Jack Massey TKO-1 Steve Eloundou Ntere
- Some heat in the buildup in this one to give it some spice, but realistically Massey should be beating Ntere pretty comfortably. This is more of a tune-up on his return to cruiserweight after giving heavyweight a go in losing to Joe Parker last year. He’s a few pounds over here, but it’s not for a title or anything.
- And there we go, Massey wins in one against an overmatched opponent.
Super-middleweight: Mark Jeffers UD-10 Germaine Brown 99-92, 98-93, 98-93
- Early appearance on the card for the promising Jeffers (19-0-0). This is for the English title. It’s a little weird that Chelli is in the co-main for British and Commonwealth belts when Jeffers beat him him for this title last year, but hey, boxing. Jeffers will presumably be calling out the winner of that fight.
- Brown (13-2-0) shouldn’t cause him serious trouble, but he’s not here to lie down either. He’s been around the block multiple times, and he’s held this belt before. So he’ll want it back.
- As expected, a good start by Jeffers, who has extremely smooth footwork and some classy mid-range combinations, for an English-level super-middleweight. Brown did get a bit more work done after the first couple of rounds, but probably not enough to win any. Jeffers’ defence is very good.
- The pattern continued for the whole fight, with Brown occasionally showing flashes of success but mostly handled pretty comfortably by Jeffers.
- It’ll be interesting for Jeffers if Jack Cullen wins that co-main vs Chelli, since they’re team-mates. Supposedly it won’t be a problem though- the gym is run by a pair of brothers, and they say they’ll take one fighter each and happily get it made. And if Chelli wins, it’s the big rematch.
Flyweight: Mikie Tallon UD-4 Adam Yahaya 40-30 (ref’s score)
- The 19-year old Tallon is 3-0 as a pro, but Yahaya (23-11-2) is his first opponent with a winning record. This is his first appearance on TV (well, on tape- this bit isn’t televised), it seems, but he’s picked up a bit of a reputation on small-hall shows apparently, and sold a few tickets here- which is unusual for a flyweight in the UK this early. We’ll see how he shapes up.
- No real danger of a stoppage, but a comfortable performance by the youngster. Some accurate punching, a few classy catch-and-counters, and seamless stance switching. Too early to say what his ceiling is, but he’s promising.