Katie Taylor vs. Mikaela Mayer: the destined rivalry women's boxing needs to gain mainstream appeal?

Almost two decades after the Laila Ali vs. Ann Wolfe rivalry tantalized and then left everybody in the boxing universe with blue-balls and lasting disdain for (or indifference towards) the feminine side of the sport, there emerges a plurality of legitimately elite talents - by any gender's standard - and three of them in the same weight class, no less. The eldest of them, longtime Belgian lightweight world titlist Delfine Persoon (a mainstay on p4p lists in the #2 spot behind Cecilia Brækhus for years now) is probably winding down her career and unlikely to engage in a feud with either of her much younger and more dynamic/athletic peers & likely co-successors. Both of them, however, share enough in common that a showdown almost sells itself. A pair of very successful amateurs (vastly more so in the case of Taylor, but then she's on a nearly unfair pedestal to which comparisons for anybody else are really unfair), both Olympians (Taylor a gold medalist in 2012; Mayer eliminated before the medal stages in 2016), both AIBA World Championships veterans (Mayer taking a bronze - as did Taylor, in addition to five golds) and both had exciting pro-ready styles that have thus far translated smoothly & with a flourish.

Unlike the Ali vs. Wolfe experiment, this one gets to play on nationalistic transatlantic antipathy (which rages fierce as ever nowadays, belying the "special relationship" between the US & UK outside prizefighting) - plus it features one genuine hit-the-ground-running preformed superstar from the amateurs. Mayer, no matter how she may improve over the remainder of her rookie year in the pros and into her sophomore - would probably always be the underdog in this match-up, and rightfully so. Taylor's pedigree speaks for itself. Looking around the landscape, however, there is nobody else out there who could even dream of giving Katie a serious challenge - and the action given their styles couldn't help but shape up to be a hell of a lot of fun.

 

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