Mikaela Mayer said Chantelle Cameron's post-fight trash talk "triggered" the angry scenes that followed their super-welterweight epic in Birmingham, conceding she "acted in a way that I shouldn't have". The defeat was just the third of Mayer's professional career and cost her the unified belts she had brought to Birmingham, a breathless contest between two of the sport's pound-for-pound elite living up to its billing and strengthening Cameron's claim to a place among the greats of the women's game. The pair had to be separated by security after a physical altercation at Friday's weigh-in and clashed again in the ring on Saturday night, with Mayer telling the new unified WBA, WBC and WBO champion "I did beat you" after the judges scored it 97-93, 97-93, 96-94 against her.
Speaking to Sky Sports News, Mayer said: "In the heat of the moment after the fight, I felt I had won, but I knew it was close, and I was prepared to go to the mic and give her her props and say I'm looking forward to the rematch. "I'm not going to lie, I heard her on the mic talking trash and it triggered me. It brought something out of me and I feel like I acted in a way that I shouldn't have." Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Mayer also traced the rivalry's flashpoint back to what happened in the build-up.
"We were always actually really cool, and the only thing that kind of triggered that rivalry was me getting in her face during the face-off," she said, suggesting Cameron may have "had all those words to say" about her "deep down". Cameron, who admitted she had "genuinely respected" Mayer before the build-up soured, believes the hostility rebounded on the American. "I was looking at her before the bell rang and thought, 'I'm going to smash your head in'," said Cameron after the fight.
I was feeling the energy, she didn't want to be in there." The contest exacted a toll befitting its billing, both fighters visibly swollen by the ninth round with Mayer cut by the eye and Cameron bleeding from hers, and the two embraced at the final bell before the verbal hostilities resumed. A day on from disputing the verdict, Mayer struck a markedly different tone. "I have not watched the fight back, but I am open to the idea that it was too close," she said.
"I told myself I would not let the fight get close, and I didn't do that. I let it get too close, and so I can't be upset at the decision. "It wasn't my night, and I have to give her the props for the win.
She's a great fighter, and I'm just excited to go fix my mistakes and do better." Victory further burnished a Cameron CV that already carried the only professional defeat inflicted on Katie Taylor, although the Briton played down talk of being the greatest of all time, insisting Claressa Shields still holds that mantle. Mayer confirmed a rematch clause exists and that she expects it to be activated. The American also revealed she had declined to give up her WBC belt to make Saturday's fight three-minute rounds, and says the choice now rests with the new champion.
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