04 August 2020

American boxer Mikaela Mayer ready to ‘kick Terri Harper’s a**’ if Brit beats Natasha Jonas at Fight Camp

Undefeated American fighter Mikaela Mayer believes she is ready to take on WBC super-featherweight champion Terri Harper and insists she would ‘kick her a**’.

The 30-year-old Olympian boasts a perfect professional record of 13 victories from 13 contests and is yet to be truly tested since turning over in 2017.

Harper (left) won the WBC super-featherweight title in her last fight against Eva Wahlstrom (PA)

Her sights are firmly set on current world champion Harper who takes on fellow Brit Natasha Jonas in the headline fight of Eddie Hearn’s second week of Fight Camp in Essex.

And providing Harper comes through that domestic clash unscathed, Mayer is hopeful she can secure a clash with the Denaby-born boxer sooner rather than later.

"There's no hard feelings towards her. I just want to fight her, kick her a** and take her belt," she told Sky Sports.

"If I were to fight her? I would take her out of that comfort zone that she is in, and take it to her.

"She has good skills - she's tall, uses her reach well, has a good jab. Solid, basic foundations. She doesn't have anything that is complete trash or not technically sound.

"But she isn't well-rounded yet. She still has a long way to go. She will develop over time. But by the time she gets to the top level? I'll be two levels ahead of her. She'll never catch up to me."

Mayer is an accomplished amateur having competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics where she was knocked out in the quarter-finals.

She has a far more established amateur record than Harper, something the American believes could prove crucial in a bout between the two.

"It makes a huge difference. I learned so much in the amateurs and, only now, I'm coming into my own.

"Terri is 23 and a world champion? I don't wish I was 23 again, trust me, because I was training hard and fighting all of the time. Now at 30 I have all the experience, I have strength which takes years to develop, and confidence.

"I'm in my prime and it took a lot of time, and a lot of fights, to get here."

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