Mikaela Mayer's impressive decision victory to place the first blemish on Ewa Brodnicka's professional record not only landed her the WBO junior lightweight title but will ensure her a seat at the division's top table when unification fights are discussed in 2021.
Mayer (14-0, 5 KOs) cruised to success on all three judge's scorecards against incumbent champion Brodnicka (19-1, 2 KOs) on Saturday, beneath the Naoya Inoue vs. Jason Moloney main event in Las Vegas.
And the California fighter has wasted no time in declaring her intent to unify at 130 lb.
“I definitely want to unify this division,” said Mayer to Boxing Scene. “I don’t want to wait around for years. I want to unify right away.
Mayer referenced back to Terri Harper, the division's WBC champion, saying Mayer needed a world title of her own to be able to interest the Brit in a future showdown.
After becoming the first boxer to conquer Brodnicka, who like Harper fights under contract to Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing, Mayer is ready to start merging title belts in 2021.
"Terri Harper said I had to go get a belt. Eddie Hearn said I had to go get a belt," she said. “I have the WBO belt now. So, let’s make that fight happen. I want Terri Harper next.”
In addition to Mayer and Harper, the junior-lightweight scene is topped by WBA champion Maiva Hamadouche of France (21-1, 17 KOs) and South Korea’s Hyun Mi Choi (17-0-1, 4 KOs) who holds the IBF title.
Harper (10-0-1, 5 KOs), whose last in-ring outing was a hotly-contested draw with London 2012 Olympian Natasha Jonas in August, must first get past the challenge of undefeated Spanish-Norwegian Katarina Thanderz in a title bout forming part of a historic triple-header of women's boxing world championship fights on Nov. 21.
That card, headlined by Katie Taylor's unified lightweight championship defense against mandatory challenger Miriam Gutierrez, will be staged at the SSE Arena, Wembley as part of Matchroom's four-right residence with the venue, and will not be able to welcome any fans due to COVID-19 protocol.