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Unified Champ Mikaela Mayer Ready
For Former Champ Jennifer Han
WBO/IBF junior lightweight world champion Mikaela Mayer, the
Southern California native who is now one of the sport's top
pound-for-pound talents, is ready for her home region title
defense.
Mayer will defend her belts against former featherweight
world champion Jennifer Han on Saturday evening at the
Orange County Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa, California
(ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT).
At the press conference, it was announced that Mayer inked a
multi-year contract extension with Top Rank. Mayer signed
with Top Rank after representing the U.S. at the 2016 Rio
Olympics.
In the 10-round co-feature, welterweight contender and San
Diego native Giovani Santillan will battle Jeovanis Barraza.
The ESPN telecast will open with former world champion
Andrew Moloney versus Gilberto Mendoza in an eight-round
junior bantamweight tilt.
The ESPN+-streamed undercard (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT) features
former two-time bantamweight title challenger Jason Moloney
and the professional debut of U.S. Olympian Virginia Fuchs
in a four-round flyweight fight.
At Thursday's press conference, this is what the fighters
had to say.
Mikaela Mayer
“Ever since I walked into a gym 14 years ago, I’ve been
fighting for a place for women in the sport and to prove
that we are a powerful force in the sport of boxing. This
contract solidifies that. I’ve completed that goal to an
extent. Obviously, there is a long way to go with creating
equality in the sport and closing that gap, but I couldn’t
be happier with this contract. It's a dream contract. It’s a
contract I have been fighting for all these years, and I
wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else but Top Rank.”
“I haven’t fought in LA in a long time. It’s kind of come
full circle. I started here 14 years ago when I was 17. And
I left at 19 years old with a dream: to become an Olympian
and become one of the best female fighters in the world.
Fourteen years later, I’m here fighting in the main event on
ESPN. I’ve come a long way.”
“I’ve known Jennifer for a long time. In one of my first
amateur tournaments, she was there cornering for her sister.
She was around, and she had already been in the game. She’s
been in this game for a really long time. She comes from a
family of fighters, so it’s in her blood. She just went 10
rounds against the 135-pound undisputed champion, Katie
Taylor, so I have tons of respect for her. I know she has
experience and has trained hard, and we didn’t look past her
at all in preparing for this fight.”
“It’s no secret that I wanted to continue to unify. I wanted
Alycia Baumgardner. I wanted Hyun Mi Choi. That was my first
choice. They’re not quite ready to step up to that, I guess,
so we had to look at another direction.”
“We wanted to fight someone who is strong and proven. We
don’t want any easy fights. We want to continue growing and
getting better. Jennifer Han had just come off a strong
fight against Katie Taylor, and we thought that would be a
good matchup for now. We trained hard for her. We know that
she had just given birth going into the fight with Katie
Taylor and she still did what she did, but we expect her to
be even sharping coming into this fight.”
Jennifer Han
“I’ve been in boxing for over 20 years. I’ve worked my
entire life for these kinds of opportunities. When I first
started boxing, I didn’t think these things would happen. I
didn’t think I’d be headlining on ESPN. This is amazing. I
am very, very grateful.”
“This is huge. When I first started boxing, we were working
hard just to get put on television. During my championship
reign, I never got televised, and it was very frustrating.
Women’s boxing has grown a lot. And I’m very excited to
finally be on TV to showcase our talent.”
“The Katie Taylor fight was quite an experience. It was
right after I had my second child, so I had quite the
obstacle of losing weight, which is not fun. But it’s OK.
It’s part of boxing, and she wouldn’t have called me if I
was ready. I have no regrets. It was a great experience for
me, but that was not my best performance.”
“I’ve had time since then. I’m ready. I’m prepared. And this
fight came at the right time. Top Rank could have chosen
anybody else. Mikaela could have chosen anybody else, but
you gave me this opportunity. I’ve prepared. I’ve worked
hard. And this is my time.”
Giovani Santillan
“I like fighting in Southern California. It was great to
have been able to fight in San Diego, my hometown. I think
that San Diego has a lot of boxing fans, and to have a show
out there is great for everybody. To be in the co-main event
of that show was amazing. Now we’re in Costa Mesa, which is
only an hour away from San Diego. I expect a lot of fans,
friends and family to be there.”
“I’m ready for a title shot. I think I’m there. We
definitely want the big fights. Hopefully, this year we get
closer to something like that. Hopefully, we can be the main
event in San Diego. This Saturday night will be important
for me because it will set the tone for what I’m going to do
for the rest of the year.”
“With every fight, there is always pressure. You always have
to perform as a fighter, especially fighting on ESPN. You
always want to do your best. I think I’m undefeated for a
reason. We’re always thinking about trying to get the bigger
fights. I’m always working hard because I want to give the
best version of myself in each fight.”
Jeovanis Barraza
“I feel great. I first have to defeat my first opponent,
which is the scale, and then I’ll just wait for Saturday. I
had a great training camp. I corrected things in sparring
every day. That’s what this sport is about. You have to be
correcting things every day.”
“In this fight, the important thing is to be able to deal
with different styles. Depending on the opponent, you have
to change your style. That’s what I’m planning to do.”
Andrew Moloney
“I feel like this weekend is my opportunity to redeem myself
and show that I’m a much better fighter than what you saw in
those two losses to Joshua Franco. I learned a lot from that
trilogy. Over the last seven or eight months, I have been
working extremely hard to improve as a fighter.”
“I really feel like I’ve done that. I’ve shown it in the way
I’ve been performing in the gym and in sparring. I really
feel now like I can beat any super flyweight in the world.
My plan now is to go out there Saturday night, put on the
best performance of my career and earn my opportunity to
again fight for a world title and ultimately become world
champion again.”
“There are so many good fights out there in the super
flyweight division. I just want to prove that I belong at
the top of that division. I would love the opportunity to
fight any of the world champions right now. I truly believe
that I can beat any one of those guys, but that all starts
this Saturday night.”
Jason Moloney
“It’s great to be back over here. This really does feel like
our second home now. It’s been seven months since my last
fight. I’ve been working hard every day, and I’m ready to
put on a really impressive performance.”
“It’s time for us to get the ball rolling. We plan on
finishing this year with two world titles around our waist.
And as Andrew said, that all starts this Saturday night by
getting two wins and moving forward.”
“There is always pressure. I’ve got some big plans for this
year. But, firstly, this man Pedroza is in my way. He wants
to take away everything that I’ve worked for. So, I can’t
let that happen. I’ve got to go out there and get the job
done.”
Virginia Fuchs
“I’m very excited. I’ve been waiting for this for a long
time. Initially, I was planning on going pro after the 2016
Olympics, but I didn’t qualify in my weight class. And I’d
always wanted to be an Olympian. So, I just had to go for
that dream first and go another round. I made it, and I
competed in Tokyo. Now I’m here, and I’m excited.”
“This is the perfect way to make my debut. I knew Mayer
would be headlining at some point. Did I think I we would be
on the same card? Maybe not. But I knew I would eventually
want to, and my pro debut is the perfect way to do it.”
“I want to get a world title fight as soon as I can and show
the world what I can do. I definitely think that I have more
of a professional style. I like to go longer rounds. I like
to take my time. Now, I get to take my time, sit down on my
shots and get some knockouts in. You’ll see my experience in
the ring.”
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