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Mikaela Mayer Infected With Coronavirus, Won’t Fight On Tuesday Top Rank Card

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Mikaela Mayer Infected With Coronavirus, Won’t Fight On Tuesday Top Rank Card

Boxer Mikaela Mayer took to social media and announced Sunday that she has coronavirus, and thus won't be able to fight on Tuesday, against Helen Joseph in Las Vegas.

Mayer, who holds a 12-0 mark, is part of the Top Rank card at the MGM Grand in Vegas, to screen on ESPN.

The organization led by Bob Arum has one card Tuesday, and then another Thursday, also at MGM. The two cards in short order are being done to make testing and execution of a “safety first” environment before and during the events more seamless.

Mikael Mayer tested positive for coronavirus and has been scratched from the Tuesday, June 9, 2020 Top Rank fight card.

The 2016 Olympian told the masses she has no symptoms of the virus. Click here to read her statement for yourself.

But the California native is quarantining after learning her status. Fighters taking part on that Tuesday card, topped by a Shakur Stevenson vs. Felix Caraballo bout, have been getting tested, and staying in quarters with a coach or two.

The 29 year old Mayer said her team has tested negative, for the record. The slate is/was to feature six bouts, and we doubt a replacement will be found to battle Joseph, a 17-4-2 vet born in Nigeria.

Stevenson vs Caraballois still on, but Mikaela Mayer is off the June 9 Top Rank “Boxing Is Back” card.

Testing is in full force for combatants and their support staff fighting on the June 11 card as well. Jessie Magdaleno, holding a 27-1 mark, will fight 36-4-2 Yenifel Vicente in the main event Thursday. Five fights are planned for that promotion.

My Three Cents: Most fight fans know that fallouts and pullouts and such happen. In this era, with coronavirus still in play, even if it doesn't seem that way to people in places not so much touched by the virus, people should understand that late in the game changes are even more likely.

Also, as long as proper protocol, common sense behavior has been adhered to, Mayer's positive indeed indicates the system is working. (See above, a Tweet on the Top Rank Twitter account.)

Founder/editor Michael Woods got addicted to boxing in 1990, when Buster Douglas shocked the world with his demolition of the then-impregnable Mike Tyson. The Brooklyn-based journalist has covered the sport since for ESPN The Magazine, ESPN.com, Bad Left Hook and RING. His journalism career started with NY Newsday in 1999. Michael Woods is also an accomplished blow by blow and color man, having done work for Top Rank, DiBella Entertainment, EPIX, and for Facebook Fightnight Live, since 2017.