Alycia Baumgardner has grown accustomed to being asked about a junior lightweight superfight with fellow unbeaten title claimant Mikaela Mayer.

The fight remains on her radar, though it will also happen on her timetable.

“We want [WBA titlist Hyun Mi] Choi and then we want the big fight with Mayer for undisputed,” Baumgardner confirmed during an open media workout for her appearance on a DAZN show this Saturday at AO Arena in Manchester, England. “If we can make it happen this year, I would love that.

“But that fight with Mayer needs to be built, just like the Amanda [Serrano] and Katie [Taylor undisputed lightweight championship] fight.”

In the meantime, the gifted boxer-puncher from the greater Detroit area returns to jolly old England, where she claimed her WBC/IBO titles in a sensational fourth-round knockout of unbeaten Terri Harper last November in Sheffield. Baumgardner (11-1, 7KOs) makes her first title defense this Saturday, when she faces Argentina’s Edith Soledad Matthysse (17-11-1, 1KOs) on the Conor Benn-Chris van Heerden undercard.

The fight was a late addition to the show and originally intended as a mandatory title defense, which was Baumgardner’s plan before pursuing Choi (19-0-1, 5KOs) and Mayer (17-0, 15KOs) on the road to crowning an undisputed junior lightweight champion. Baumgardner and Mayer have enjoyed a growing rivalry at least through social media, dating back to when the two fought barely a week apart last November.

Mayer prevailed in a brutal slugfest with Maiva Hamadouche to win the IBF belt and retain her WBO crown via unanimous decision last November 5 in Las Vegas, with the epic ten-round affair recognized by BoxingScene.com as the 2021 Female Fight of the Year. Baumgardner burst onto the title scene just eight days later, dethroning Harper after leaving her knocked out on her feet in the BoxingScene.com-awarded 2021 Female Knockout of the Year.

The plan all along for Baumgardner since her win was to next face Choi. Both fight under the Matchroom Boxing banner, and with Baumgardner preferring to face Mayer for all the chips since it is already the most significant fight in the division.

Baumgardner’s view is that good things come to those who wait, citing the April 30 undisputed lightweight championship between Ireland’s Taylor (20-0, 6KOs) and Brooklyn-bred Puerto Rican southpaw Serrano (42-1-1, 30KOs) as proof.

Taylor and Serrano were due to collide in May 2020—in fact at the very venue housing Baumgardner’s fight this weekend—only for the pandemic to postpone those plans. The fight fell apart altogether due to location and a financial dispute, before coming back around nearly two years later and with Serrano due to make nearly four times her original offer. The fight has since moved from the U.K. in 2020 to Madison Square Garden in New York City, mere minutes from Serrano’s Brooklyn home and marking the first female fight ever to headline at the famed venue.

That’s the type of intrigue sought by Baumgardner for the most significant women’s fight in the history of the junior lightweight division—and a blockbuster event, in general.

“It has the potential to be one of THE biggest fights, just like we’ll see April 30 [with Taylor-Serrano],” noted Baumgardner. “Fighting Choi will build that fight up for Mayer and I.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox