Mikaela Mayer thinks Alycia Baumgardner could be in for a rude awakening.

Mayer, the former unified lightweight, has a hard time seeing Michigan’s Baumgardner garner the sort of publicity that their unification fight produced last October. Baumgardner defeated Mayer narrowly on points in a fight many believe was too close to call. That fight took place in London, on the undercard of the middleweight undisputed title match between Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall.

To that end, Mayer, of Los Angeles, thinks Baumgardner would be severely misguided in rejecting calls for a rematch, since Baumgardner would stand to benefit both from a public relations and financial standpoint. But Baumgardner has thus far been more coy about that possibility.

In any case, the two are headed toward different fights in the immediate future. Baumgardner is set to defend her three lightweight titles against Elhem Mekhaled at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in New York City on Feb. 4.

Mayer will reportedly move up to 135 and fight Christina Linardatou, who defeated Baumgardner by split decision in 2018.

“I think that because she didn’t have a lot of attention in her career before this fight was made that it was—like, overnight she came into this big title fight and there was all this attention and women’s boxing was at this new level, she really just got a lot of attention overnight and a big taste of whatever,” Mayer told iD Boxing. “She got a lot of attention overnight. Maybe she thinks that is normal, maybe she thinks that’s going to be the case for every single fight but it’s not necessarily [the case].

"I value this rivalry that we have because I know how rare it is and how big it is. So for me just being a businesswomen that I am I would milk it for all that it’s worth.”

Mayer said she expects Baumgardner to warm to the idea of a rematch once she realizes all the benefits. Someone that does not need to be convinced of the merits of a rematch, according to Mayer, is Baumgardner’s own promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom.

“I think that she might need a little bit of time to realize just how unique what we have is and when she does I know she’ll come knocking,” Mayer said. “Her or Eddie because I know Eddie sees [the financial upside] of this fight. Like I said I hope it happens sooner or later because she’s not the only big fight for me and I have a lot of other things I want to accomplish.”