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Mayer was not allowed a retest following her initial positive result.
Rising women’s boxing star Mikaela Mayer (12-0, 4 KOs) was supposed to be the co-feature on Tuesday’s Top Rank on ESPN card, but she was immediately removed from the event after testing positive for COVID-19. Upon further review, it looks as if that should not have been the case.
Unlike the UFC, Top Rank’s own protocol — established in conjunction with the Nevada State Athletic Commission — says that a positive result is grounds for instant removal from the card, even if there’s the possibility that it’s a false positive. In Mayer’s case, it appears that she may be correct, but she could not get a retest.
“This is still new, we don’t know a lot about it and I just think having such a cutthroat policy, like one positive test and you’re done, is a little harsh,” Mayer said to ESPN. “Considering we don’t have all the information and there has obviously been a handful of false positives in the past.”
She had been tested in Texas prior to traveling to Las Vegas, with the nasal swab coming back negative but showing a positive for antibodies. When she took the oral test upon arriving in Vegas, that yielded a positive COVID-19 result.
Mayer wrote a series of tweets on Thursday explaining her situation, including a statement from her physician saying that her blood tests confirmed that she was no longer infectious.
Received an email from physician involved in my case stating: “You are not sick & not infectious & your blood tests confirm this. Your case is the perfect example of why athletic commissions will need to change their process in the near future”#boxing
— Mikaela Mayer (@MikaelaMayer1) June 11, 2020
My antibody test showed I was infected a few months back (pos IgG). My body was simply still shedding the virus which resulted in a positive test despite not being sick or infectious. Info from my case will help to adjust testing protocol to avoid similar issues in the future.
— Mikaela Mayer (@MikaelaMayer1) June 11, 2020
It’s actually not new information. They had my bloodwork/antibody info a week before the fight. The physician urged them to let me fight seeing as I was no longer contagious, but commission wouldn’t allow it. It’s still new and we’re all learning as we go. ??? https://t.co/8niNlCZxMo
— Mikaela Mayer (@MikaelaMayer1) June 11, 2020
No, the physician confirmed that I am no longer infectious. I cannot spread it.
— Mikaela Mayer (@MikaelaMayer1) June 11, 2020
It should also be noted that Mayer shares the same trainer (Kay Koroma) as headliner Shakur Stevenson, and unlike with Jacare Souza and his cornermen at UFC 249, Mayer was the only person to test positive on the entire card. However, Koroma was still removed from the event as a precaution by the commission.
Mayer also said that she took another test in Colorado on Tuesday after she was pulled from the event and expects those results back by the end of the week. That could confirm her false positive and also indicate that she should have stayed on the event.
Top Rank’s president Todd DuBoef told Yahoo that they are open to reviewing their current protocols.
“She probably has a valid point and we’re open to all of that,” duBoef said. “In coming up with this protocol, we worked with the regulators and we kind of had to go by the book. This is all new territory and we’re working our way through it the best we can. I get that there can be false positives or errors and I think she is right to want to have a way to verify. But we worked on this with the commission, the MGM and ESPN and we can’t really make an exception at this point. But it’s something we’re definitely going to look at and talk about.”
Mayer was supposed to fight Nigeria’s Helen Joseph (17-4-2, 10 KOs), but it’s unknown if the matchup will be rescheduled or if Mayer will have a new opponent when she does return. Hopefully for her, she won’t have to endure a third coronavirus-related cancellation in a row.