Having recently signed with Mayweather Promotions, welterweight "Amazing" Layla McCarter (38-13-5, 9 KOs) fights this Saturday, April 29, on a televised Premier Boxing Champions broadcast on Fox Sports 2 and Fox Deportes beginning at 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT. Her opponent is the tenacious Szilvia "Sunset" Szabados (16-9, 7 KOs), who recently stepped up in weight to face Claressa Shields on Showtime.
McCarter is widely seen as the pound-for-pound best female fighter on the planet, having fought some of the best fighters in the world and having won world championships in four different weight classes thus far. Her skill level is masterful. Her style is exciting and fan-friendly due to her aggression and activity, and she mixes that with a fantastic defense while making good use of slips and counters, all while changing her height during exchanges to keep her opponent guessing.
Asked how her style evolved over the years into the work of art it is now, McCarter said, "I was always focused on boxing and defense early on. My main concern was the defense. It might not have been as fan-friendly then. But as I evolved and I learned how to stay on the inside and in the pocket, it just developed over time and experience. The more I did it, the more comfortable I got staying inside. When you don't know what you're doing, you don't want to stay inside. You're not comfortable to be there. Just being outside was the only way I knew how not to get hit.
"Now I can not get hit and be right in front of them. It's just about calming down and learning your trade, and being more comfortable and more practiced at it."
It's always intriguing and motivational to learn how a master of a craft like McCarter first became interested in their chosen art form. About her background, McCarter said, "I did study a lot of different martial arts growing up. Everywhere I moved I tried a different one. But my main art was Ed Parker's American Kenpo karate. I did that for a total of 9 years growing up. That was my first one [that I started] when I was 8 years old. When I moved to Spokane, Washington I started in Kenpo again."
When asked what led her to choose to pursue boxing instead, McCarter responded thoughtfully. ""Something attracted me to boxing. It was a gradual transition. I [practiced] karate and martial arts and competed in point tournaments and that kind of thing, and went into full contact karate. When I started with the fuller contact, that led to kickboxing in the ring. And then from kickboxing to boxing, it was just a choice I had to make. You can't do both--you have to do one or the other or you're gonna get confused.
"Boxing kind of appealed to me at that point, the simplicity of boxing. It's just such a perfect science, and a beautiful art. And I really just fell in love with boxing.
"And the principles of motion and all those things I learned through the martial arts added to my study of boxing. The way I looked at boxing. There are so many similarities of physics-principles of balance, weight distribution, putting the mass behind the punch. When you analyze it with a martial arts brain, it's the same thing."
A key aspect of why Layla is so well-respected in the sport, by men and women alike, is her consistent willingness to fight anybody anywhere, and she frequently goes up and down in weight to chase opportunities. Her record is full of bouts that took place in a weight division outside of McCarter's natural weight class.
McCarter explained why she has embodied this admirable trait. "[Moving up and down in weight divisions] was by necessity. In women's boxing, you've got to do whatever it takes to make a fight happen sometimes. In the amateurs that was very true and I started it then. You go to a tournament and there's only two women, and they're all in different weight classes, so you try to make an agreement or meet somewhere in the middle, or just go up to their weight. But I did that in the amateurs and that was just to make a fight. It's either that or you don't fight, and I wanted to fight."
One of Layla's most interesting opportunities came in 2015, when she fought on the BKB (Big Knockout Boxing) card on pay-per-view against the accomplished former world champion Diana Prazak. It was a phenomenal performance by McCarter, and on a platform that emphasized knockouts, her fight with Prazak was the only bout on the card that ended in a stoppage.
Layla spoke about the experience with obvious pride and enthusiasm. "I thought it was one of my best performances. She [Prazak] has a style that is complimentary to me, but I was really sharp, had good sparring, good training sessions. I was in a good camp for that fight. I was really happy with that one.
"BKB was amazing-it was worldwide exposure on pay-per-view. It was a big venue, and everything they did was top quality. They did everything they could to make it appealing to the fans. It was a really good thing while it lasted. But in the meantime, I'm the only female champion BKB has ever had.
"[And] it was the girls [who got the knockout], who would've thought?"
Even before Layla signed with Mayweather Promotions, it was well known by boxing insiders that Floyd Mayweather, Jr. admired and respected McCarter for her exceptional skill and accomplishments. She has trained out of the Mayweather Boxing Club for years. When speaking with a fighter who trains out of such a high profile gym, it is a natural question to inquire about what fighters she's recently been sparring with.
"My main sparring partner right now is Oscar Bravo, who fought on a Mayweather show [in February]. And he almost knocked the guy out, [Saul] 'Neno' Rodriguez [a Mayweather Promotions fighter]. He's tough, aggressive, and a good fighter. We spar every day. We've been sparring regularly 10-round sessions. Today we sparred 10 rounds. He's just very aggressive and hard-hitting. So I've got the best sparring partner I could ask for right there. He's also training with [and managed by] Luis Tapia, my trainer, so we're on the same team.
"Oscar also regularly spars with Ladarius Miller, who's getting ready for his fight also [versus Jesus Gutierrez, on the same televised card as McCarter's fight]."
Layla has gone on record calling out Cecilia "First Lady" Braekhus (30-0, 8 KOs), the current unified welterweight champion promoted by K2 Promotions, for the past few years-so far to no avail. When asked to discuss the possibility of this fight and what it would mean for women's boxing, McCarter explained.
"I've been trying to make that fight possible for the last two years, or more. And she's chosen to fight opposition below me. And now she's fighting somebody who's a natural lightweight in her next fight [Erica Anabella Farias].
"[Braekhus] is seeking anybody but me to fight. And I understand why-she's smart, she doesn't want to lose. But for the fans, and for the legitimacy of boxing, it's an important fight because the best need to fight the best. To keep proving who's at the top. Maybe the conditions haven't been right yet, [me] having the right promoter and the right TV [options]. She can make the same money fighting a nobody as fighting me. So I don't blame her for taking the easy way, but there comes a time in a fighter's life they have to step up. And I think that time is overdue.
"Stephen Espinoza [Executive Vice President] of Showtime is determined to make that fight happen this year, he said. The only trouble would be getting her to agree to it. I think there's money to be made and if the right conditions can be metÂ…I think this year is a good possibility for that fight to come to fruition.
"And if not, if she just keeps avoiding me, then I'll have to [chase] other champions from 140 pounds, or another weight class, I guess. I'm naturally lighter than that anyway. I go where the fights are. That's what champions do."
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