Mikaela Mayer hopes to rebound at Olympic boxing trials

If Patricia Manuel went to the Police Athletic League boxing tournament with her Olympic hopes very much in doubt, Mikaela Mayer, a former sparring partner, was simply passing through on her way to the U.S. trials.

A fledgling model from the San Fernando Valley, Mayer earned one of eight invitations to the February trials three months ago when she won her third national title at the Golden Gloves tournament. And in Toledo she boxed like a fighter with nothing at stake, losing to eventual PAL champion N’yteeyah Sherman in a lackluster opening bout.

“I didn’t feel as sharp as I normally do,” Mayer said “When my brain said, ‘fire,’ I did not fire.”

But she did learn.

“This fight reinforced the fact that every punch counts, that you cannot wait. When you get to this level, one extra flurry of punches can make a difference between a win or a loss,” said the lithe 21-year-old, who lost for only the fifth time in four years.

That, however, should be a warning to Sherman. Mayer has won the rematch with every other fighter who has beaten her.

“I have always been the type to prevail through my losses,” Mayer said. “I study what I did wrong and I fix it. I seem to adjust very well. So every fight is a good experience, win or lose.”

Sherman and Mayer could meet again in the trials, where they will be part of an eight-woman field at 132 pounds that also includes Manuel and Seattle’s Queen Underwood, a five-time national champion and the heavy favorite.

But while women’s boxing will be making its Olympic debut next summer, it has yet to receive the respect given the men’s sport. The women will box at three weight classes — 112, 132 and 165 pounds — in London, seven fewer than the men. And the women fight four two-minute rounds versus three three-minute rounds.

The danger, however, is the same — something the women were reminded of at the PAL tournament in Toledo, Ohio, when Ishika Lay, a 32-year-old from Jacksonville, Fla., was hospitalized and in a coma after being knocked to the red canvas at the SeaGate Convention Centre during the second round of her preliminary bout against Sherry Whetten of Tucson on Oct. 4.

Nearly two weeks later, she remained in the intensive care unit at Mercy St. Vincent Hospital in critical condition.

“It’s definitely sobering,” said Manuel, who has known Lay for years and visited with her at the tournament weigh-in. “It’s something that we know can happen to us. But it’s a risk I’m willing to take because I love the sport.”

And something Mayer and the other trials qualifiers also have to put aside each time they step into the ring.

“I expect all the girls at the trials to be better than they have ever been,” said Mayer, who followed her coach, Al Mitchell, to China for a training camp immediately after the PAL tournament. “We are all there because we are all great, and I think we all recognized the opportunity we have being the first females ever to compete in the Olympic trials for USA boxing.

“We all have a chance at making our dreams come true, and everyone will come hungry for that.”

kevin.baxter@latimes.com