Mikaela Mayer is once again a world champion after beating bitter rival Sandy Ryan
The former unified junior lightweight queen defeated bitter rival Sandy Ryan (7-2-1, 3 KOs) via majority decision to capture the WBO welterweight world title Friday evening at The Theater at Madison Square Garden.
Tensions were high leading up to the fight, with Mayer accusing Ryan of poaching her longtime training team—a claim Ryan denied. The animosity carried into the ring with intense exchanges throughout the fight.
Mayer’s strategy was to step to her left to avoid Ryan’s hooks. In doing so, she created space for counter rights and lefts as Ryan tried to close the distance. Though Ryan shifted the momentum by stumbling Mayer with a hook in the sixth, Mayer responded by hurting her with a counter in the eighth.
As Ryan increased the pressure, Mayer prevailed in most of the exchanges and clinched the victory with scores of 97-93 and 96-94, overruling one judge’s 95-95 draw.
Mayer said, “It was similar to how I thought it would go. I always said before that I respected Sandy as a boxer. She has a big pedigree, just like myself, but I knew I was gonna beat her to the punch. I knew I was faster. I knew I was sharper. And that’s exactly what I did.
“I picked it up halfway through the fight, like I always do. I always turn it on in that second half of the fight. And she just couldn’t handle my timing. So, I felt like I won the fight, and I’m just glad I got the right decision this time.
“I want to finish what I started and go undisputed. I came very close at junior lightweight. But my body outgrew that weight. I’m comfortable now. I feel like I’m stronger than ever. I’m still in my prime, as you can see. So I’m coming for the other champions.”
Ryan said, “I’m obviously disappointed, and I’m not taking nothing away from the decision. But before coming to the venue, I don’t know if you guys seen, but I had a hit and run {with paint outside the hotel}. And that was definitely set up. I’m not taking nothing away from the win, but it unsettled me.
“It threw me off a bit of my game plan because I just wanted to fight. And you saw at the start of the fight, I was handling her quite well on the jab. I was boxing her and then I started to pick it up. But then, I was obviously pushing it too hard.
“It’s nice to fight in America again. But I just don’t like the circumstances that happened to me before the fight. But I can’t take nothing away from that. It is what it is.”