Sandy Ryan and Mikaela Mayer squared off in the main event live on ESPN from The Theater at MSG in New York on Friday, September 27. The contest featured the defending WBO welterweight champion of the UK up against the former unified super featherweight champion of Woodland Hills, California.
The scheduled for 10 rounds world championship bout went the full distance and produced fireworks. In the end, judge Bob Williams scored the fight 95-95, while judges Waleska Roldan and Benoit Roussel had 97-93 and 96-94, respectively, in favor of the representative of the country-host.
With the victory by majority decision, Mikaela Mayer, who previously held the unified WBO and IBF super featherweight belts, became a new WBO champion at welterweight, as well as a two-division world champion. The 34-year-old native of Woodland Hills, California improved to 20-2, 5 KOs and returned to winning ways, after an unsuccessful challenge for IBF strap against Natasha Jonas in January.
“It was similar to how I thought it would go,” Mayer said post-fight. “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.”
Sandy Ryan, who hours prior to the fight was hit with a tin of paint, didn’t succeed in the third defense of her belt. The 31-year-old dropped to 7-2-1, 3 KOs and lost her title.
“I’m obviously disappointed, and I’m not taking nothing away from the decision,” Ryan said. “But before coming to the venue, I don’t know if you guys seen, but I had a hit and run. 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.”