One of the best weeks in women’s boxing this year took place last week, when fighters appeared in no fewer than three major televised events.

On Friday, Mikaela Mayer and Sandy Ryan fought in what ultimately turned out to be the best fight of the weekend. It was a classic battle of power and speed, and Mayer’s footwork and hand speed ultimately prevailed. It was a close fight that deserves a rematch, especially since it suits both of them considering the crap investments they made during the pre-fight hype.

With this victory, it was proposed that Mayer would become the recent No. 2 welterweight, swapping places with Ryan, who is currently ranked No. 3.

“The fight between Mayer and Ryan was very close, but I think Mayer was the basic winner, although the cards should have been closer,” said Irene Deserti, editor of Rincon Rojo magazine. Her feelings were shared by radio host Cynthia Conte, who said that “it was a very close fight and there should be a rematch. They would be on their knees again and there would be a lot of money behind the rematch.”

Others expressed doubts. “I thought Mayer beat Baumgardner and Jonas early in her career, but she had to do more to take the titles away from Ryan,” said columnist Mark Jones. “Ryan won that fight even though her corner team was amateur and didn’t do her any favors. “The fight should have been canceled after an unknown perpetrator threw paint on it while leaving the hotel,” the author said, referring to an incident that clearly did not receive adequate coverage from the forces behind the brawl.

“It was a great pleasure to watch such a valuable battle between Mayer and Ryan,” said Japanese writer Yuriko Miyata. “They both gave their all and I saw that Ryan was close to winning despite this incident.” Boxing historian Malissa Smith, who was present at the fight, said that “Mayer was quick to execute while Ryan was able to assert his strength in the later rounds, although I felt that Mayer’s feet and deft apply of the chin gave her the advantage in scoring.”

On Saturday, we witnessed a terrible end to what was supposed to be the demolition of Alycia Baumgardner, who showed no signs of ring rust and went right for the neck of the now legendary Delfine Persoon in the 130-pound bout. An accidental cut by Persoon resulted in the fight being declared a no-contest, but it was clear that ring champion Baumgardner was well on her way to a decisive victory.
As a result of this result, Baumgardner remains the ring champion and Persoon takes the top spot in an otherwise tender division.
“Baumgardner looked good in her return to action and I don’t think she has an opponent of her caliber in the junior lightweight division,” said writer and television producer Yesica Palmetta.

“Persoon is 100% a future Hall of Famer, but he should be retired,” Jones added. “Since the fight with Katie Taylor five years ago, he has suffered from cuts and swelling due to impaired reflexes. That said, Baumgardner looked good and deserved her spot in the pound-for-pound rankings.

“A tough break for Baumgardner, who was coming off a confident stoppage victory over the former Persoon,” said writer Christopher Benedict. “Too many battles over too long had taken their toll on the Belgian warrior. As Mark suggested, it was time for her to hang up her gloves and start writing her Hall of Fame speech.

In another remarkable battle, Terri Harper was the most outstanding winner of all three major events, defeating fellow Briton Rhiannon Dixon in a bragging war for pride and country. Naturally taller and stronger, Harper was the slight favorite and made good apply of her advantages to keep Dixon at bay and score enough points to secure a solid victory in the lightweight battle.

Harper, who is unranked at 135, is in second place, pushing Dixon into fourth place and pushing Germany’s Beke Basa out of the top five.

“I really liked Harper’s performance,” Palmetta said. “She looked very good at 135 pounds. I think Dixon was invalidated by the power that characterizes Harper.

Conte agreed, saying that “Harper looked great fighting off the back foot against Dixon. They both landed nicely, but Harper just looked exceptional. I’m glad she’s back down.

“I know I wasn’t alone in suspecting that the beating Terri Harper received at the hands of Sandy Ryan in March would be extremely hard for ‘The Belt’ to recover from,” added Benedict, “but I take my hat off to Harper for a great performance on Saturday , handing Rhiannon Dixon her first defeat to win the belt and become a three-division world champion.”

Because Harper was previously rated at 154 pounds, the ratings in that division had to be changed. Everyone moved up one place, and Canadian Mary Spencer became the recent number 5, returning to our rankings again.

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Author: Sean Crose

If boxing fans are to be believed, they will have a nice present for themselves this Christmas. As the outlet’s Mike Coppinger reports, Noya Inoue, the undisputed super bantamweight champion of the world, is in the process of finalizing a December 24 contract with Sam Goodman. Goodman, who is largely unknown, will enter the ring as a prohibitive underdog, yet he will receive the opportunity of a lifetime to face perhaps the greatest dynamic fighter in the world. The fight will take place in the early morning hours here in the States, but should be broadcast live, like all of Inoue’s fights.

The 25-year-old Goodman will travel from Australia to Tokyo for this fight. He is undefeated at 19-0, although perhaps the biggest name he faces is TJ Doheny, whom he defeated last year. Stylistically, Goodman strings together his punches effectively. He also has sleek footwork and knows how to put pressure on his opponent. On the other hand, an undefeated challenger has narrow punching power at best. Indeed, only eight of the man’s nearly 20 fights have not gone to the final bell.

This could prove to be a problem for Goodman when he faces Inoue in December. The 31-year-old multi-division champion has a 28-0 record and has stopped all but three of his opponents in the distance. Moreover, Inoue has faced many opponents, from Antonio Nieves to Nonito Donaire to Stephen Fulton. Added to this is Inoue’s incredible self-confidence and thunderous power. They don’t call him “The Monster” for nothing. Inoue’s bodywork in particular is something terrifyingly attractive. Perhaps the Japanese fighter is no longer simply considered great – perhaps he is now seen as an all-time great.

Goodman will certainly have a lot of work to do if this fight happens (which it probably will). Still, warrior careers are relatively low adventures. The degree of slippage becomes apparent after the age of thirty, as is the case with Inoue. However, such slippages have not been recorded yet, and Inoue has already fought twice this year. Even if Inoue starts to lose strength, he will still be a real force to be reckoned with. Great fighters tend to fade at a slower rate than their in-ring peers.

Both Nick Ball and Ronny Rios weighed under 126 pounds as featherweights ahead of Saturday’s WBA title fight at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool.

Ball (20-0, 11 KO), 27, is defending the title in his hometown for the first time.

Rios (34-4, 17 KO), 34, is making his third attempt at winning the world title and first at featherweight. The ball hit the scales at 125.1 pounds; his challenger weighed slightly more at 125.6 pounds.

WBA Featherweight Championship – 12 rounds

Nick Ball – 125.1 pounds

Ronny Rios – 125.6 pounds

British and Commonwealth Junior Welterweight Title – 12 rounds

Henry Turner – 139.7 lbs

Jack Rafferty – 139.7 pounds

Bantamweight – 10 rounds

Andrew Cain – 117.1 pounds

Lazaro Casseres – 116.1 pounds

Lithe – 10 rounds

Jader Herrera – 134 pounds

Oliver Flores – 134.6 pounds

Bantamweight – six rounds

Jack Turner – 120.1 lbs

Gonzalo Corinaldesi – 118.1 pounds

Junior welterweight – six rounds

Nelson Birchall – 130.5 pounds

Mark Butler – 129.9 pounds

Welterweight – four rounds

Lucas Biswana – 145.1 pounds

Jakub Laskowski – 144.1lbs

Lightweight – eight rounds

James McGivern – 135.1 pounds

Requ Facundo Arce – 135.4 lbs

Middleweight – four rounds

Joe Cooper – 159.1 pounds

Lukasz Barabasz – 159.1lbs

Junior featherweight category – four rounds

Brad Strand 122.5 pounds

Marvin Solano – 125.7 pounds

Junior middle category – four rounds

Walter Fury – 156.1 pounds

Dale Arrowsmith – 155.1 pounds