Mikaela Mayer won a world title in her second weight class on Friday, defeating Sandy Ryan by majority decision to win the WBO welterweight title at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in Recent York.

One judge even had the score at 95-95, while the other two scored it for Mayer (20-2, 5 by knockout), 97-93 and 96-94 in the main event televised by ESPN.

The victory is Mayer’s second attempt to secure the 147-pound title after losing a split decision to IBF titleholder Natasha Jonas in January. Ryan, from Derby in Great Britain, defended the title she won in April 2023 for the third time.

“It went similar to what I thought,” Mayer said. “I have always said before that I respect Sandy as a boxer. She has a lot of pedigree, just like me, but I knew I could beat her. I knew I was faster. I knew I was sharper. And that’s exactly what I did.”

The fight almost never made it to the ring because Ryan, fighting for the second time in America, was covered in red paint on the way to the arena by an unidentified person wearing a hoodie. Kay Koroma, a boxing trainer who advises Ryan and previously worked with Mayer, suggested to Ryan that she cancel the fight. This event only seemed to spur Ryan into action. When asked in a pre-fight interview if she had anything to do with the incident, Mayer denied any involvement.

“It bothered me at first. Walking to the site, I was shocked. And then it kind of took me out of my game plan because I just wanted to fight,” said Ryan (7-2-1, 3 KO).

“You saw that at the beginning of the fight I was doing quite well with her jab. I boxed her and then started lifting her. But then I was obviously pushing too demanding.

Mayer, a 2016 American Olympian from Los Angeles, started the first round well, defeating the aggressive Ryan (7-2-1, 3 KO) with a right hand. Mayer, although only half an inch taller at 5’7, took full advantage of her reach, controlling the fight in the first round, moving to her left when Ryan failed to cut off the ring.

Ryan began to escalate the pressure in the third round, cutting into Mayer’s body and moving to her right to take away Mayer’s escape route. Even as Ryan increased his intensity, Mayer met her halfway, landing keen combinations that caught the judges’ eyes. Mayer was clearly the better technician, but Ryan had more punching power and was physically stronger, which led to a great style clash.

Ryan landed her best punch of the fight in the opening moments of the sixth round when a left hook snapped Mayer’s head back. Mayer got into a shootout that round, which also earned her a penalty, but she took more than head coach Al Mitchell and camp newcomer Kofi Jantuah would have liked.

Mayer returned to boxing in the seventh round, keeping her distance and then finding time for Ryan with right hand counterattacks. Ryan started the eighth with renewed energy, landing robust hooks while Mayer looked tired after a gigantic round in the previous stanza. While Ryan was most successful at close range, Mayer landed more effectively with uppercuts.

“He’s probably the strongest person I’ve ever boxed. Not so much in her shots, but you could feel it in her body, in the way she tried to push me around the ring. But you know, skill beats strength,” Mayer said.

I want to finish what I started and remain unchallenged. You know, I was very close at lightweight. But my body has outgrown that weight. I feel comfortable now. I feel like I’m stronger than ever. As you can see, I’m still in great shape. So I come for other champions.”

The victory revitalizes Mayer’s career after losses to Alycia Baumgardner and Jonas in her last two title fights. Mayer already held the WBO and IBF 130-pound titles and defended three times before losing a split decision to Baumgardner.

Author: Sean Crose

Without a doubt, it was a world-class beating. The popular but not very star-studded Ryan Garcia thoroughly crushed the immensely talented and lauded Devin Haney last spring in a pay per view event that rocked the boxing world. Then news came that Garcia had the banned substance ostarine in his system around the time of the fight. So much for the victory of life. Garcia was stripped of his victory and suspended by the Up-to-date York State Athletic Commission (the fight with Haney took place at Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn). Considering the fact that Garcia’s behavior before the fight was quite strange, it all seemed like a strange ending to a very strange case.

However, today the world is learning that this story is still ongoing. Haney’s Friday report said that “the 25-year-old boxer filed a lawsuit Friday against his nemesis in Up-to-date York… alleging that Garcia committed battery and fraud in the lead-up to — and during — their massive April 20 show at the Barclays Center.” However, Garcia is not the only person sued, as California promotional shop Golden Boy Promotions is also in court. According to Haney (via ), the Garcia fiasco led to “physical injuries, reputational damage that will amount to millions of dollars, and emotional and mental distress.”

Perhaps surprisingly, Garcia saw himself as a victim when the Up-to-date York State Athletic Commission ruled against him. “They took away my victory,” the fighter known as King Ry claimed on social media. “Okay, I’m retired, I’ll come back next year.” But on Friday, the controversial star looked reserved and at least a little dazed. “There are no words,” he wrote on Friday afternoon. Time will tell whether Haney will have a figurative leg to stand on in court.

Garcia, on the other hand, will likely have the fight of his life – albeit outside the ring. In fact, Garcia became a controversial figure due to the sometimes shocking comments he made before the Haney fight. The fact that he sometimes seemed less focused before a fight also raised eyebrows. With this in mind, it’s worth considering whether the damage Garcia caused to Haney (and he certainly did) was profound enough to warrant a lawsuit. Haney’s actions may have surprised the fighting world, but there is no doubt that boxing is the most perilous of sports – and may be even more perilous thanks to the exploit of banned substances.

A heated back-and-forth before a fight is every promoter’s dream, especially if the fighters have a history, someone has something to prove, or there’s a belt on the line. With Sandy Ryan and Mikaela Mayer, all of this is happening.

Mayer has made no secret of the fact that her feud with WBO welterweight champion Ryan is deeply personal. It’s about the coaching staff, a bitter war of words, and on September 27 at Madison Square Garden, the gigantic fight for Ryan’s belt (Live on ESPN, 10:30 p.m. ET.).

Ryan (7-1-1 3 KO) began working full-time under the tutelage of “Coach Kay” (Kay Koroma) and Flick Savoy following her fight with Jessica McCaskill in September 2023. Mayer (19-2 5 KO), who trained with Koroma felt betrayed for almost a decade.

According to Mayer, she wanted to move up from lightweight, both were on track to fight, and Ryan’s appearance in that fight was unacceptable. The city wasn’t gigantic enough for the two of them.

Mayer left trainer Kaya to train under Kofi Jantuah following her loss to IBF welterweight champion Natasha Jonas in January. The fight with Ryan was announced in August. Since then, there has been tension between them, to say the least.

“I have a fight with Jonas and [told] Coach Kay: “Sandy can’t come back here anymore…” [jokingly] and I thought he would totally agree with that,” Mayer told ESPN.

“He tells me I’m on my way to Jonas’ fight [he’s] bringing Sandy. I kind of turned on him and thought, “Why would you invite my competition?”

“He says, ‘No, [I’ll] give it to her [Savoy].’ There was no transparency. I called Sandy and she admitted that Kay trained her. I told him, “I don’t like it.” Nobody was forthright with me.”

The consequences were made public and Mayer had no problem contacting Ryan, who she said was “sneaky.”

“I think he is a weak-minded person and I have heard certain things in the past: [that] no one even likes her in the UK… That’s why she had to come to my country with my coaches,” Mayer said.

For her part, Ryan says she doesn’t care and has reached out to Mayer to squash any beef. It didn’t go very well.

“I have known Kay for years, dating back to my amateur days when I was on Team GB,” Ryan told ESPN. “I had a change in the team and Kay was there to support me and said, ‘I can give you the team and Flick can be your coach here.’ [America]’ and that’s how it went. I reached out because people were telling me at the gym that Mikaela Mayer wasn’t content.

“Who does she think she is? She thinks the world owes her everything, but it doesn’t.

“Since then, and since I was training in America, she has been calling me names. She was just pissed. So now we are here and we have to silence her.”

The two will meet in Modern York and settle their dispute in the ring. Ryan wants to retain the belt, while Mayer wants to recover from his loss to Jonas. It has all the makings of an explosive competition.

“I expect Sandy to keep pushing forward,” Mayer said. I know she just wants to knock me out. She will try to sit on her punches and knock me out, and that will be her downfall. I will box, move and pick it like I have always done, even in my amateur days.”

Ryan also expects a tough matchup.

“I expect Mikaela Mayer to be good because she is a good player and you can’t take away from her what she has achieved in this sport. You can’t expect anything less, otherwise you’d miss your opponent, and I don’t do that,” Ryan said. “That’s why I respect her for what she has achieved in this sport [but] I don’t respect her as a human being.”