This weekend belongs to women's boxing. Three title fights divided in three boxing cards will take place in New York, Georgia and Sheffield, England.
On Friday at The Theater inside Madison Square Garden, Sandy Ryan will make the first defense of her WBO welterweight title against former unified junior lightweight champion, Mikaela Mayer (ESPN/ESPN+, 10:30 p.m. ET).
Ryan (7-1-1, 3 KOs) of Derby, England, is traveling to the U.S for the second time in a year to face Mayer. Ryan won the title with a unanimous-decision victory over Marie-Pier Houle in April 2023. After her unification fight with WBC and WBA champion Alycia Baumgardner ended in a draw, she fought -- and defeated -- Terri Harper in a fourth-round TKO in March.
Mayer (19-2, 5 KOs) lost her WBO and IBF junior lightweight titles to Baumgardner by split decision in October 2022. Mayer moved up in weight after that and defeated Lucy Wildheart by unanimous decision to win the WBC interim lightweight title in April 2023. Mayer moved up once again and lost a split-decision to Natasha Jonas in January challenging for the IBF welterweight title.
The bitter feud between WBO welterweight champion Sandy Ryan and Mikaela Mayer – who fight at New York's Madison Square Garden Theatre on Friday – centres around a dispute over a trainer.
It began when Briton Ryan, 31, relocated to Mayer's gym in the United States, prompting the challenger – who was planning to move up to welterweight - to change her training team.
Mayer, 34, described Ryan's move as “shady” but the Derby fighter denies any suggestion that she stole the Californian's head coach.
“Ever since I came over here she's been sulking at me training here,” Ryan told BBC Radio Derby.
Mayer took her phone out at Friday's fiery news conference and read a message where – she says – Ryan apologized for not speaking to her before joining the gym.
“Don't try and backtrack now, just be straight up. Just own it,” Mayer told Ryan.
The pair have known each other since their amateur days but Ryan says there is now a “genuine dislike”.
Ryan has won seven pro fights, having avenged her only career loss to Erica Anabella Faris in 2022. She retained her WBO welterweight crown in Sheffield in March with an impressive fourth-round stoppage win against fellow Briton Terri Harper. But the last time Ryan fought in the USA she was denied the chance to unify the division in a controversial draw with Jessica McCaskill.
“I'm putting myself into a situation where some people might think it's crazy. But to be great, you've got to be crazy,” she said.
Mayer is a former unified world champion at super-featherweight but has had mixed fortunes since moving up in weight. Her last outing was a controversial points loss to IBF welterweight champion Natasha Jonas in Liverpool in January.
“I've never been whooped, not for a single round. Boxing needs more of people like me,” Mayer said. “Keep going out there, challenging yourself and putting fights on that everyone is excited to see. I'm not going anywhere. I'll hang up the gloves when I hang up the gloves.”
