This weekend belongs to women's boxing. Two title fights took place in New York and Georgia on Friday, and a third will happen in Sheffield, England, on Saturday.
On Friday at The Theater inside Madison Square Garden in New York, Mikaela Mayer defeated Sandy Ryan to win the WBO welterweight title.
Ryan was traveling to the U.S for the second time in a year to face Mayer. Ryan had 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.
On Friday night, as Ryan left her hotel for the venue, she was struck by an open red paint can from an unidentified man. She said she felt something "smash" into her stomach, and then saw a man in a hoodie run to a car and drive away. Ryan was uninjured and made her way to the venue after changing clothes in her hotel room.
Ryan and her team told ESPN they believed it was a member of Mayer's camp, an accusation Mayer denied.
"Mikaela Mayer is going to get it," Ryan said. "It was definitely a setup from her team. What else would it be?"
Mayer lost her WBO and IBF junior lightweight titles to Baumgardner by split decision in October 2022. She 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 again and lost a split decision to Natasha Jonas in January challenging for the IBF welterweight title.
Also on Friday, Baumgardner put her WBC junior lightweight on the line against Delfine Persoon at Trilith Studios Town Stage in Fayetteville, Georgia, but the fight ended in a no contest in the fourth round following an accidental headbutt that left Persoon with a gash over her right eye. This was Baumgardner's first fight since testing positive for two banned substances during a voluntary anti-doping test ahead of her July 23 bout against Christina Linardatou (decision was overturned).
Baumgardner (15-1-1 NC, 7 KOs), of Woodland Hills, California, became the undisputed junior lightweight champion by defeating Elhem Mekhaled by unanimous decision on Feb. 4, 2023. She made one defense against Linardatou.
Persoon (49-3-1 NC, 19 KOs), of West-Vlaanderen, Belgium, is a two-time lightweight champion. She lost her belt to Katie Taylor, attempting to unify all four lightweight belts in June 2019.
Saturday in Sheffield, England, Rhiannon Dixon puts her WBO lightweight title on the line against current WBA junior middleweight champion Terri Harper (DAZN, 2 p.m. ET).
Dixon (10-0, 1 KO), of Warrington, England, won the belt by defeating Karen Elizabeth Carabajal by unanimous decision in an all-action bout in April, when both fighters suffered cuts. This will be her first defense.
Harper (14-2-2, 6 KOs), of Doncaster, England, is moving down three divisions for this fight. The last time Harper fought as a lightweight was in March 2022, a unanimous decision victory over Yamila Belen Abellaneda.
Mayer defeats Ryan, wins WBO welterweight title
Sandy Ryan explains why she thinks someone from opponent Mikaela Mayer's team threw red paint on her.
Mikaela Mayer became a champion in a second division with a victory over Sandy Ryan to claim the WBO welterweight world title Friday night by scorecards of 95-95, 97-93 96-94 in an all-action bout at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Ryan (7-2-1, 3 KOs), of Derbyshire, England, was a slight favorite coming into the fight (-125 per ESPN BET), and she showed it by attacking Mayer from the start.
"It was similar to how I thought it would go," Mayer said after the 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 going to beat her to the punch. I knew I was faster. I knew I was sharper. And that's exactly what I did."
Ryan's jab looked like a power punch during the first few rounds. Mayer (20-2, 5 KOs) was setting up her combinations with her own jab, but it was a difference in power. Ryan's right hand was landing, and Mayer was forced to clinch a few times and to fight off her back foot most of the fight.
Round 4 was a classic, with both fighters throwing hard punches. Mayer landed 17 power punches in that round alone, 12 for Ryan. But it was Mayer who came out with a small cut over her left eye.
Ryan hurt Mayer at the start of the sixth round with a beautiful left hook to the body, a right cross to the face followed by a left hook to the head. Ryan landed 23 power punches in that round against 17 for Mayer. Mayer rebounded in the eighth round, landing her powerful right hand, and seemed to get stronger in the last two rounds.
It was a very close fight, and by the end Mayer landed 186 punches compared to Ryan's 185, while chants of "USA" came from the stands.
"I picked it up halfway through the fight, like I always do," Mayer said. "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.
"She's probably definitely 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 was trying to push me around the ring. But, you know, skill beats strength."
During the news conference Wednesday, Mayer said the rivalry with Ryan was personal, after her trainer, Kay Koroma, with whom she has been training since her amateur days, started training Ryan last year.
On Friday night, as Ryan left her hotel for the venue, she was struck by an open red paint can by an unidentified man. She said she felt something "smash" into her stomach, and then saw a man in a hoodie run to a car and drive away. Ryan was uninjured and made her way to the venue, after changing clothes in her hotel room.
Ryan and her team told ESPN they believe it was a member of Mayer's camp, an accusation Mayer denied.
Mayer, of Woodland Hills, California, now living in Colorado Springs, Colorado, was fighting in the U.S. for the first time since April 2022.
Mayer first won the WBO junior lightweight world title by defeating Ewa Brodnicka by unanimous decision in 2020. After one successful defense, she added the IBF title with a one-sided unanimous decision against Maiva Hamadouche in November 2021. She lost the belts by split decision a year later in a close fight against Alycia Baumgardner. Following two successful fights at lightweight, Mayer moved to welterweight to challenge Natasha Jonas for her IBF world title, losing another split decision.
"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," Ryan said after the fight. "I'm not taking nothing away from the win, but it unsettled me.
"Walking to the venue, I was shook up. And then it threw me off a bit of my game plan because I just wanted to fight. And you seen 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."
The victory could open the door for Mayer to unify titles against IBF champion Natasha Jonas or WBA titleholder Lauren Price. Jonas and Price are promoted by Boxxer's Ben Shalom, who also promotes Ryan. Ivana Habazin is the WBC champion at 147 pounds.
Where can I watch the Ryan-Mayer fight card replay?
The Ryan vs. Mayer fight card replay can be seen on ESPN+.
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How do I stream the fights?
The fights will be available to stream on mobile devices using the ESPN App.
Full Ryan vs. Mayer card results:
Title fight: Mikaela Mayer defeated Sandy Ryan by MD10 to win the WBO women's welterweight title
Xander Zayas defeated Damian Sosa by UD10 in a junior middleweight bout
Bruce "Shu Shu" Carrington defeated Sulaiman Segawa by MD10 in a featherweight bout
Vito Mielnicki Jr. defeated Khalil El Harraz by MD10 in a junior middleweight bout
Floyd Diaz defeated Mario Hernandez by UD8 in a bantamweight bout
Elvis Rodriguez defeated Kendo Castaneda by UD10 in a junior welterweight bout
Delante "Tiger" Johnson defeated Yomar Alamo by UD8 in a junior welterweight bout
Rohan Polanco defeated Marcelino Lopez by TKO6 in a junior welterweight bout
Baumgardner vs. Persoon card results:
Title fight: Alycia Baumgardner vs. Delfine Persoon ended in a no contest. Baumgardner retained her WBC women's junior lightweight title
The full Dixon vs. Harper card results:
Title fight: Terri Harper defeated Rhiannon Dixon by UD10 to win the WBO women's lightweight title
Peter McGrail defeated Brad Foster by KO2 in a junior featherweight bout
George Liddard defeated George Davey by TKO5 in a middleweight bout
Galal Yafai defeated Sergio Orozco Oliva by TKO3 in a flyweight bout
Jimmy Sains defeated Omir Rodriguez by TKO2 in a middleweight bout
Giorgio Visioli defeated Diego Lagos by TKO3 in a junior lightweight bout
Ibraheem Sulaimaan defeated Kevin Trana by TD4 in a lightweight bout
Brandon Scott defeated Calum Turnbull by TD6 in a junior featherweight bout
Josh Babb defeated Kelvin Madjid by UD6 in a bantamweight bout
Marco Simmonds defeated Connan Murray by UD6 in a junior middleweight bout
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