Though last night’s fight between bitter female rivals Mikaela Mayer and Sandy Ryan was a very good one, the fight that saw Mayer take the WBO welterweight title from Ryan via majority decision was full of action and drama, the big talking point immediately prior to the fight, as well as after it, focused on the quite shocking paint attack Ryan was the victim of in New York.
As fans may be aware, Britain’s Ryan was attacked by an unknown assailant as she stepped outside of her hotel, and a bucket of red paint was thrown at her, with plenty of the paint covering the WBO champ. Shook up, of course, and advised not to go ahead with the fight (as promoter Eddie Hearn said, amongst other things, what if the paint had gone into Ryan’s eyes? This perhaps the assailant’s intention?) Ryan instead fought incredibly well, losing via razor-thin decision in a fight that could have gone either way.
A rematch seems to be the only fair thing to do now, and hopefully, Californian Mayer will be a true champ and give Ryan a return fight. There is real bad blood between these two, the feud started, we think, when Mayer accused Ryan of “stealing her training team,” a claim Ryan denies. In comparison, Ryan accused Mayer of being a trash-talker. Last night’s fight had seen a hot build-up, let’s put it that way.
Mayer has absolutely denied having anything at all to do with the paint attack, with the new WBO champion saying she would “never go that far.” But Ryan, via a statement on social media, makes it clear she feels she knows who was behind the cowardly attack.
“Still trying to come to terms with what happened last night, I know I shouldn’t have fought after I was attacked after leaving my hotel, but I couldn’t let them win like that,” Ryan wrote. “I was fighting off empty and still felt I won the fight. We have obtained the CCTV and are in contact with the NYPD. It’s pretty obvious what happened, and the truth will be set free shortly. You tried to ruin my career, but trust me, it’s only just begun.”
Just who the “you” who tried to ruin Ryan’s career is remains a mystery at this point, and it is to be hoped that Mayer is telling the truth when she says she had no knowledge of what was about to happen to her opponent as she came out of he hotel – and to make it absolutely clear, we have NO reason to believe Mayer is lying. Hopefully the truth will come out here. And again, hopefully Ryan gets that rematch.
Now 7-2-1(3), 31 year old Ryan was making the third defence of the WBO belt, having won it, in just her seventh fight, last April. 34 year old Mayer is now 20-2(5) and she is a former unified champion at super-featherweight, as well as a former interim WBC champ at lightweight.
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