Trainer dust-up leads to harsh words between Sandy Ryan and Mikaela Mayer

There’s little respect left between Sandy Ryan and Mikaela Mayer — and not just because they’ll be fighting this Friday, when Ryan will defend her WBO welterweight title against Mayer.

That’s because Mayer feels that Ryan stole her trainer, Kay Koroma.

“Koroma told Mayer that Ryan would only be training with one of his assistants,” the New York Post reported. “But Mayer […] then saw Ryan working with Koroma in the gym and realized she was being told one thing by Koroma and Ryan another.”

That led to some harsh words between the two 147-pounders on Wednesday at the final press conference ahead of their fight, which will headline at the Madison Square Garden Theater and will air on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+, with the broadcast beginning at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time (3:30 a.m. BST). The show’s promoter, Top Rank, has also been leaning into the drama to sell this fight.

“We’ve known each other since [the] amateur days. I was on the Great Britain team, she was on the USA team, and we used to do training camps and spar,” Ryan said at the press conference. “I’ve always respected her as a fighter, and I’ve always said that. I don’t respect her as a person now with how she’s been leading up to this fight.”

Mayer responded:

“I mean, we do know each other from the amateur days. She said she respected me. Then you would think I’d get some type of… ‘Hey, Mikaela, guess what? I’m coming to train in America, at your gym, with your coaches and your team. Like, aren’t you excited?’ None of that happened. So, obviously, in my mind, she knew she was doing something a little bit shady. She knew there was going to be some problems with that. And she knew I was at welterweight. It was no secret that I was at welterweight. I was slowly moving up over the year.”

That’s not how Ryan sees things. To Ryan, Mayer wasn’t yet in the same weight class when the 31-year-old from Derby arrived at Koroma’s gym.

“The first time I came over to America was for the Jessica McCaskill fight, and Mikaela was not at 147 then, so what she’s just said there, I’ll let you all decide on your opinion,” Ryan said.

Ryan had picked up the vacant WBO belt in April 2023 after it was stripped from McCaskill. Five months later, she challenged McCaskill, formerly the undisputed welterweight champion and still at the time the lineal champ, in September 2023. The fight ended as a split draw, though some felt Ryan deserved the victory. Ryan stopped Terri Harper this March to move to 7-1-1 (3 KOs),

Mayer has moved up in weight over the years. She turned pro after competing in the 2016 Olympics and went on to become a unified titleholder at junior lightweight. After losing to Alycia Baumgardner in a 2022 fight for three world titles at 130, Mayer left that division behind. She made one appearance apiece at lightweight (a decision over Lucy Wildheart in April 2023) and junior welterweight (a points win over Silvia Borto in September 2023t). This January, Mayer arrived at welterweight and lost a split decision to IBF titleholder Natasha Jonas. The 34-year-old from the United States is 19-2 (5 KOs)

Mayer would have been at 140 when Ryan joined up with Koroma. That’s just one division away from welterweight, which Mayer officially moved to months later.

“I never came over here to trouble Mikaela. I came over here to better my own career,” Ryan said. “You see a lot of fighters — top-end fighters, U.K. fighters — come over to America because the training is great here. The sparring is great. The trainers are great. You see fighters doing that to better their career, and that’s exactly what I did.”

Although Mayer clearly remains upset about the situation, she’s glad that it brought her to her new trainer, Kofi Jantuah, who fought as a pro from 1993 through 2009 between welterweight and middleweight. Jantuah is best known for wins over Daniel Santos and Marco Antonio Rubio, and losses to Kassim Ouma, Arthur Abraham and Dmitry Pirog.

“This was all really a blessing in disguise,” Mayer said. “Like, I should thank Sandy, honestly, because I had to reroute everything, and I feel like I’m in a better position for it. I have Kofi Jantuah in my corner, who I’m extremely happy with. And they say you can’t learn so much at this stage in your career, but that’s not true for me. I always feel like I’m growing and getting better. We put in some good months together, so I’m excited to go out there and show that.” 

David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2 and @UnitedBoxingPod. He is the co-host of the United Boxing Podcast. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.