Mikaela Mayer claimed the WBO welterweight championship on Friday, upsetting Sandy Ryan by majority decision after 10 rounds to punctuate a controversial evening.
Mayer improves to 20-2 with five KOs after the victory. One judge scored the bout 95-95, while the other two scored it 96-94 and 97-93 in favor of the American.
Just hours before the event, Ryan (7-2-1, 3 KOs) had red paint thrown at her. The incident occurred on the street as Ryan left her hotel to travel to Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater.
“I left my hotel room (to) meet my team downstairs. There are two cars there waiting for my team,” Ryan recounted to ESPN. “I open the doors, ready to get in. I turned around to go walk into the car, next thing I (saw) somebody smashed me in my stomach, and I looked down; it was a tin of paint. Looked up (and saw) a guy with a hood up running to a car, and then they drove off.”
After arriving at MSG, Ryan accused Mayer’s team of being behind the assault.
“It’s got to be,” she said. “I’m from the UK. Who’s gonna hit-and-run me? Who knew what time I was coming out of my hotel to come to the venue? Who knew someone’s in the hotel saying, ‘She’s coming now.’ They know what time I’m coming out of the venue with my team.”
Ryan further addressed the situation Saturday morning, saying she should’ve withdrawn from the fight.
“I know I shouldn’t have fought after I was attacked leaving my hotel, but I couldn’t let them win like that,” Ryan wrote in a statement on X. “I was fighting off empty and still felt I won the fight.
“We have obtained the CCTV (footage) and are in contact with the (New York Police Department). 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.”
Tension had been building ahead of Friday’s Ryan-Mayer showdown, as the two pugilists have a bitter rivalry. Mayer felt betrayed by longtime coach Kay Koroma, who began working with Ryan last year, per ESPN’s James Regan.
