Tonight’s WBO welterweight title fight between defending champion Sandy Ryan and challenger Mikaela Mayer is one of the best matchups of the year in women’s boxing. Not that you’d know it, with all the chatter about the bad blood over Ryan working with Mayer’s longtime (and now former) coach, Kay Koroma.
Frankly, it has overshadowed a great fight at Madison Square Garden’s Theater, but Ryan is determined to not let that outside noise distract her when it matters.
“There’s two great fighters, a massive fight, headlining in New York City at Madison Square Garden; it don’t need no more than that,” said Ryan. “And for certain fights, I believe you just need to be quiet, and you just need to put in the work and show up on fight night, because that will affect your opponent even more, which it is doing. My silence is hurting a lot of people.”
Ryan (7-1-1, 3 KOs) has never been one for extended bouts of trash talk or all the pomp and circumstance that goes along with boxing at the elite level. She’s there to fight, and has been since she turned pro after an impressive amateur career. And whatever sacrifices the 31-year-old from Derby, England, had to make to get to this point in her career – most recently moving to Las Vegas to train – she’ll do it.
“I always traveled the world when I was amateur, when I was on (Team) GB,” she said. “For me, coming away from home, it’s easy because I’ve got a job to do. So it allows me to focus and really lock in on what I need to do, because I don’t have any other errands to do. When I’m back home, it’s do this, do that, go here, go there. Here, I train, I come back to the apartment, I rest, I go again. I think it’s perfect. Especially at the elite level like this, you have to make certain sacrifices, and that’s what I’m doing. For me, coming out to America to train, it’s good. It definitely takes me out of my comfort zone, and that’s what you need. You can’t be in your comfort zone, because you’re never going to progress and succeed in what you want to do.”
As for the Vegas heat, Ryan is not a fan.
“Oh, the heat is horrible,” she said. “I’m in Portugal a lot and it’s hot there, but this is just dry heat and it’s not nice at all. I don’t really stay outside, just as long as I need to. Although (primary coach Emanuel) Flick (Savoy) had me doing sprints in the heat midday, and that is just another level. But yeah, I don’t like the Vegas heat.”
At least fall has arrived in New York City, with a high of 72 forecast for Friday. And hot or not, a win over Mayer (19-2, 5 KOs), a member of the 2016 U.S. Olympic team and a former junior lightweight and interim lightweight champion as a pro, would be the biggest of Ryan’s career. But she’s been fighting killers long before she got this headlining gig in New York City, a philosophy that may not have always worked out but that earned her respect from peers and pundits, nonetheless.
“I’ve always been one to take a challenge and not back down from anything,” said Ryan, who is rated No. 2 by THE RING at 147 pounds. “So every fighter that I’ve been offered to fight, I’ve said yes straight away. And that’s probably why I’m such an easy fighter to deal with. Sometimes I probably need reining in. But I’ll take any opportunity that they put in front of me. The person that I am, I love a challenge, and challenging myself, as well.”
The proof is on her BoxRec page. In just her fourth pro fight, she faced off with a longtime member of THE RING’s pound-for-pound list, Erica Farias, and lost a controversial 10-round split decision in March of 2022. Five months later, she avenged the loss, then closed out the year with a victory over another former world champion in Anahi Ester Sanchez.
In 2023, Ryan won the vacant WBO title by defeating Marie Pier House. Then it was another controversial verdict, this one a draw in Orlando, Florida, with another former pound-for-pound list staple in Jessica McCaskill. But in March of this year, the Derbyshire native took the judges out of it when she stopped Terri Harper in just four rounds. This Friday, she’s a Brit fighting an American in the United States. Will she again look to keep the fight from going to the scorecards?
“That was definitely in the back of my head,” she said of her mindset going into the Harper fight. “This is going to be my second time fighting in America and I’m grateful. I love fighting over here. The first time, I believe I made a lot of fans, a lot of supporters which still follow me now, which is nice. But obviously I’m coming into her backyard. I’m English, she’s American, and yeah, that (going for the finish) is always in the back of my head.”
So is winning. So is keeping her title. So is making a life for herself that didn’t seem possible when she was growing up, especially not after just nine professional fights.
“No, I didn’t think I’d be doing this on my 10th fight, headlining, but everything happened for a reason and I’m here,” said Ryan. “I come from a background that a lot of people don’t know about. I come from nothing, I’ve had to work my way here, nothing given to me. This is all hard work. So yeah, I wasn’t expecting to be here this early, but I’ve worked hard to get myself here. And I don’t want to live the rest of my life where I was, where I grew up. I want a better life for myself, for my future family. That’s my mindset right now. My purpose, it runs deep. I’ve got people I’m doing this for, and for my future. That’s what keeps me going every day in camp. I’m here on my own, on the other side of the world, no friends, no family. It gets lonely, but things like that keep me going.”
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