Las Vegas, Nevada – Mikaela Mayer (21-2, 5 KOs) wants to be considered among the best in women’s boxing. She demonstrated that she is a true champion by convincingly defeating the former WBO welterweight champion Sandy Ryan (7-3-1, 3 KOs) and making the first successful defense of said title. In front of a sold-out crowd at the BleauLive Theater inside the Fontainebleau Las Vegas, Mayer delivered a career defining performance.
Having suffered two debatably close championship losses to Alycia Baumgardner and Natasha Jonas, and then squeezing a tight majority decision victory against Sandy last September, Mikaela made it known she would seek to win convincingly this time around and would leave no doubt who the better boxer was.
In the first match, Mayer outlanded Ryan by only a punch, 186 to 185. But in the rematch, she outlanded her by a wider margin, 178 to 146. Landing 40 more power punches, she did so by controlling the pace of the fight and applying pressure.
Sandy mistakenly changed her strategy for this match, choosing to box on the outside by utilizing lateral movement. Her output significantly decreased from the first match and was less effective as a result. Her best round was the 8th, when she threw the most (57) and landed (24) her best punches of the fight. Sandy performed better when she stayed in the pocket (Compubox) as she did in the first match.
After her victory, Mikaela said she intends to go after undefeated and reigning IBF, WBA, and WBC welterweight champion Lauren Price to become the undisputed champion. That would set up a super fight between two highly skilled boxers. Mikaela said of her third match as a welterweight, “I had been needing to move to welterweight for a long time. So, when I finally did, it just took a good, solid year and a half of hard work. This is where I’m comfortable, and this is where I should have been.” She seems looks much improved under new team trainers Kofi Jantuah and Al Mitchell. She’s now a fight away from topping the division.
Although Sandy had Mayer’s longtime trainer Kay Koroma in her corner for the rematch, she did not gain any tactical advantage. Kay sat out for the first fight out of respect to Mikaela but was present this time around. Throughout fight week, Sandy threw verbal jabs at Mikaela, mocking her, saying that she would have Kay in her corner, and she was no longer in hers. Mayer’s victory puts to rest all the drama and lead-up of the first match and all the bad blood that remained. There were only two women, a boxing ring, and championship glory. Mikaela
prevailed and showed she can compete with any welterweight and now hopes to top the division against the undefeated champion she is now destined to face.
Last Updated on 03/30/2025
Read the full article here
