Sandy Ryan can make up for her narrow defeat in the first fight by winning her eagerly anticipated rematch with Mikaela Mayer.
Boxing betting tips: Saturday night
2pts Sandy Ryan to win by decision 13/10 (bet365)
If there was one rematch that had to happen in 2025, it was Mikaela Mayer versus SANDY RYAN.
Thankfully, we get that in Las Vegas on Saturday night, live on Sky Sports, and the stage looks set for another classic.
Their Fight of the Year contender in New York six months ago was more than enough for the fans to demand a return, but their already heated rivalry became more intense following a bizarre pre-fight incident.
The talking point ahead of their September clash was Mayer’s claims that Ryan had stolen her coach, but things went up another level just hours before the first bell when Ryan was attacked upon leaving her Manhattan hotel for the fight and she had a can of red paint thrown over her. Panic ensued as the attacker fled and it left Team Ryan with a big clean up job before they could focus on the job at hand.
Ryan was defending her WBO welterweight title that night and entered the contest on the back of a career-best performance, after stopping domestic rival Terri Harper in four rounds. Mayer was bidding to become a two-weight world champion, having previously unified titles at super featherweight, and was considered unlucky by many not to have picked up a belt at 147lb already when losing a razor-thin split decision to Natasha Jonas earlier in 2024.
Mayer started fast in the Big Apple, as she moved well and peppered Ryan with her sharp jab and repeatedly beat her opponent to the punch in the entertaining opening rounds.
The champion then began to have success as she closed the gap and forced Mayer into a fight, which sparked some furious exchanges and neither boxer was willing to back down. Ryan looked to have found her groove down the stretch and was the clear aggressor in the later rounds, but Mayer gave as good as she got and the pair traded leather at a frantic pace until the last bell.
With one judge scoring it a draw and the other two favouring Mayer, the challenger got the nod and, while it was very close, it felt the right result to me.
Having narrowly lost on the scorecards to Alycia Baumgardner (2022) and the aforementioned Jonas in her only two defeats, nobody could begrudge Mayer getting the nod in a tight one. However, Ryan has also had her share of bad luck on the cards, as she clearly outboxed Jessica McCaskill in their unification bout but, in possibly the worst decision of 2023, a split draw was announced.
And therein lies the problem with females boxing two-minute rounds – at the highest level, they can be very hard to separate, and each round becomes a bit of a sprint. A third minute is needed to clearly judge ladies of this calibre and, until that happens, contentious decisions will continue to be a regular fixture in world title fights.
It wasn’t just the judges who could barely split them in September; there was nothing between the pair in the betting either and it is a similar story for the return, with Ryan (7-2-1) a best of 10/11 and Mayer (20-2) a top price of 11/10.
Given their styles, quality and the genuine bad blood here, another cracker seems assured and, as odds of 1/6 about it going the distance suggest, we should get a full 10 rounds of entertainment again.
The speed and footwork of Mayer were key to her victory first time around, especially early doors, and she impressively stuck to her gameplan of exiting to her left to avoid Ryan’s renowned left-hook. The champion seems very confident about being able to repeat the dose for another decision victory, which can be backed at 11/8.
However, it’s hard to escape the fact that the paint attack adversely affected Ryan’s performance in some way, especially given how slow out of the blocks she was. The 31-year-old from Derby came on strong down the stretch and, if she picks up where she left off at the end of round 10, then Mayer could be in trouble.
Also, Mayer has much more mileage on the clock and, now 34, the possibility of her long career catching up with her soon is very real, especially after a war like her last outing.
I tipped Ryan to win on points at 13/10 in September and felt a little hard done by when I saw what she had to go through before even getting to the arena. I am sticking with the Brit this time, by the same method at the exact same price, to gain revenge. She needs to start quicker but I fully expect her to do so, and she can pour it on in the second half to regain the title by a close, but deserved, decision.
CLICK HERE to back Ryan by decision with Sky Bet
Posted at 1315 BST on 28/03/25
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