Mikaela Mayer wins title from Sandy Ryan after paint attack controversy

Mikaela Mayer took the WBO welterweight title from Sandy Ryan in a fantastic action main event tonight in New York, winning the belt on majority decision scores over 10 rounds.

One card came back even at 95-95, with Mayer taking the other two on scores of 96-94 and 97-93. Bad Left Hook unofficially scored the fight 95-95.

Mayer (20-2, 5 KO) sort of felt due to actually get the nod in a close, high-level fight like this one, as she’d come up on the short end of debatable decisions against Alycia Baumgardner and Natasha Jonas in the past.

The main story here is nothing about paint and pants, no matter what the broadcast focused on during the undercard, nor is it much about which corner trainer Kay Koroma was in. What should be remembered was that this was a terrific fight between two hard-charging battlers who went back-and-forth and showcased their guts and determination over the full bout.

Mayer, 34, is now a two-division world champion, having previously won titles as a super featherweight. Ryan (7-2-1, 3 KO) will likely be on the hunt for an immediate rematch, and given how good of a fight this was and the fact that there’s probably nothing bigger for either of them to do instead, it would be welcome, though that will come down to what Mayer wants to do.

“It was similar to how I thought it would go. I respected Sandy as a boxer, she has a big pedigree, but I knew I was going to beat her to the punch, that I was faster and sharper,” Mayer said. “I picked it up halfway through the fight like I always do, she just couldn’t handle my timing. I felt like I won the fight, I’m just glad I got the right decision this time.”

“She’s probably the strongest person I’ve ever boxed, not so much in her (punches), but you could feel it in her body,” Mayer continued. “But skill beats strength. … I was landing my combinations at will. I was catching her coming in every time.”

Asked about the animosity between the two, Mayer said, “I think through all the ups and downs the one thing I took from all that was experience. I’ve had to experience all types of emotions. I took that into this type of fight. I know when that bell rings, it’s all in the past.”

Mayer says her goal is to go undisputed at 147 lbs. “I feel like I’m stronger than ever, still in my prime, and I’m coming for all the champions.”

Mayer did not rule out a rematch, though: “I’m here for what the fans want, if the fans demand a rematch and the money’s right, we can do it. Otherwise, there’s plenty of girls at welterweight that I want to challenge myself against. Either way, you’re not going to see me in an easy fight, I want the biggest and best.”

Ryan led off discussing the paint attack — she had paint thrown on her outside of her hotel when leaving for the arena — in her first comments, and continues to believe that Mayer’s team were responsible.

“Obviously, I’m disappointed. I’m not taking nothing away from the decision, but before coming to the venue, I had a hit-and-run, and that was definitely set up. I’m taking nothing away from (her) win, but it unsettled me,” Ryan said.

“I was, like, shook up. It threw me off a bit in my game plan, because I just wanted to fight. … I was obviously pushing it too hard. But it’s nice to fight in America again, but I just don’t like the circumstances of what happened to me before the fight.”

“I think we put on a great fight,” she continued. “The fans liked it. It was a great fight, but yeah. … I’ve been respectful to her, it’s a shame she hasn’t been to me. But that’s who she is, isn’t it? … I’ll take a rematch.”

Xander Zayas UD-10 Damian Sosa

Zayas improves to 20-0 (12 KO) with a clean sweep on all three scorecards, and he was quite good tonight in a “dominated the task at hand” sort of way, even if nothing he did leapt off the screen in a “something special” way.

That said, being able to almost cruise control at this level at 22 isn’t nothing, and it was clear he respected Sosa (25-3, 12 KO) as a tough guy if not a particular danger to beat him. Zayas wants to move up in class, but Top Rank have taken a slow-and-steady approach, which isn’t the worst thing, just what they’ve been doing. And he’s passing the tests with relative ease to this point, and could be someone who really shines when the opponent does present a real threat.

Bruce Carrington MD-10 Sulaiman Segawa

While the performance was hardly the dominance that Carrington, Top Rank, or ESPN would have wanted to see, this may be a blessing at least slightly in disguise, as Carrington got a nice reality check about levels against Segawa.

Carrington (13-0, 8 KO) had a tough night here, winning on two cards of 97-93, with the third even at 95-95, which is also what ESPN’s Mark Kriegel scored the fight. It was a close one, really could have gone either way, and another fine showing for Segawa (17-5-1, 6 KO), who is a better fighter than his record would tell you and absolutely earned another good chance with this outing. Even if he tops out at “gatekeeper,” he’s a legitimate one.