MIKAELA Mayer is the new WBO welterweight champion, defeating Sandy Ryan by a 10-round majority decision in New York’s Madison Square Garden Theater. It was a hard-fought 20-minute affair, contested at a fast pace. UK judge Bob Williams scored it even at 95-95, overruled by Benoit Roussel (96-94) and Waleska Roldan (97-93).
There was plenty of beef between the pair in the lead-up due to a trainer dispute. The tension ramped up as an unidentified assailant poured paint over Ryan in an unprovoked street attack.
While Ryan was billed as the puncher, Mayer drew first blood with a hard right hand in the opening round. Sandy was making the third defence of the world title against an opponent who had won titles at lower weights.
Ryan tried to close the range all night, but was troubled by Mayer’s fast, long levers. Mayer’s ability to hit the target quickly was the difference in most of the closer rounds. Working with veteran Al Mitchell and former pro Kofi Jantuah in her corner, Mayer suffered a cut in the fifth and was briefly stunned in round six from a left hook. ESPN’s Mark Kriegel namechecked Barrera and Morales when revealing his scorecard in round nine.
While Ryan attempted to downplay the paint attack, she admitted it had left her “unsettled”. This was the Derby woman’s second pro loss as she dipped to 7-2-1 (3 KOs). The new champion improves to 20-2 (5 KOs). Sparkle Lee refereed the contest.
On the undercard, Xander Zayas shut down, outboxed and out-thought Damian Sosa over 10 rounds. The Puerto Rican prospect used his willing opponent’s aggression to secure a 100-90 domination across all three cards.
Upset-minded Sosa had beaten an undefeated prospect in his last outing, but Zayas hammered head and body, busting up and breaking down Sosa, who struggled to close the range and was breathing heavily through the middle sessions. Zayas is now 20-0 (12 KOs), while Sosa fell to 25-3 (12 KOs).
“Too much technical prowess,” said Tim Bradley when assessing Zayas’ ability to stitch Sosa up.
Bruce Carrington defeated Sulaiman Segawa by majority decision after 10 rounds of tough inspection. Two judges scored it 97-93 to the winner, while a third had it even at 95-95. A seventh-round head clash caused a swelling bump on Carrington’s forehead.
The Ugandan ‘Underdawg’ arrived in good form, having defeated world title aspirant Ruben Villa. Carrington was made to work for his win, working out the southpaw’s early “chess match” moves, as described by ESPN’s Tim Bradley, picking quality shots to the body over the distance to prevail. Make no mistake, it was close.
Improving to 13-0 (8 KOs), Carrington thanked Segawa, 17-5-1 (6 KOs), for an educational evening’s work.
