MIKAELA Mayer defends her WBO welterweight title in a rematch against Sandy Ryan tomorrow evening. Their first meeting took place last September in New York. This time, they move to Las Vegas to settle the score.
There’s a bit of beef in the background of this one after the pair fought to a majority decision in Mayer’s favour. The backdrop included a bucket of red paint lobbed over Ryan as she cruised the streets of the ‘Big Apple’.
As the girls get set to rumble, let’s see who’s part of the supporting cast in the Fountainebleu.
Brian Norman Jr vs. Derrieck Cuevas
Fans of Brian Norman could be forgiven for expecting to see their man in a big fight. After breaking down and stopping Giovani Santillan, the likes of Jaron Ennis were being mentioned as a possible future foe.
Norman has improved and shown added patience and judgement of range when outlasting Santillan, who arrived off the back of his own career-best win over Alexis Rocha. That’s in the past, and Cuevas is in the future. The Puerto Rican holds a 27-1-1 record and has won his last four outings by KO, so he could be dangerous early.
Bruce Carrington vs. Enrique Vivas
‘Shu Shu’ Carrington is closing in on the WBC featherweight champion Stephen Fulton. For a while, he was being linked to Naoya Inoue, but the promoters have cooled on that as their man engages in another eliminator.
Carrington must remain focused on the prize by getting rid of what’s in front of him: Enrique Vivas. The American-based Mexican has been beaten three times but never halted. All of the losses have come at the fists of fringe contenders. Carrington should win. A stoppage would be a mini-statement.
Delante Johnson vs. Kendo Castaneda
Took about tough men, Kendo Castaneda was last seen going 10 hard rounds with Kenneth Sims Jr just six weeks ago. The Texan suffered defeat number eight of his career and 2020 Olympian Delante ‘Tiger’ Johnson will be hoping to dish out his ninth.
Emiliano Vargas vs. Giovannie Gonzalez
Now at 12-0 with 10 knockouts, Emiliano, the son of Fernando Vargas, is just 20 years old and calls himself ‘El General’. Larry Fryers was dismissed in five last time out. Gonzalez arrives off the back of a loss to an undefeated fighter and has a bit of a dig.
Best of the Rest
There is not much else on the card, according to BoxRec. That’s unusual for Top Rank who usually have a strong preliminary portion. Emmanuel Chance makes his bantamweight debut against fellow novice Miguel Guzman (1-0). Dedrick Crocklem (also 1-0) takes on Dionne Ruvalcaba over four rounds at super-featherweight.
