Sandy Ryan vs. Mikaela Mayer: Ryan struck with a paint can before WBO welterweight championship loss to Mayer | Boxing News

Sandy Ryan was hit with a can of red paint before losing her WBO welterweight world title to Mikaela Mayer in New York as she pointed the finger at her rival over the incident.

Tensions had been high before the fight when Mayer accused Ryan of poaching her long-time coaching staff, which Ryan denied. Ryan had said she didn't respect her opponent and accused her of talking “nonsense”.

But the spiteful rivalry escalated when Ryan was splattered with red paint before the fight and then claimed she had been “executed”.

Ryan took the ring at Madison Square Garden as planned, despite her trainer advising her to withdraw from the fight, but lost by majority decision, leaving Mayer as world champion.

Mayer maintained the upper hand in the tense clashes in the ring, securing victory with scores of 97-93 and 96-94, overruling a judge's 95-95 draw – but the paint incident dominated the conversation afterwards.

After the fight, Ryan said: “Before I got to the venue I was in a hit-and-run accident (with paint outside the hotel). And that was definitely planned. I don't take anything away from the victory, but it unsettled me.”

“When I went to the venue I was shocked. And then it took me off my game plan a little bit because I just wanted to fight. And you saw at the beginning of the fight that I handled her jabbing quite well. “I punched her and then started to tackle it, but then obviously I put too much pressure on it.

Mayer “surprised” by the incident: “I would never go that far”

Mayer denied any involvement and later told Sky Sports News: “I was as surprised as everyone else. I was still upstairs waiting for the call that my car was there.”

“I heard paint was thrown at Sandy. I had no idea. I was shocked. I thought it was terrible. I would never go that far.”

“Then I heard she thought it had something to do with me and my team, which is disappointing. Obviously Sandy is my rival and opponent, but I would never go that far.”

“She was adamant that someone from my team had set her up and done this, which is completely wrong, but in my eyes it galvanized her. She was even more aggressive and tried to rip my head off.”

“I don’t know how that affected her. “Obviously it wasn’t cool at all and I wish it hadn’t happened, but when the bell rings, all the debris goes out the window and you take action.”

“I heard after the fight that they almost called off the fight and backed out. This hits me hard country. It is unacceptable.

Mayer's undisputed goal after a “deserved” victory

The well-documented feud and the incident before it caused hostility to spread in the ring.

Mayer's strategy was to avoid Ryan's hooks, but left himself open to counter-rights and leftists while Ryan worked to keep up the pressure.

It paid off for the Brit when a hook in the sixth round tripped Mayer, but the American responded with a powerful counterattack in the eighth round.

Mayer said after the fight: “It was similar to what I imagined. I’ve always said before that I respect Sandy as a boxer.”

“She has a great pedigree, as do I, but I knew I would beat her to it. I knew I was faster. I knew I was sharper. And that’s exactly what I did.”

“There is no rematch clause, but you know me; “I’m always ready to give the fans the fight they want to see, so we’ll go back and talk and do what we have to do.”

“There are a lot of great fights for me at welterweight. Everyone knows my goal, which is to end up where I started and become undisputed.”