Considering the pre-fight heat between the two camps over Ryan's trainer moving to her from training Mayer, it was hard to believe that the fight would live up to the level of anger the two fighters exchanged but it managed to and yet before the bell, things managed to get even stranger!
As Ryan was preparing to leave her hotel to go to Madison Square Garden, an unidentified attacker threw an entire can of red paint over her torso and legs with the can reported to have been thrown into her stomach.
Ryan's trainers were adamant that Ryan not fight but she insisted on defending her title and speaking to ESPN's Mark Kriegel, Ryan gave a pro wrestling-type interview where she cast the blame on Mayer, who naturally said she had nothing to with the attack.
After the fight, Ryan tweeted a thinly veiled accusation towards Mayer that she had the hotel cameras that would confirm the identity of her attacker.
For all the drama, the fight was better with swings of momentum throughout, and yet the fight was technically sound and not only an entertaining brawl with Mayer landing the straighter and sharper punches from the outside with Ryan walking Mayer down and landing the more powerful punches, especially in round six when Ryan buzzed Mayer with a right hand.
I scored the fight even at 95-95, as did one judge, and would have been the best verdict but two judges scored for Mayer 96-94 and 97-93.
96-94 either way is very acceptable but 97-93 for Mayer (or Ryan) is a bit excessive.
There is not a rematch clause but considering the closeness of the fight, the great action, and the conditions that Ryan fought under, a rematch is needed, even the WBO has to get involved to mandate it.
Mayer-Ryan will hopefully be remembered as a terrific fight and the problems away from the ring will fade with time.
Mayer's career rival (at least before Friday night) unified junior lightweight champion Alycia Baumgartner returned to action after a fourteen-month absence due to PED problems at a television studio in suburban Atlanta.
Baumgartner didn't take an easy comeback bout either facing former lightweight champion Delfine Persoon and just as the fight was starting to warm up, the fight suddenly ended as in the fourth round, Baumgartner's head smashed into the right eyelid of Persoon and caused a cut bad enough to end the fight as a no-contest.
Had the fight continued into round five, the fight would have gone to the judges' scorecards, and Baumgartner would have been ahead on the scorecards with a first-round knockdown when a Baumgartner left hook caused Persoon's glove to brush the canvas.
Persoon was doing much better in the third and fourth rounds but even if a judge had given Persoon both of those rounds, the knockdown would have given the edge to Baumgartner.
Considering that Baumgartner's promoter (Matchroom) had lost a purse bid for this fight and the media production was on something called Brinx.TV, which I had never heard of before I was writing the fight preview, it was fair to consider how the winner of a major title unification fight (Baumgartner-Mayer) has disappeared from sight while the loser has continued to stay in the news and fighting.
Baumgartner has challenged Clarissa Shields to meet her at 147 pounds for what would be a meeting of two stars but Shields fought at heavyweight in her last match and would have problems making that weight.
There were two male fights as the supporting features in New York City for Ryan-Mayer with the publicized fighters each winning but one of them barely squeezing by a gritty opponent.
Junior middleweight Xander Zayas dominated Damian Sosa in the best performance of his career, doing everything but knocking down Sosa on his way to a unanimous decision victory.
Zayas won every round on all three judges' cards and mine by scores of 100-90 against a veteran fighter who was expected to make Zayas work for his victory.
Zayas called for a "top five" contender after the fight but even after this bout, I think Zayas could use another fight or two before making the leap to the next level of competition.
Featherweight Bruce "Shu Shu" Carrington has been bragged about by Top Rank as a future champion and even mentioned as an eventual opponent for Naoya Inoue if Inoue makes the move to 126 pounds.
Carrington has risen to the top spot in the WBA rankings despite not fighting a world-class opponent to date but Top Rank attempted to get some of that experience by slotting Carrington against Sulaiman Segawa in a ten-rounder.
Boxing Challenge
Vince Samano: 75 Pts (3)
Segawa upset Ruben Villa, who was ranked number one by the WBO, by decision in his last fight and was expected to give Carrington his toughest test to date and the veteran did just that as he pushed the local fighter to his limit with Carrington emerging with a majority decision win that some think he didn't deserve.
Two scores were for Carrington at 97-93 with the other even at 95-95, which was my score.
The problem for Segawa was that he gave away the final round and the close early rounds, Segawa didn't throw enough to overcome Carrington's hometown and promotional advantages.
Carrington should learn plenty from the severe test posed by Segawa and it will help him prepare whenever he receives his first title try.
As for Segawa, he will be a dangerous foe for anyone in the top ten after his win over Ruben Villa and the close loss to Carrington, so he should have few problems finding fights with his recent form.
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