Mikaela Mayer condemns Sandy Ryan for moving into her training set up, prompting Mayer to leave the gym; Mayer and Ryan fight for the WBO welterweight world championship at the Madison Square Garden Theatre in New York live on Sky Sports in the early hours of Saturday morning
Thursday 26 September 2024 14:05, UK
Mikaela Mayer’s feud with Sandy Ryan has only intensified ahead of their world title fight this weekend.
Mayer challenges Britain's Ryan for the WBO welterweight title at the Madison Square Garden Theatre, live on Sky Sports in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The American has condemned Ryan for working with her trainer, a move that prompted Mayer to leave the gym and bring in a new coach.
"You knew I was coming to 147lbs, why would you move to America and start training under my team? That doesn't make any sense," Mayer declared. "I just don't care for the type of person she is.
"I don't appreciate how coach Kay [Koroma] went about this whole situation but she knew what she was doing also.
"Coach Kay was telling me: I'm not training Sandy, Flick [Savoy, his assistant] is," she continued. "But also Kay should never have allowed her to come into that circle anyway."
Mayer considered that a betrayal of trust: "She's doing what she had to do and I'm doing what I've got to do. For me that's moving on."
She insists Ryan won't benefit from any 'inside information' from her old training team.
"Everyone thinks she has the advantage, training there," Mayer told Sky Sports. "But I know exactly the type of workouts she's going to be doing, exactly what coach Kay is going to have her working on. She's vulnerable in that sense as well."
Although Mayer had worked for a period of years with Koroma, Al Mitchell remains her head coach and she has also brought Kofi Jantuah into her training team.
"Ultimately it was a blessing in a disguise. I seriously levelled up with Kofi in my corner and stepping away from that situation," the American said. "I feel like I've levelled up.
"He's taught me more in the 10 weeks than Kay's taught me in our whole time together."
A unified world champion at super-feather, Mayer is now more settled in the division after first moving up to 147lbs to challenge Natasha Jonas at the start of this year.
Mayer is adamant that she is more dangerous than ever: "I already feel bigger and better and stronger than I've ever felt.
"I'm 34 this year and I've never felt this good, I don't want to talk too much about that but I want people to see it come fight night and they will."
While she does acknowledge Ryan's qualities as a boxer, she warns: "I'm definitely the biggest, toughest opponent she's ever had and it's going to be on a bigger level than she's ever been on.
"I think she's a good fighter but she's only had nine fights," Mayer continued. "I've had to sit and I've had to fight for 10 hard rounds, I've had to box and I've had to move and I've had to do all that. So I am prepared for whatever she thinks she can do to me."
"Mayer is fighting above the weight that she's excelled at and was a champion, so I think this is going to be a big test and Ryan is a good puncher but I want the fight for Mayer," Top Rank president Todd DuBoef told Sky Sports.
"I think it's a 50/50 fight - a really tough fight. I think Mikaela is probably the better boxer but when people start going up in weight things change drastically, but this one I want for her."
Watch Ryan vs Mayer on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports+ from 2am on Saturday morning
