Mikaela Mayer says Sandy Ryan was “easily flustered” by a bizarre paint attack and has vowed to expose her rival’s “weak mentality” ahead of their rematch.
Ryan was splashed with red paint as she left her hotel just hours before her first world title fight against Mayer, which ended in a majority decision victory for the American at Madison Square Garden in New York in September.
The duo will resume their heated rivalry in a return bout, with the WBO welterweight title again at stake in Las Vegas in the early hours of Sunday, live on Sky Sports, and Mayer has aimed another verbal attack at her British opponent.
Mikaela Mayer faces Sandy Ryan again this weekend, live on Sky Sports
“I think Sandy has a pretty weak mentality. I think she overthinks a lot, she stresses out a lot,” said Mayer, who became embroiled in a row after accusing Ryan of taking her training team last year.
“The way she reacted to the paint thing and taking a photo shoot and all that, I can tell that she’s easily flustered. That’s not good. At the end of the day, this sport is all mental, so you’ve got to have your head right.
“I didn’t really say anything that wasn’t true. I just hit her with some facts and if that flusters her then she knows why, because it’s the truth.”
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After an epic first fight that was watched by record-breaking audiences a rematch between Mikaela Mayer and Sandy Ryan was inevitable
Mayer hopes there are no further controversial incidents ahead of their second fight.
“I think she’s realised that was not me, despite our rivalry,” Mayer told Sky Sports.
“Neither one of us wanted to jeopardise that fight from happening obviously. It was such a big fight at Madison Square Garden.
“I think she came to her senses. They got the footage back. We all saw the footage. Just some random guy who was sitting in a car behind her and came up and threw paint.
“It’s a mystery to this day. Hopefully nothing like that happens going into this next fight.”
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Highlights of the WBO welterweight title bout between Sandy Ryan and Mikaela Mayer.
Ryan, who is aiming to regain the WBO belt, admits she struggled to regain her composure after the paint attack.
“It did have an effect because I fought with emotion and anger as the people that know me, they’ve seen that,” Ryan told Sky Sports.
“I’ve not really reflected back on it. I don’t really think about it now. I look ahead but yeah it wasn’t a great situation to be involved in how it panned out.”
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Mikaela Mayer and Sandy Ryan reflect on their thrilling first fight in New York
The Derby boxer has revealed the additional precautions that were taken as she arrived at Madison Square Garden.
“The second time going to the venue, then we had a security guard that turned up,” she said.
“The only time it was kind of a little bit scary was when he was on the phone to his other security guards in the venue saying, ‘I’ve got Sandy Ryan here, we’re about to pull up in three minutes. Make sure you’ve got the doors open and security there.’
“He was like, ‘Sandy, when I get out, I want you to stay in the car. I’ll open your door and I want you to stay on my left shoulder.’ I thought I was in a movie.
“But then you got into the venue and into the changing room and it was fight time, so it was a bit crazy really.”
Watch Mikaela Mayer vs Sandy Ryan live on Sky Sports from 2am on Sunday morning.
