One of the best weeks for women’s boxing this year took place last week, when no less than three major televised cards were headlined by female fighters.

On Friday, Mikaela Mayer and Sandy Ryan clashed for what would ultimately be the best fight of the weekend. It was a classic duel between power and speed, and Mayer’s footwork and hand speed finally won the day. It was a close affair that warrants a rematch, especially since it’s a great fit for both of them given the investment in trash talk that they put in during the pre-fight hype.

Thanks to this victory, Mayer was proposed to become the new No. 2 at welterweight, swapping places with Ryan who now goes to No. 3.

“The fight between Mayer and Ryan was very close, but I think Mayer was the slight winner, although the cards in her favor should have been closer,” said Irene Deserti, editor of Rincon Rojo magazine. Her feelings were echoed by radio host Cynthia Conte, who said that “it was a very close fight and should have a rematch. They would throw down again and there would be lots of money behind a rematch.”

Others expressed doubts. “I thought Mayer defeated Baumgardner and Jonas earlier in her career, but she needed to do more to take the titles from Ryan,” said columnist Mark Jones. “Ryan won that fight even though her corner team was amateurs and did her no favors. The fight should’ve been canceled after an unknown assailant threw paint on her while leaving the hotel,” said the writer, in reference to an incident that was definitely not addressed properly by the powers behind the fight.

“It was a great pleasure to see such a quality battle between Mayer and Ryan,” said Japanese writer Yuriko Miyata. “Both gave it all they have, and I saw Ryan won close despite that incident.” Boxing historian Malissa Smith, who was in attendance for the fight, said that “Mayer was crisp with her execution, while Ryan was able to assert her power in the later rounds, though I felt that Mayer’s feet and slick use of the uppercut gave her the edge in the scoring.”

On Saturday, we saw a terrible ending for what was shaping up as a demolition for Alycia Baumgardner, who showed no signs of ring rust and went straight to the neck of the already legendary Delfine Persoon in a 130-pound clash. An accidental cut on Persoon forced the fight to be declared a no-contest, but it was clear that Ring champ Baumgardner was on her way to a clear win.
As a consequence of this result, Baumgardner remains Ring champion and Persoon remains at No. 1 in an otherwise weak division.
“Baumgardner looked good on her return to action, and I think she has no rivals of her stature in the junior lightweight division,” said writer and TV producer Yesica Palmetta.

“Persoon is 100% a future Hall of Fame inductee, but she should retire,” added Jones. “Since her fight with Katie Taylor five years ago, she’s been suffering cuts and swelling due to eroding reflexes. That said, Baumgardner looked good and deserving of her placement on the pound-for-pound rankings.”

“Tough break for Baumgardner, who was in the process of a sure-fire stoppage win over a past-her-prime Persoon,” said writer Christopher Benedict. “Too many battles over too long a period of time have taken too big a toll on the Belgian warrior. As Mark suggested, it’s time for her to hang up the gloves and start writing her Hall of Fame speech.”

Sandy Ryan (right) and Mikaela Mayer (left) trade blows during their welterweight title bout – Photo by Mikey Williams

In another extraordinary battle, Terri Harper was the clearest winner of all three major events when she defeated fellow Brit Rhiannon Dixon in a bragging rights war for pride and country. Naturally taller and stronger, Harper was the slight favorite and she made good use of her advantages to keep Dixon at bay and score enough points to secure a solid win in a lightweight battle.

Harper, not rated at 135, comes in at No. 2, displacing Dixon to No. 4 and pushing Germany’s Beke Bas out of the Top 5.

“I really liked Harper’s performance,” said Palmetta. “She looked very good at 135 pounds. I think Dixon was annulled by the strength that characterizes Harper.”

Conte agreed by saying that “Harper looked great fighting off her back foot against Dixon. Both landed nicely but Harper just looked exceptional. Glad she moved back down.”

“I know I wasn’t alone in suspecting that the beatdown Terri Harper received at the hands of Sandy Ryan back in March would be extremely difficult for the ‘Belter’ to rebound from,” added Benedict, “but my hat is off to Harper for putting on a terrific performance on Saturday, handing Rhiannon Dixon her first defeat and taking her belt to become a three-division world champion.”

Since Harper was previously rated at 154-pounds, the ratings in that division had to be altered. Everyone moved up one place, and Canada’s Mary Spencer was picked to become the new No. 5, returning once again to our ratings.

Diego M. Morilla has been writing for The Ring since 2013. He has also written for HBO.com, ESPN.com and many other magazines, websites, newspapers and outlets since 1993. He is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and an elector for the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He has won two first-place awards in the BWAA’s annual writing contest, and he is the moderator of The Ring’s Women’s Ratings Panel. He served as copy editor for the second era of The Ring en Español (2018-2020) and is currently a writer and editor for RingTV.com.

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