Ryan vs. Mayer: Ladies First Friday at the Hulu Theatre in MSG on ESPN 

Queen Latifah’s classic song ‘Ladies First’ is a great way to explain the surge in women’s boxing has received in the last few years. Women’s fights were sometimes stuck on the undercard or most likely buried on the off-TV portion, but that’s a thing of the past. Friday night on ESPN/ESPN+, the main event between Sandy Ryan and Mikaela Mayer is a prime example of the leaps and bounds headlining the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Matching the rise in popularity, the skill level in many of these big women’s matchups has rapidly advanced.

Of late, Mayer has come up on the short side of close decisions in her biggest fights. Whether you believe she deserved to get her hand raised against Alycia Baumgardner and Natasha Jonas is a different story. In both bouts, Mayer got off to semi-slow starts only to come on strong as the fight wore on. Jonas counter-punched Mayer in the early goings and finished fairly strong.

Alyicia led their fight until her output decreased, and she appeared tired down the stretch. Versus Sandy Ryan, Mayer must be more efficient behind a jab when she applies pressure. At times, Mayer has been able to bully fighters with aggression. Now, in her second fight at the higher weight, she must be more strategic, leaning into her skills. Outpointing rather than bull rush is the path to victory or at least a wiser way to begin this fight.

Mayer should allow Sandy Ryan to be the aggressor or at least stand her ground and look counter-punch using lateral movement. Ryan came on strong and dispatched Terri Harper early this year. Sandy had a new team backing her, but it took her a bit to settle in. Before that bout, Ryan had a split-draw against Jessica McCaskill. Many in the boxing world thought Sandy had done enough to get her hand raised.

This boxing podcaster believes an all-around performance by Mikaela will get her over the hump in what should be a highly competitive main event. Mayer can use Ryan’s over-aggression and sometimes wild swinging combinations to her advantage. That said, Mayer tends to engage in a brawl, and sometimes boxers don’t break habits. The fans will win in this intriguing matchup of high level boxers.

My Official Prediction is Mikaela Mayer by Split-Decision. 

PODCAST LINK: http://tobtr.com/12371885

Side Note: Also, on the card, Bruce Carrington is in an excellent step against Sulaiman Segawa, Elvis Rodriguez, Xander Zayas, and Vito Mielnick Jr, among others, on ESPN. Plus Alycia Baumgardner vs. Delfine Persoon on Friday live on Brinx.TV

Written by Chris Carlson Host/Producer of The Rope A Dope Radio Podcast Available at www.blogtalkradio.com/ropeadoperadio Follow on Twitter @RopeADopeRadio