It was a humiliating sequence of events for Sandy Ryan ahead of her showdown against Mikhaela Mayer at Madison Square Garden. There was a lot of bad blood leading up to the fight, but little did we know it would take such a dramatic turn. Shockingly, hours before the bout, someone threw a can of red paint on Ryan as she made her way to the venue from her hotel. The incident threw her off her “gameplan” as she failed in her WBO welterweight title defense fight against Mayer.

“I know I shouldn’t have fought after I was attacked leaving my hotel but I couldn’t let them win like that. I was fighting off empty and still felt I won the fight.” Ryan stated. Despite being advised by her trainer not to fight, the “unsettled” Ryan was engaged in a close battle with Mayer but ultimately lost on the judges’ scorecard. Two of the judges scored the fight 97-93 and 96-94 for Mayer, while the third judge saw it as a 95-95 draw, giving the victory to Mayer via a majority decision. Nevertheless, the defending champion felt that the paint incident was “definitely set up”. Backing her up on her claims is her promoter, Matchroom Boxing’s head Eddie Hearn.

In an interview posted by Matchroom Boxing, Eddie Hearn spoke about Ryan’s loss and the “paint gate” incident. “In the pre-fight interview, she was emotional and upset. I was appalled to find out what happened to her in the morning of the fight. She was attacked as she left her hotel. Someone threw a can of paint all over her. It was clearly a set-up,” Hearn stated. With all due respect, they are not waiting outside the hotel for Sandy Ryan. So, she was attacked on leaving her way from the hotel to head to Madison Square Garden,” he added.

“

Labeling the incident as “disgusting”,  the British promoter stated that she shouldn’t have participated in the fight, and praised her for allowing the boxing event to go on as planned. “You have to protect these fighters. You have a fighter who is attacked leaving her hotel to Madison Square garden. I will be speaking to Top Rank and I will be speaking to WBO as well. I don’t think she should have fought, but she deserves so much credit and respect for keeping the show on,” the promoter said ruefully.

Speaking about the fight, Hearn said the decision could have gone either way, but congratulated Myer for winning the bout. “The fight was incredible. Congratulations to Mikaela Myer. It was a fight that could have gone either way,” Eddie said, but was more concerned about fighters’ safety after an incident like that.

Nevertheless, he assured the public that the situation would be dealt with, and the culprits would face the appropriate penalty. So, what is the situation currently, and what is the underlying feud that adds an element of drama to the story?

The bubbling feud and the aftermath

Before the fight, Mayer had accused Ryan of poaching her long-standing coaching team. Supposedly, Ryan started working with Mayer’s coaching term, which forced the American boxer to leave the gym she was previously working in for a long time and find a new coach. The British boxer has obviously denied these allegations and stated that she did not respect her opponent. “I don’t respect her as a human being. I think she’s trash, and she’s a grown woman and the way she speaks, it’s just trash to me,” Ryan stated in one of her press conferences.

Now that the event is over, Sandy claimed that her team has obtained the CCTV footage of her being splashed with paint, and is in contact with the local police. “You tried to ruin my career, but trust me it’s only just begun,” Sandy’s cryptic message, possibly directed towards Mayer, read.

Meanwhile, Mayer said that she had nothing to do with the incident, and was “shocked” when she first heard about it. Now, the New York Police Department has opened an investigation into the matter.