Notebook: Mayer, Ryan ready to rumble again after chaotic first fight
Zepeda, Farmer aim for clarity in rematch; Dubois speaks out; IBF orders sequel of Crocker-Donovan after controversial DQ; Quick hits; very special Show and tell
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When the rematch between WBO women’s welterweight titlist Mikaela Mayer and former titleholder Sandy Ryan was announced, Top Rank chairman Bob Arum referred to their rivalry as “one of the fiercest we’ve seen in recent years, and both are determined to put it to rest once and for all.”
Arum, like any promoter worth his salt, has been known to exaggerate but in this case he seems on point. Mayer and Ryan have a rivalry in and outside of the ring and they will renew hostilities in an immediate rematch in the main event of a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card on Saturday (ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET) at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas.
They met the first time on Sept. 27 in New York and put on a dramatic and exciting battle, which Mayer, a former junior lightweight titlist, won by a majority decision to take the belt from Ryan, who was making her third defense. It was a non-stop thriller that Mayer won 97-93 and 96-94 while one judge scored it 95-95.
Ryan wanted a rematch right away and Mayer and team eventually offered it to her. The sequel would have been warranted just based on the fierce combat and competitive nature of the bout. But there was more to it with these women.
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The September fight took place to the backdrop of significant tension between them because Mayer (20-2, 5 KOs), 34, a 2016 U.S. Olympian fighting out of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was upset when she found out that her longtime assistant trainer, Kay Koroma, had begun helping train Ryan without either of them telling her. She felt betrayed, feeling as though she may eventually fight Ryan. She fired Koroma and replaced him with Kofi Jantuah.
Then, on the day of the fight, a still-unsolved incident occurred as Ryan (7-2-1, 3 KOs), 31, of England, was leaving her hotel to head to the venue. That is when an unidentified man waiting for her outside threw a can of red paint on her, soaking her in it before running to a car and driving off. Ryan accused Mayer’s team of orchestrating the attack. Mayer denied any involvement.
Although there is no love lost between them, Mayer did give Ryan credit this week for going through with the first fight despite being extremely unnerved by the paint incident.
“It’s disappointing that her team wasn’t as cool, calm, and collected as she was,” Mayer said. “Your team is supposed to hold you down and keep your mind right. So that was unfortunate, but she showed up and gave the fans a good fight. You’ve got to give her props for that.”
As for the rematch, Mayer added, “I’m sure she feels that (she will stop me). I’m sure she felt that way in the last fight when she was saying that I’m not truly a welterweight. But I still sent her to the hospital with a concussion. If I did that then when I was new to welterweight, then I’m going to hurt her 10 times more this time around.”
Ryan said she will be better this time around because she won’t have the distraction of being attacked on the way to the arena.
“I’m not taking anything away from Mikaela. She’s got the belt,” Ryan said. “I appreciate her accepting the rematch and making this fight. It’s what the fans wanted because it was a great first fight. But I’ll be taking that belt back.
“I know that I’m a fighter. I would have never pulled out of the fight (after the paint incident). I let people see what kind of person and fighter I am. Despite what they threw at me, I still got in there and put on a performance. (As for the rematch) I need to just be me with no distractions. I need to be levelheaded and calm. That’s how I’m approaching this whole fight week and fight night.”
Zepeda-Farmer II at hand
Mexican slugger William Zepeda, who had been plowing through all comers, got his first real test in an entertaining battle against former IBF junior lightweight titleholder Tevin Farmer in November on the “Latino Night” card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Although Farmer dropped fellow southpaw Zepeda for the first time in his career in the fourth round with a perfect overhand left, Zepeda shook it off and pulled out a split decision victory — 95-94 twice for him and 95-94 for Farmer — in an interim title bout unusually scheduled for 10 rounds.
Zepeda won the vacant WBC interim lightweight belt available because titleholder Shakur Stevenson was sidelined with an injury at the time. Many observers felt Farmer won and Famer felt ripped off and wanted an immediate rematch. So, with Zepeda’s mandatory fight with Stevenson unlikely to happen until at least the summer, he embraced the rematch and Golden Boy was able to get it done.
The rematch is a scheduled 12-rounder and it will headline the Golden Boy card on Saturday (DAZN, 8 p.m. ET) at the Poliforum Benito Juarez in Cancun, Mexico.
“I am very excited, and very happy to face a fighter like Tevin Farmer, who I was able to go toe-to-toe with,” Zepeda said through an interpreter at this week’s news conference. “I tested my skills, and had to win round by round and was able to see the combination luck and talent help me win.
“I learned a lot in those 10 rounds against Farmer, and in a training camp of 12 weeks I worked hard to be the best version of myself.”
Farmer (33-7-1, 8 KOs), 34, of Philadelphia, is thrilled to have another crack at Zepeda (32-0, 27 KOs), 28, and was willing to fight him in his home country, something Farmer has done before. When he won the vacant IBF 130-pound crown, Famer traveled to the home turf of Billy Dib in Australia and won a wide decision.
“Everyone forgets how I got my world title the first time;” said Farmer, who has dropped two close decisions in a row, having lost to Raymond Muratalla in July. “I had to go to Australia. I have been the underdog my entire career and I have gone into the den and been the wolf that steals the goods.”
Dubois’ future
Soon after IBF heavyweight titlist Daniel Dubois’ team began negotiating a rematch with three-belt and lineal champion Oleksandr Usyk earlier this month, the WBO ordered Usyk to next make his mandatory defense interim titlist Joseph Parker, putting Usyk in position where he could be stripped of the WBO title if he faces Dubois in a rematch of an August 2023 ninth-round knockout win.
Now Dubois is about to be in a similar position with the IBF, which is poised to order him to make a mandatory defense against British countryman Derek Chisora. The IBF said the mandatory will be ordered on April 22 and that the fight should take place by June 21.
Chisora has won three fights in a row against former title challenger Gerald Washington, former interim titlist Joe Joyce and Otto Wallin in his most recent bout in February.
Chisora wasn’t going to be in the mandatory position but when Martin Bakole took a fight with Parker on a few days’ notice and got drilled in the second round on Feb. 22, it cost him his position in an IBF final eliminator planned against Efe Ajagba in May. That bout will still go forward on May 3 but the IBF won’t sanction it as an eliminator because of Bakole’s loss.
The IBF told Fight Freaks Unite that because of the organization’s due date for the mandatory to be ordered there was no longer time to schedule a new final eliminator in place of Bakole-Ajagba and, therefore, as happens in that situation, IBF No. 2 Chisora will simply ascend to the mandatory position.
However, IBF rules permit a unification fight to trump a mandatory defense. So, if Usyk-Dubois II is finalized before a Dubois-Chisora purse bid is ordered, the IBF will go along with it.
Dubois claimed the vacant interim belt in June via eighth-round stoppage of Filip Hrgovic and was later elevated when then-undisputed champion Usyk was forced to vacate. That was because he had a contract in place for a rematch with Tyson Fury, which Usyk honored rather than make a mandatory against Dubois for a fraction of the money.
Dubois then destroyed Anthony Joshua in the fifth round of a one-sided upset in his first defense in September. He was due to fight Parker on Feb. 22 but withdrew during fight week due to illness and Bakole took his place.
On Thursday, Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) addressed the public for the first time since then in a video posted to social media.
“Hi guys, I’m back,” Dubois said. “Obviously, you know what happened. I got ill in Riyadh. And I wanted to fight but I took the doctor’s and my dad’s and my team’s advice and we pulled out of the fight. I’m gutted about it but shit happens in life. But I’m back now, guys, and I can’t wait to give you guys some fight news soon. I want ‘em all — Usyk, Parker and AJ and whoever else wants it.”
IBF orders Crocker-Donovan 2
The IBF on Friday ordered an immediate rematch between Lewis Crocker and Paddy Donovan following their controversial welterweight final title eliminator on March 1 on DAZN in Crocker’s hometown of Belfast, Northern Ireland.
They were vying to become the mandatory challenger for titlist Jaron “Boots” Ennis and Donovan (14-1, 11 KOs), 26, of Ireland, largely dominated the fight. He knocked Crocker (21-0, 11 KOs). 28, down in the eighth round and had him badly hurt before knocking him out with a right hook thrown a split second after the bell ended the round. Referee Marcus McDonnell disqualified Donovan.
Neither fighter appeared to realize the round was ending and McDonnell was out of position and nowhere near the fighters, as he should have been, when the bell rang. Donovan did not appear to purposely throw the punch after the bell.
Attorney Keith Sullivan appealed to the IBF on Donovan’s behalf seeking an immediate rematch. He also appealed to the British Boxing Board of Control to have the result overturned to a no contest.
The IBF reviewed the bout and ordered the rematch while the BBBofC declined to change he result.
The IBF said its championships committee met via teleconference on Wednesday to consider the appeal and said that “after a review of the eighth round, the timekeeper’s 10-second warning was inaudible on the tape.” It also said that McDonnell did not “close the distance” between himself and the boxers, as is the norm, in the waning seconds of a round and that “neither the referee nor the boxers were aware when the round was ending due to crowd noise.”
“The committee concluded that neither the referee nor the boxers acted improperly,” the ruling said. “Furthermore, the punches that were thrown after the bell were thrown due to the referee not being in an optimal position, and Donovan being unable to hear the bell. Based on the foregoing, the IBF has ordered an immediate rematch.”
The camps were given until April 11 to negotiate an agreement or a purse bid will be scheduled. The IBF also said the fight should take place within 120 days, which is by July 25. There may be a request by Matchroom Boxing, which promotes both fighters, to move the date into August to have a date available on its DAZN schedule.
BetUS Boxing Show
If you missed the BetUS Boxing Show live at 1 p.m. ET on Friday on YouTube, please check out the replay (and also subscribe to the YouTube channel). We previewed and picked three Saturday bouts: WBC interim lightweight titlist William Zepeda’s rematch with Tevin Farmer that headlines the Golden Boy card on DAZN and two bouts from Top Rank’s ESPN card in Las Vegas, WBO women’s welterweight titleholder Mikaela Mayer’s rematch with Sandy Ryan and WBO welterweight titlist Brian Norman’s defense versus Derrieck Cuevas. We also took viewer questions and comments and discussed the latest boxing news! Please check out the show here:
Quick hits
Weights from Cancun, Mexico, for the Golden Boy card on Saturday (DAZN, 8 p.m. ET): William Zepeda 134.2 pounds, Tevin Farmer 135 (rematch for Zepeda’s WBC interim lightweight title); Oscar Collazo 105, Edwin Cano 104.4 (for Collazo’s WBO/WBA strawweight title); Joselito Velazquez 114.2, Adolfo Castillo 114.4; Robin Safar 200, Roberto Silva 199; Yokasta Valle 110.6, Marlen Esparza 113.4; Calex Castro 122.5, Otman Flores 121.2; Greg Morales 127, Jonathan Rojas 125.8; Ricardo Salgado 114.8, Alexis Sanchez 114.8; Cayden Griffith 146.8, Fernando Hernandez 146.6; Erik Gongora 118.4, Christian Jimenez 117; Juan Camacho 111, David Tapia 113.2.
Weights from Las Vegas for the Top Rank card on Saturday (ESPN, 10 p.m. ET): Mikaela Mayer 146 pounds. Sandy Ryan 145.5 (rematch for Mayer’s WBO women’s welterweight title); Brian Norman 146.7, Derrieck Cuevas 146.3 (for Norman’s WBO welterweight title); Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington 125.3, Jose Enrique Vivas 125.8 (WBC featherweight eliminator); Emiliano Vargas 138.6, Giovannie Gonzalez138.3; Tiger Johnson 146, Kendo Castaneda 146.8; Dedrick Crocklem 128.6, Dionne Ruvalcaba 128.8; Emmanuel Chance 119.4, Miguel Guzman 118.7.
Plans are in the works for a PBC on Prime Video card on May 31 with WBA interim super middleweight titlist Caleb Plant likely to defend in the main event, sources involved told Fight Freaks Unite. If Plant is the headliner the card would take place at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, one of the sources said. Plant (23-2, 14 KOs), 32, of Las Vegas, stopped Trevor McCumby in the ninth round to win the vacant interim belt in September on the Canelo Alvarez-Edgar Berlanga undercard.
Promoter Sampson Lewkowicz and PBC’s Luis DeCubas Jr., representing WBC/WBO junior middleweight titlist Sebastian Fundora (22-1-1, 14 KOs), and Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti and attorney Jeremy Koegel, representing WBO mandatory challenger Xander Zayas (21-0, 13 KOs), met Thursday for lunch at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas, where Top Rank has a show Saturday night, to begin discussions to make the fight. Both sides said it was a friendly meeting as they tried to get a lay of the land of what it would take to finalize the bout. If they make a deal, the fight would likely take place in July or August on a PBC card. After Fundora returned from a one-year layoff and knocked out Chordale Booker in the fourth round last Saturday to make a successful first defense, Zayas joined him in the ring to pose for photos together.
Fernando Martinez (17-0, 9 KOs), 33, of Argentina, will defend the WBA junior bantamweight title against former four-division titlist Kazuto Ioka (31-3-1, 16 KOs), 36, of Japan, in a rematch on May 11 at Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo, it was announced. The rematch was initially set for Dec.31 at the same venue but canceled the day before because Ioka was ill with influenza. The fight will be an immediate rematch of a 2024 fight of the year contender in which Martinez, who was making his third IBF title defense, outpointed Ioka, who was making his second WBA defense, on July 7 in Tokyo to unify the 115-pound belts in a sensational all-action battle. In October, Martinez vacated the IBF title and kept the WBA belt he won from Ioka, opting to face Ioka again in a lucrative rematch rather than face little-known mandatory challenger Willibaldo Garcia Perez for a fraction of the money.
2024 British Olympian Pat Brown (1-0, 1 KO), 25, made his heavily hyped professional debut with a fourth-round knockout of Frederico Javier Grandone (7-5-2, 3 KOs). 33, of Argentina, in the scheduled six-round heavyweight main event of Matchroom Boxing’s NXTGEN prospect card on DAZN on Friday at Planet Ice in Altrincham, England, which is on the outskirts of Brown’s hometown of Manchester. Brown, who weighed 204¾ pounds to Grandone’s 202¾ but plans to campaign at cruiserweight, pressured Grandone nonstop. He hammered him to the body and was credited with a knockdown in the fourth round when the ropes held Grandone up. But as Brown continued to batter him referee Darren Sarginson waved it off at 55 seconds.
Top Rank has only occasionally signed female boxers but has added another to the roster, announcing a “long-term contract” with junior bantamweight Perla Bazaldua (1-0, 1 KO), 19, of Los Angeles, a 15-time national amateur champion. She will have her first fight of the deal on the Emanuel Navarrete-Charly Suarez card on May 10 in San Diego. Bazaldua, who turned pro in December, is co-managed by George Ruiz, who has guided women’s welterweight titlist Mikaela Mayer’s career, and Manny Robles, who is also her trainer. “I want to inspire young women, especially where I come from in South Central Los Angeles,” Bazaldua said. “I want to show young women that if you stay disciplined and true to yourself, dreams do come true.”
Show and tell
After Mike Tyson lost in the finals of the 1984 U.S. Olympic trials he remained amateur for the rest of the year before making his professional debut on March 6, 1985 — 40 years ago this month — at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in downtown Albany, New York, just north of his home in Catskill. That is where he lived and trained with the legendary Hall of Fame trainer and manager Cus D’Amato, who had adopted Tyson. I was born in Albany and grew up in its suburbs and was a teenager when Tyson turned pro. He was a local sports celebrity in the region and had many of his early pro bouts in the area before becoming a legendary undisputed heavyweight champion and global icon.
In 2005, in Washington, D.C., I had a lengthy interview with Tyson for a piece I wrote for ESPN in which I asked Tyson about 20 topics tied to the fact that the fight he would have a few days later against Kevin McBride marked his 20th year as a professional fighter — and turned out to be his last fight for nearly 20 years until his return to face Jake Paul in November. During that interview, one of the things I asked Tyson about was his pro debut. “I remember it. I fought Hector Mercedes. He was a little, small Spanish man,” Tyson said. “Pudgy guy and it was real quick. Those were the best days.” Tyson knocked Mercedes out in 1 minute, 47 seconds.
If you are regular reader of Fight Freaks Unite you have, of course, seen this show and tell section where I highlight items in boxing memorabilia collection. I have something like 3,000 programs, but one that eluded me for decades was from Tyson’s professional debut. It is a Holy Grail item for any boxing collector. I have looked for one forever and wanted one in nice condition at a price I could live with. It is pretty rare. Only a few hundred were likely produced and many were undoubtedly crumpled up and/or thrown away on fight night. Very few of the four-pagers, which includes a photo and information about undercard fighter and future Tyson trainer Kevin Rooney on the cover along with Tyson, are still around, especially in top condition. Inside the program is a printed scorecard, undercard information and ads for Albany-area businesses. It is made of thin paper stock and extremely hard to find in nice shape, if you can even find one at all. In all my years of looking I have seen only a few and when you do find one, whatever the condition, it is expensive. A nice one will run you in the low four figures. Recently, a friend of mine, who owned a high-grade example since the mid-1980s, decided to sell. We worked out a deal and I acquired it for fair price. It recently arrived and, at long last, has taken its place as one of the centerpieces of my collection.
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Photos: Mayer-Ryan and Norman-Cuevas: Mikey Williams/Top Rank; Zepeda-Farmer: Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy; Dubois and Crocker-Donovan: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
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the most 1985 thing about that program is the line that Kevin Rooney "fought the Russians..." Hilarious.
Great score, Dan. Congrats. You are now complete : )