Derby’s Sandy Ryan Poised to Unify the Welterweight Title in Her U.S. Debut

Published

2 weeks ago

September 13, 2023

Derby's-Sandy-Ryan-Poised-to-Unify-the-Welterweight-Title-in-Her-US-Debut

Sandy Ryan turns 30 on Saturday. She won’t be celebrating; there’s no time for it. Ms. Ryan and her coach Clifton Mitchell will be in transit travelling from her training camp in Las Vegas to Orlando, Florida where she has a date with Jessica McCaskill on Sept. 23 on a Matchroom card on DAZN. At stake will be three of the four meaningful pieces of the world female welterweight title.

Ryan holds the WBO diadem. McCaskill owns the WBC and WBA belts. The missing piece belongs to Liverpool’s Natasha Jonas.

Sandy Ryan hails from Derby (that’s DAR-bee for you Yankees), a city of 170,000 or thereabouts, situated roughly 130 miles southeast of London. As an amateur, she was a Commonwealth Games gold medalist. A shoulder injury knocked her out of the Tokyo Summer Olympics. It impelled her to forego the first Olympic qualifier and when the second qualifier – at which she would have been favored – was cancelled because of Covid, she was on the outside looking in.

Turning pro under the Matchroom umbrella, Ryan was fast-tracked in recognition of her deep amateur background. She won her first three pro fights before losing a 10-round split decision to wily Argentine veteran Erica Annabella Farias.

“The loss made me a better boxer and a better person,” she says. “I have grown a lot since then.”

She grew fast, one assumes, as she avenged the setback in her very next outing. Unlike their first meeting, she did not allow Farias to set the pace and emerged the winner on all three cards. And then, two fights later, she captured the WBO belt in Cardiff, Wales, with a wide decision over Canada’s Marie-Pier Houle.

In preparation for McCaskill (15-3), Ryan spent three weeks in Las Vegas training at the DLX gym. Mitchell, her regular trainer from Derby, was with her the whole while but in many of her workouts he readily ceded his authority to Kay Koroma.

A rising star in the ranks of boxing trainers, Koroma came to the fore during his years with Team USA where he mentored Claressa Shields, among others. He co-trains Mikaela Mayer alongside Al Mitchell. Ryan was familiar with Koroma from their amateur days where they crossed paths at several international tournaments.

On Tuesday of this week, as we watched Koroma put Sandy through her paces, we found it odd that Koroma was wearing a Team Mikaela Mayer shirt. Although Mikaela has been competing in a lower weight class, there’s a high probability that she and Sandy Ryan will meet some day.

“I think that will probably happen” says Ryan. “I respect what Mikaela has accomplished. I consider her a friend. But if we ever fight, it will be strictly business.”

Sandy Ryan has a soft smile and there’s an Irish twinkle in her eyes that says she is having fun, notwithstanding the rigorous workouts that leave her so exhausted that by her day off she’s too tired to explore the Strip and other attractions that are a magnet for tourists. This is her first trip to Las Vegas and, for her, this may as well be Des Moines.

Ryan fell in love with boxing while shadowing her older brother Dave Ryan to Clifton Mitchell’s gym. Dave “Rocky” Ryan left the sport in 2916 with a 17-10 record after getting stopped in five rounds by future four-belt super lightweight champion Josh Taylor. Now married with three daughters, he works as a top assistant to longtime pal Alex Lowes, one of the world’s top motorcycle racers. Dave will be flying to Orlando to see the fight, as will several of Sandy’s friends.

Dave, Sandy, Clifton

As for Derby, where she was born and raised, Sandy says, “it’s a city, but it’s also a small community.” She dreams of someday fighting at the local soccer grounds, Pride Park Stadium (capacity, 34,000), but expects her first match in the city would be at Pride Park’s adjacent velodrome, the Derby Arena, which could be expanded to hold 5,000 for a boxing event.

That’s putting the cart before the horse, of which she is well aware. “This will be my toughest fight,” she acknowledges. Indeed, Jessica McCaskill, a late bloomer who was working at a Chicago investment bank when she took up boxing, will go to post a small favorite if the odds hold up. A former two-division champion best known for her back-to-back wins over previously undefeated Cecilia Braekhus, “CasKILLA” is returning to the welterweight division after a brief foray into the 140-pound weight class.

Jessics McCaskill

What Ryan has going for her is youth. McCaskill is 39, as is Natasha Jonas. “I’m young for the division,” she says. “It’s time for a new era.”

There’s been a lot of controversy lately about whether women should be allowed to fight 3-minute rounds. ”In sparring, I have often sparred 4-minute rounds,” she says. “It would be nice for it to be equal if that’s what it would take for us to be paid equal. We train just as hard as the men.”

Sandy will have finished her sparring by the time that you read this. In Orlando, it’s all about staying sharp; not losing her edge. Ryan vs. McCaskill, Sandy’s U.S. debut, will be the co-feature preceding the 12-round contest between super lightweights Richardson Hitchins (16-0) and Jose Zepeda (37-3).

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Arne K. Lang

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International Brotherhood of Prizefighters Rankings: Week of September 10, 2023

International Brotherhood of Prizefighters Rankings: Week of September 24, 2023

Published

1 day ago

September 26, 2023

IB of P

International Brotherhood of Prizefighters Rankings: Week of September 24, 2023

What’s in a nickname, you ask? Zhilei “Big Bang” Zhang exhibited shades of the legendary Brown Bomber, Joe Louis; the exception being he conducts business from the port side. Zhang’s 3rd round stoppage of Joe Joyce sees Joyce exiting the top 10 in the heavyweight division. Also exiting due to inactivity is Andy Ruiz and Luis Ortiz, who last fought each other on September 4, 2022. Gaining entries are Daniel Dubois, Dillian White and Derek Chisora, at 8, 9 and 10 respectively.

At 140, Richardson Hitchins earned his asterisk with a one sided decision over Jose Zepeda. Hitchins enters the top 10 in the 7th slot, while Zepeda falls to 8th. Zhankosh Turarov drops to 9th in the world and immediately underneath him, rounding out the top 10, is Elvis Rodriguez. Scotland’s Josh Taylor gets bumped from the 10th slot.

At 108, World Champion Kenshiro Teraji defended his title with a stoppage of 4th ranked Hekkie Budler in round 9 of a scheduled 12. Budler drops to 7th, see list for reshuffle.

*Please note that when the fighter’s name appears with an asterisk it represents a movement in ranking from the previous week.

105lbs

♛ Vacant

1 Thammanoon Niyomtrong (Knockout CP Freshmart) (Thailand)

2 Panya Pradabsri (Petchmanee CP Freshmart) (Thailand)

3 Oscar Collazo (USA)

4 Ginjiro Shigeoka (Japan)

5 Daniel Valladares (Mexico)

6 Yudai Shigeoka (Japan)

7 Melvin Jerusalem (Philippines)

8 Masataka Taniguchi (Japan)

9 Rene Mark Cuarto (Philippines)

10 Yudai Shigeoka (Philippines)

108lbs

♛ Kenshiro Teraji (Japan)

1 Jonathan Gonzalez (Puerto Rico)

2 Masamichi Yabuki (Japan)

3 Sivenathi Nontshinga (South Africa)

4 Elwin Soto (Mexico)*

5 Regie Suganob (Philippines)*

6 Shokichi Iwata (Japan)*

7 Hekkie Budler (South Africa)*

8 Carlos Canizales (Venezuela)

9 Daniel Matellon (Panama)

10 Miel Fajardo (Philippines)

112lbs

♛ Vacant

1 Sunny Edwards (England)

2 Artem Dalakian (Ukraine)

3 Julio Cesar Martinez (Mexico)

4 Angel Ayala Lardizabal (Mexico)

5 David Jimenez (Costa Rica)

6 Jesse Rodriguez (USA)

7 Ricardo Sandoval (USA)

8 Felix Alvarado (Nicaragua)

9 Seigo Yuri Akui (Japan)

10 Taku Kuwahara (Japan)

115lbs

♛ Juan Francisco Estrada (Mexico)

1 Roman Gonzalez (Nicaragua)

2 Kazuto Ioka (Japan)

3 Fernando Martinez (Argentina)

4 Junto Nakatani (Japan)

5 Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (Thailand)

6 Kosei Tanaka (Japan)

7 Andrew Moloney (Australia)

8 Francisco Rodriguez Jr. (Mexico)

9 Pedro Guevara (Mexico)

10 Donnie Nietes (Philippines)

118lbs

♛ Vacant

1 Emmanuel Rodriguez (Puerto Rico)

2 Alexandro Santiago (Mexico)

3 Jason Moloney (Australia)

4 Vincent Astrolabio (Philippines)

5 Gary Antonio Russell (USA)

6 Takuma Inoue (Japan)

7 Nonito Donaire (Philippines)

8 Ryosuke Nishida (Japan)

9 Keita Kurihara (Japan)

10 Paul Butler (England)

122lbs

♛ Vacant

1 Naoya Inoue (Japan)

2 Marlon Tapales (Philippines)

3 Stephen Fulton (USA)

4 Luis Nery (Mexico)

5 Murodjon Akhmadaliev (Uzbekistan)

6 Sam Goodman (Australia)

7 Azat Hovhannisyan (Armenia)

8 Kevin Gonzalez (Mexico)

9 Ra’eese Aleem (USA)

10 Liam Davies (England)

126lbs

♛ Vacant

1 Luis Alberto Lopez (Mexico)

2 Leigh Wood (England)

3 Brandon Figueroa (USA)

4 Rey Vargas (Mexico)

5 Mauricio Lara (Mexico)

6 Robeisy Ramirez (Cuba)

7 Mark Magsayo (Philippines)

8 Josh Warrington (England)

9 Reiya Abe (Japan)

10 Otabek Kholmatov (Uzbekistan)

130lbs

♛ Vacant

1 Emanuel Navarrete (Mexico)

2 Joe Cordina (Wales)

3 Hector Garcia (Dominican Republic)

4 O’Shaquie Foster (USA)

5 Oscar Valdez (Mexico)

6 Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov (Tajikistan)

7 Otar Eranosyan (Georgia)

8 Lamont Roach (USA)

9 Eduardo Ramirez (Mexico)

10 Kenichi Ogawa (Japan)

135lbs

♛ Devin Haney (USA)

1 Gervonta Davis (USA)

2 Vasily Lomachenko (Ukraine)

3 Isaac Cruz (Mexico)

4 William Zepeda Segura (Mexico)

5 Frank Martin (USA)

6 Shakur Stevenson (USA)

7 Maxi Hughes (England)

8 George Kambosos Jr (Australia)

9 Keyshawn Davis (USA)

10 Raymond Muratalla (USA)

140lbs

♛ Teofimo Lopez (USA)

1 Regis Prograis (USA)

2 Jose Ramirez (USA)

3 Jack Catterall (England)*

4 Subriel Matias (Puerto Rico)*

5 Arnold Barboza Jr. (USA)*

6 Gary Antuanne Russell (USA)*

7 Richardson Hitchins (USA)*

8 Jose Zepeda (USA)*

9 Zhankosh Turarov (Kazakhstan*)

10 Elvis Rodriguez (Dominican Republic)*

147lbs

♛ Terence Crawford (USA)

1 Errol Spence (USA)

2 Jaron Ennis (USA)

3 David Avanesyan (Russia)

4 Cody Crowley (Canada)

5 Alexis Rocha (USA)

6 Rashidi Ellis (USA)

7 Souleymane Cissokho (Senegal)

8 Roiman Villa (Venezuela)

9 Egidijus Kavaliauskas (Lithuania)

10 Shakhram Giyasov (Uzbekistan)

154lbs

♛ Jermell Charlo (USA)

1 Tim Tszyu (Australia)

2 Brian Mendoza (USA)

3 Jesus Alejandro Ramos (USA)

4 Sebastian Fundora (USA)

5 Erickson Lubin (USA)

6 Michel Soro (Ivory Coast)

7 Magomed Kurbanov (Russia)

8 Tony Harrison (USA)

9 Israil Madrimov (Uzbekistan)

10 Bakhram Murtazaliev (Russia)

160lbs

♛ Vacant

1 Gennady Golovkin (Kazakhstan)

2 Carlos Adames (Dominican Republic)

3 Zhanibek Alimkhanuly (Kazakhstan)

4 Chris Eubank Jr. (England)

5 Liam Smith (England)

6 Sergiy Derevyanchenko (Ukraine)*

7 Vincenzo Gualtieri (Germany)

8 Felix Cash (England)

9 Michael Zerafa (Australia)

10 Esquiva Falcao (Brazil)

168lbs

♛ Canelo Alvarez (Mexico)

1 David Benavidez (USA)

2 Caleb Plant (USA)

3 Christian Mbilli (France)

4 David Morrell (Cuba)

5 John Ryder (England)

6 Pavel Silyagin (Russia)

7 Vladimir Shishkin (Russia)

8 Carlos Gongora (Ecuador)

9 Jaime Munguia (Mexico)

10 Demetrius Andrade (USA)

175lbs

♛ Artur Beterbiev (Canada)

1 Dmitry Bivol (Russia)

2 Joshua Buatsi (England)

3 Callum Smith (England)

4 Joe Smith Jr. (USA)

5 Gilberto Ramirez (Mexico)

6 Anthony Yarde (England)

7 Dan Azeez (England)

8 Ali Izmailov (Russia)

9 Michael Eifert (Germany)

10 Igor Mikhalkin (Germany)

200lbs

♛ Jai Opetaia (Australia)

1 Mairis Breidis (Latvia)

2 Chris Billam-Smith (England)

3 Richard Riakporhe (England)

4 Aleksei Papin (Russia)

5 Badou Jack (Sweden)

6 Arsen Goulamirian (France)

7 Lawrence Okolie (England)

8 Yuniel Dorticos (Cuba)

9 Mateusz Masternak (Poland)

10 Ilunga Makabu (So. Africa)

Unlimited

♛ Oleksandr Usyk (Ukraine)

1 Tyson Fury (England)

2 Zhilei Zhang (China)

3 Deontay Wilder (USA)

4 Anthony Joshua (England)

5 Filip Hrgovic (Croatia)

6 Arslanbek Makhmudov (Russia)*

7 Frank Sanchez (Cuba)*

8 Daniel Dubois (England)*

9 Dillian White (England)*

10 Derek Chisora (Zimbabwe)*

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Canelo-Charlo Gets All the Ink, but Don’t Overlook the Compelling Match-up of Gassiev-Wallin in Turkey

Published

2 days ago

September 26, 2023

Arne K. Lang

Canelo-Charlo-Gets-All-the-Ink-but-Don't-Overlook-This-Compelling-Match-in-Turkey

Canelo-Charlo Gets All the Ink, but Don’t Overlook the Compelling Match-up of Gassiev-Wallin in Turkey

The eyes of the boxing world will be on Las Vegas this Saturday where Mexican superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez risks his four super middleweight title belts against unified 154-pound champion Jermell Charlo. Earlier that day at a luxury resort hotel in the city of Antalya on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, there’s a heavyweight match sitting under the radar that may prove to be the better fight. It’s an intriguing match-up between former world cruiserweight title-holder Murat Gassiev and Swedish southpaw Otto Wallin, a bout with significant ramifications for boxing’s glamour division.

Gassiev (30-1, 23 KOs) and Wallin (25-1, 14 KOs) have only one loss, but those setbacks came against the top dogs in the division. Gassiev was out-boxed by Oleksandr Usyk back in the days when both were cruiserweights. Wallin gave Tyson Fury a world of trouble before losing a unanimous decision.

Since those fights, both have been treading water.

Gassiev

Gassiev was inactive for 27 months after his match with Usyk while dealing with legal issues and an injury to his left shoulder. He is 4-0 (4 KOs) since returning to the ring while answering the bell for only eight rounds. The only recognizable name among those four victims is German gatekeeper Michael Wallisch. After stopping Wallisch, Gassiev was out of action for another 13 months while reportedly dealing with an arm injury.

A first-round knockout of Carlouse Welch, an obscure 40-something boxer from the U.S. state of Georgia on Aug. 26, 2022, in Belgrade, Serbia, was promoted as a title fight. The sanctioning body was the Eurasian Boxing Parliament (insert your own punchline here). Gassiev followed that up with a second-round knockout of former NFL linebacker Mike Balogun who came in undefeated and was seemingly a legitimate threat to him.

Although he has yet to fight a ranked opponent since leaving the cruiserweight division, Gassiev — a former stablemate of Gennady Golovkin who has been living in Big Bear, California, training under Abel Sanchez – is one of the most respected fighters in the division because he has one-punch knockout power as Balogun and others can well attest. The rub against the Russian-Armenian bruiser is that he is somewhat robotic.

Wallin

Otto Wallin, a 32-year-old southpaw from Sweden who trains in New York under former world lightweight champion Joey Gamache, fought Tyson Fury on Sept. 14, 2019 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. There was a general feeling that the Swede would be a stroll in the park for Fury, but to the contrary, he gave the Gypsy King a hard tussle while losing a unanimous decision.

Wallin is 5-0 since that night beginning with victories over Travis Kauffman (KO 5) and Dominic Breazeale (UD 12), but his last three opponents were softer than soft and all three lasted the distance. In order, Wallin won an 8-round decision over Kamil Sokolowski, who was 11-24-2 heading in, won a 10-round decision over ancient Rydell Booker, and won an 8-round decision over Helaman Olguin. His bout with Utah trial horse Olguin was at a banquet hall in Windham, New Hampshire.

It isn’t that Wallin has been avoiding the top names in the division; it’s the other way around. His promoter Dmitriy Salita reportedly came close to getting Wallin a match with Anthony Joshua whose team had second thoughts about sending Joshua in against another southpaw after back-to-back setbacks to Oleksandr Usyk.

Gassiev vs Wallin is a true crossroads fight. Both are in dire need of a win over a credible opponent. At last look, Gassiev, who figures to have the crowd in his corner, was a 3/1 favorite.

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Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach

Published

4 days ago

September 24, 2023

David A. Avila

Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach

LONG BEACH, Ca.-A cool autumn night saw welterweights and minimumweights share main events for a MarvNation fight card on Saturday.

Ukraine’s Eduard Skavynskyi (15-0, 7 KOs) experienced a tangled mess against the awkward Alejandro Frias (14-10-2) but won by decision after eight rounds in a welterweight contest at the indoor furnace called the Thunder Studios.

It was hot in there for the more than 600 people inside.

Skavynskyi probably never fought someone like Mexico’s Frias whose style was the opposite of the Ukrainian’s fundamentally sound one-two style. But round after round the rough edges became more familiar.

Neither fighter was ever damaged but all three judges saw Skavynskyi the winner by unanimous decision 79-73 on all three cards. The Ukrainian fighter trains in Ventura.

Bustillo Wins Rematch

Applerose2

In the female main event Las Vegas’ Yadira Bustillos (8-1) stepped into a rematch with Karen Lindenmuth (5-2) and immediately proved the lessons learned from their first encounter.

Bustillos connected solidly with an overhand right and staggered Lindenmuth but never came close to putting the pressure fighter down. Still, Bustillos kept turning the hard rushing Lindenmuth and snapping her head with overhand rights and check left hooks.

Lindenmuth usually overwhelms most opponents with a smothering attack that causes panic. But not against Bustillos who seemed quite comfortable all eight rounds in slipping blows and countering back.

After eight rounds all three judges scored the contest for Bustillos 78-74 and 80-72 twice. Body shots were especially effective for the Las Vegas fighter in the fifth round. Bustillos competes in the same division as IBF/WBO title-holder Yokasta Valle.

Other Bouts

In a middleweight clash, undefeated Victorville’s Andrew Buchanan (3-0-1) used effective combination punching to defeat Mexico’s Fredy Vargas (2-1-1) after six rounds. Two judges scored it 59-55 and a third 60-54 for Buchanan. No knockdowns were scored.

A super lightweight match saw Sergio Aldana win his pro debut by decision after four rounds versus Gerardo Fuentes (2-9-1).

Photos credit: Al Applerose

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