Mikaela Mayer will box Sandy Ryan in a rematch for the WBO welterweight world championship on March 29 (early hours March 30, UK time) in Las Vegas.

Mayer won their first contest, a hard-fought majority decision victory, when they clashed in New York last year.

But it was overshadowed by an unexpected attack on Ryan that saw the Briton doused with red paint when leaving her hotel to travel to the Madison Square Theater for the bout.

Mayer wants to settle any doubts that incident raised and told Sky Sports: “I also didn’t like the controversy over the fight regarding the paint situation.

“I want to eliminate the questions. I don’t want people to think that I only won because she was messed up in the head. So let’s give her another chance and just do it even better.”

Mayer explained: “There’s this narrative going around that she was messed up mentally because of it and didn’t do her best performance. I don’t necessarily think that’s true.

“It wasn’t the right thing to happen and I feel for her in that sense. But at the end of the day she made it a lot more dramatic than she had to.

“I know from my experience, once you get into that ring it doesn’t matter what happened, you’re zoned in and you’re focused.

“It was a competitive fight and she came and she fought hard. So, to me, she was fine. But if people want to question it then we’ll just do it again.”

The champion herself will be taking extra security precautions around this rematch, for fear of there being any revenge paint attacks.

“I don’t want something like that to happen,” Mayer insisted. “Please don’t sabotage this fight.

“I want to clear up the rumours. I want to clear up the questions about her mental state going into the fight.”

That incident, the first fight itself and the war of words around the bout served to fuel a rivalry that had already grown heated when Ryan started working with Mayer’s previous training team.

The move prompted Mayer to change her coaching set up but the American didn’t shy away from agreeing to a second fight. She has bitterly contested her losses to Alycia Baumgardner and Natasha Jonas and is still waiting to get either of those rematches.

“So I understand,” Mayer said. “You could say I’m doing her favour. You could say I’m doing the right thing. At the end of the day, it’s the best option for me.

“I’ve never really backed away from a challenge. I’ve never been afraid of going overseas, or going on an undercard, or doing what I have to do to make fights that excite me and motivate me.

“At this stage of my career I want to be inspired, to fight girls that motivate me to train hard, and that people are excited to see.”

Ryan: I did fight in anger

“As crazy as this sounds after what happened last time in New York, I am actually looking forward to returning to the US,” Ryan said.

“I’ve had some remarkable, history-making fights here already, so the opportunity to come back and showcase my talent while headlining in the fight capital of the world is amazing.

“This time, I will be fully prepared for whatever comes my way. I’m not making any excuses, but after what happened before the fight last time, I did fight in anger, and it clearly affected my performance.

“It’s the biggest fight for both of us, and everyone wants to see it again,” she added. “The world will see a focused, determined, and talented fighter in the shape of her life, and I will reclaim my world title.”

Mayer’s undisputed goal

While Mayer and Ryan fight for one of the major welterweight world titles on March 29, Natasha Jonas and Lauren Price box for the other three on March 7 at the Royal Albert Hall, live on Sky Sports.

Mayer fully expects the winner of her fight to box the Jonas-Price victor later in 2025 for the undisputed crown.

“That’s the trajectory we’re definitely on,” she said. “They’re going to unify the belts. I’ll have the final belt to go undisputed and we’ll have to make that fight. I mean we’ll have to make that fight.

“Unfortunately I’ll have one belt and Price or Jonas will have three, so I might have to go back to the UK to settle undisputed.

“At that point I have nothing to lose. The opportunity is there, the money will be there, the eyes will be there.

“There’s no reason why that fight shouldn’t get done by the end of the year.”

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