Sandy Ryan defends world title to Terri Harper this weekend
WBO welterweight champion Sandy Ryan faces her toughest fight to date this weekend as she prepares for a domestic dust-up against Terri Harper in Sheffield, Ahead of the bout, Ryan has revealed some inside information about her opponent.
Ryan controversially drew with Jessica McCaskill back in September in a bid to unify her WBO title with the WBC and WBA belts, appearing to do more than enough to get the nod from the judges but becoming unstuck on away soil in the United States.
Since that disappointment, the 30-year-old has opted to leave long-time trainer Clifton Mitchell in favour of a permanent move to the United States under the guidance of Emanuel ‘Flick’ Savoy in Las Vegas, and Ryan will be keen to impress with the American in her corner for the first time.
Just days before the fight, Ryan has now opened up on the fact that Harper refused to take the fight at super-welterweight, where she already holds the WBA strap, possibly in fear of losing her world championship status, Sandy told Matchroom Boxing.
“We tried to get it at her weight but she didn’t want it at her weight so I’m defending my title,”
“That’s just the facts. Of course I would have liked to have fought for her belt. I wouldn’t mind being a two-weight World Champion. They wanted to fight for my belt so they’ve still got their belt at 154lbs after the fight.”
Ryan-Harper takes place at the Utilita Arena in Sheffield on Saturday 23rd March on the undercard of Dalton Smith’s step up to world level, where he fights two-division world champion Jose Zepeda in the super-lightweight division, with the full card available to watch live on DAZN.