Sandy Ryan vs Mikaela Mayer Odds, Pick & Prediction for Friday, September 27

Sandy Ryan vs. Mikaela Mayer Odds

Here's everything you need to know about the Sandy Ryan vs. Mikaela Mayer odds for the Friday, September 27, main event on ESPN.

This is the rare 50-50 boxing fight – from a betting perspective – with which you don't need to dig in the method-of-victory bag to find value.

Sandy Ryan (7-1, 3 KOs) makes her return to America for a defense of her WBO welterweight title against former unified super featherweight and interim lightweight champion Mikaela Mayer (19-2, 5 KOs).

Mayer lost a controversial split decision to Alycia Baumgardner – also fighting this weekend – two Octobers ago in her last super featherweight fight at the 130-pound class limit.

Since then, Mayer has jumped to lightweight (135 pounds), super lightweight (140 pounds), and welterweight (147 pounds) in consecutive fights – the latter was a loss to IBF champion Natasha Jonas in England and a controversial split decision.

Ryan herself has had her own share of questionable decisions.

She fought unified welterweight champion Jessica McCaskill a year ago in her American debut to a majority draw that she should've won. And Ryan also fought Erica Anabella Farias in her fourth pro fight and lost a split decision, but she clearly took home the rematch, avenging the defeat.

This is one of the toughest calls boxing's had in a while, so let's get to our Ryan vs. Mayer prediction and pick for Friday night (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN & ESPN+).

Ryan vs. Mayer Preview & Breakdown

What I'm expecting in this fight is good, competitive, back-and-forth boxing with volume punching.

Both Ryan and Mayer don't mind fighting on the inside. In fact, they welcome it. Both can brawl, both can box, and both will look to set traps and walk their opponent into a counter-punching offense.

It's going to be an incredibly difficult fight to score, and as is generally the case in women's boxing, we have just 10 two-minute rounds to decide the winner and who walks out a champion.

Ryan, of course, has the longevity at welterweight. The recently turned 31-year-old welterweight was a successful amateur who won gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and secured a world championship silver but failed to qualify for the 2021 Olympics, so she turned pro that year.

Ryan's been a welterweight her entire pro career. Although she has some power, her finishing ability could be a bit overstated given her stoppage over a chinny Terri Harper earlier this year – Harper didn't come out after Round 5 and seemingly just took the L – and Ryan's two earlier stoppages were in her second and third pro fights, both mismatches.

The British-born champion is 2-0-1 in world title fights and last fought in March. She stands around 5-foot-9 with a 67-inch reach.

The 34-year-old pro-Mayer has the more decorated pro career but has generally seen success in much lighter weight classes.

The California native and 2016 Olympian turned pro in 2017. Similarly, she started off with a run of stoppages, knocking out three of her first four opponents, but overall, Mayer's boxed to nine straight decisions since July 2020.

Mayer never fought above super featherweight until last April, and this will be her second try at 147. As skilled as she is, her last convincing win over someone truly around her skill level was maybe Maiva Hamadouche, whom she unified the IBF and WBO titles at 130 against – but Mayer was a -400 favorite even then.

Mayer contested she was robbed against Baumgardner and Jonas, and some would agree with at least one – I'd disagree on both fronts – but even so, Ryan's decision vs. McCaskill was the worst of the bunch, and she entered as a +140 ish underdog.

Mayer, though, does have the overall and specifically world championship experience, with a 4-2 record in world title fights – 5-2 if you'd like to be generous and add an interim strap.

Ryan vs. Mayer Prediction & Pick

A close fight like this provides realistic long-shot opportunities. This could be really close.

You basically have to play the draw – I already played it at +1600 on FanDuel, which I have logged in the Action App. I put down only 0.2 of a unit, but it's +1600. I honestly think this is much more realistic than oddsmakers think.

If the market opens up "Either by split decision" or majority decision before fight time, I'd also be interested in that bet.

If I absolutely had to pick a side, though, I'd lean toward Ryan by decision – which is +135 at DraftKings – but I'm hesitant to do this because this is on American soil, and it feels like Top Rank is trying to throw Mayer yet another bone to become a welterweight champion after it not working out on January. So the potential political aspects of this matchup will probably keep me from taking a side.

I'll take the draw, and if I could get some version of the fight to end by split decision or majority decision, I'll sprinkle on those, too.

Enjoy the fight, and don't go broke!

The Pick: Ryan vs. Mayer ends via draw (+1600 at FanDuel)

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