Ringside Report: Sandy Ryan Stops Terri Harper To Retain WBO World Welterweight Title
Ringside Report: Sandy Ryan Stops Terri Harper To Retain WBO World Welterweight Title If Terri Harper was to crown herself a three-weight champion of the world, she desperately needed a good start, and when it didn't come, there was only likely to be…
Ringside Report: Sandy Ryan Stops Terri Harper To Retain WBO World Welterweight Title
If Terri Harper was to crown herself a three-weight champion of the world, she desperately needed a good start, and when it didn't come, there was only likely to be one winner.
Sandy Ryan just had a little too much of everything for a brave but ultimately outgunned opponent who wasn't really in it, even from the opening seconds. Harper seemed bewildered and lost at what was coming back at her. While I thought Ryan would win, I expected far more resistance from the Denaby fighter, and I saw it as a much closer fight than many. But the pre-fight odds heavily favouring Ryan, were proved correct.
Ryan bossed the vast majority of the fight on Saturday night in Sheffield live on DAZN, and after four completed rounds, the Harper corner sensibly pulled their fighter out. It had been one-way traffic, and Harper never remotely looked like turning the tide.
The reigning WBO champion threatened the stoppage at the end of the third and again in the following round, and when the call came to end the fight, it was no surprise. Harper was taking far too much punishment, and it was getting an uncomfortable watch.
Harper will likely go back to 154, but in truth, it was a bad defeat for her. It was terribly one-sided, and surprisingly so. Technically, she just seemed to unravel when Ryan started to apply the pressure. The manner of the defeat leaves Harper facing an uncertain future. The defeat to Ryan was her second career reversal, both have come by stoppage. It seems a little too early to write Harper off, but I'm not sure what big fights are out there for her, unless Mikaela Mayer fancies a move up to super-welterweight to rekindle an old rivalry.
But Ryan was incredibly impressive, winning far easier than anyone could have expected. The big names in her division will all have taken notice. It is a division with more than a touch of star quality. High-profile names like Natasha Jonas, Lauren Price, Chantelle Cameron, and Mikaela Mayer will all be on the Sandy Ryan radar. Ryan has more than earned the right to call them out. On this performance, she will take some beating.
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