Sandy Ryan recently confessed to being in “a dark place” for quite some time following her loss to Erica Anabella Farias in Nottingham back in March. Coming up on the wrong end of a split decision against Farias was the first setback for the previously undefeated and highly-touted super-lightweight prospect fighting out of Derby.
With Saturday’s rematch versus Farias being only her fifth outing, Ryan’s pro journey is very young still and growing pains are part of the process. These can be tough enough to endure without additionally being attacked on social media for undergoing personal and professional complications by people who know next to nothing about what you’ve been struggling through. Ryan admits that this threw fuel on the already smoldering fire of self-doubt and depression that have plagued her in the past. On occasion, she has been admirably candid while opening up about her struggles with mental health issues.
“I was supposed to be the strong one. It doesn’t matter how strong you are, it can happen to anyone,” Sandy said in October 2020 while recuperating from shoulder surgery and still coping with the isolation of the global Covid lockdown which additionally forced the cancellation of that summer’s Olympic games in Tokyo. “Every person has setbacks in their life and gets down. Some people deal with things differently, it can affect people in different ways. You need to talk about it and reach out to people. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
Ryan emerged from that particular bout with depression thanks to some tough love from her brother Dave, a former journeyman boxer who retired in 2016 with a 17-10 record and a Commonwealth belt to his credit. Prior to that, it was Sandy who had helped pull their father through his own mental health challenges.
In an amateur career that began in 2010 at the age of seventeen, Ryan was victorious in 51 of her 70 bouts, winning a silver medal at the 2014 World Championships then advancing as far as the quarter finals two years later. A win over Rosie Eccles earned Sandy the 2018 Commonwealth Championship.
Nearly two years after her final amateur fight, Ryan debuted in the paid ranks last July with a six-round shutout of 3-1-2 Kirstie Bavington under the banner of Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing. A pair of stoppages followed in relatively quick succession to close out her rookie year—putting Aleksandra Vujovik (4-14-2) down for the count in the fourth round in Milan, and scoring a technical knockout of Maria Soledad Capriolo (7-13-4) at Manchester Arena.
Eddie Hearn took a risk by matching Sandy opposite the seasoned Erica Farias, a thirteen-year veteran and two-division world champion, for Ryan’s fourth pro bout on March 12. The 38-year-old Farias, however, was coming off three consecutive defeats, two to Jessica McCaskill (in which the Argentinian lost her WBC super-lightweight title and failed to reclaim it) and most recently to Mikaela Mayer, and was likely being written off by Hearn as little more than a trial horse in the twilight of her career ready to be put out to pasture by his young upstart. With many questioning whether this matchup was a case of too much too soon, Hearn’s gamble indeed proved to be a costly one for Ryan.
Because she brought overconfidence and negative energy into training camp, Sandy was aware well before fight night that things didn’t unfold the way they needed to in order for her to be in the proper physical condition and mental head space it would take to execute the type of game plan necessary to contend with the likes of Farias.
“I’ve got a much better boxing brain than this,” Ryan surmised as she watched highlights from the first Farias fight and cataloged her deficiencies. “Before the fight I got complacent and I’m thinking, I can beat this girl. So some of the stuff in prep I just didn’t do one hundred percent, and I think, what an idiot. What have you done?”
The scrappy Argentine’s experience ultimately made the difference, and Farias was successful in making Sandy abandon her long range boxing skills in favor of being lured into a back alley brawl. This is not to suggest that Ryan can’t bang on the inside, but under the circumstances this roughhouse style played more so into the crafty veteran’s hands. That said, Farias emerged victorious only by the slimmest of margins on two out of three scorecards, despite having a point deducted for excessive headbutting, with the tally on the third giving the edge to Ryan.
With the support of her team and trusted friends, Sandy was eventually able to push through the despair brought on by her first professional loss. Locking away her phone and turning her attention away from the toxicity spewed by keyboard critics, Ryan shifted her focus instead to the character-building aspects of assessing her previous performance so that she could set about making beneficial adjustments for the immediate rematch she knew she needed to pursue to set things right.
“I wouldn’t know what else to do if I didn’t do boxing,” Sandy acknowledged, emphasizing the existential validity she derives from the sport she loves. “It’s crazy because I’ve just been boxing all my life. I was on GB for nine years, so it’s literally all I know.”
Although it initially felt to her like the sky was falling down after the defeat, Sandy reasoned that if she managed to hang in there and nearly beat Farias operating at what she figures was roughly half capacity, not to mention fighting through the delirium caused by a perforated eardrum, the upside was imagining what she could accomplish by applying full-on determination next time around.
Not that Ryan could understand Farias’ taunts during the staredown portion of Friday’s weigh-in without a translator, but the Argentine mocked her as a “little runt” and promised to “beat you up like I did last time.” Just as in their first go-round, Farias started at a quick pace Saturday night, applying pressure and working her way inside where she would rattle Ryan with the left hook.
Maintaining her composure and settling into a more favorable rhythm, Sandy soon began to establish a comfortable distance with her long left jab and fleet-footed lateral movement from which she lashed out with straight rights that connected with increasing frequency.
Neither fighter truly dominated the action, and the early rounds were difficult to score with any degree of accuracy, no doubt causing undue anxiety among Ryan’s seconds and supporters as to who held the advantage going into the home stretch. The fact that Farias is renowned for her stamina and ability to finish strong only upped the ante.
Exhibiting great tenacity, augmented by a maturity which must have been one of the primary takeaways from dealing with the fallout of the first fight, Sandy reached deep down inside herself during the championship rounds to outclass Farias and pull away with the unanimous decision by one eyebrow-raising score 98-92 and two much more reasonable tallies of 96-94.
The difference in Sandy’s demeanor from the first fight to last night could not have been plainer or nicer to see. Having successfully chased the demons away, Ryan joyfully sidled up to the microphone for her post-fight interview and sang along to “Sweet Caroline” which was blasting over the arena’s PA system.
“I’ve been a closed book for a long time,and I didn’t realize it myself until I broke down after my defeat,” she said. “Now I can speak about it and I can say, look, you just need to talk.”
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