THE career recovery of Sandy Ryan is one step away from being fully completed.
Today, Matchroom Boxing announced on their social media channels that the 29-year-old will fight Jessica McCaskill to determine the number one female welterweight in the world.
Ryan 6-1 (2 KOs) holds the WBO belt having beat Marie Pier Houle in April. Their Cardiff meeting proved to be a straightforward one for the Derbyshire boxer who won comfortably on all three scorecards 99-91, 98-92 and 97-93. Her win was the first of two British successes at world level on the night, the second coming in the main event when Joe Cordina defeated Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov to reclaim the IBF belt at 130lbs.
McCaskill 12-3 (5 KOs), who has also signed a new deal with Matchroom, is ranked as the number one female welterweight in the world. The 38-year-old nicknamed ‘CasKILLA’ owns the remaining three belts in the weight class.
The Chicago fighter holds two wins over Cecilia Braekhus and future Natasha Jonas opponent Kandi Wyatt. Two of the three losses on McCaskill’s record came in her biggest fights against Katie Taylor in 2017 at lightweight and Chantelle Cameron at super-lightweight last November. Last month Cameron bested Taylor in Dublin in yet another marquee match-up for women’s boxing.
Ryan’s career hit the skids in just her fourth contest when Erica Farias shocked fans inside the Nottingham Arena by beating the 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medallist in March 2022. The former opponent of McCaskill, who Farias lost to twice, returned for the rematch five months later only for Ryan to avenge the loss and get her career back on track.
Earlier this month Matchroom also announced the Sunny Edwards-Jesse Rodriguez super-flyweight unification as they look to fill their schedule for the second half of 2023