Two major rematches take center stage on Saturday, when WBO women's welterweight champion Mikaela Mayer takes on Sandy Ryan in Las Vegas (ESPN/ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET, with prelims at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN+), and WBC interim lightweight titleholder William Zepeda meets Tevin Farmer in Cancun, Mexico.
Mayer (20-2, 5 KOs) defeated Ryan (7-2-1, 3 KOs) by majority decision in the main event of a boxing card at The Theater inside Madison Square Garden last September. Ahead of the fight, Ryan was struck with a can of red paint by an unidentified person as she was leaving her hotel to head to the fight. Ryan was uninjured and made her way to the venue. She blamed Mayer and her team for the attack, something they have denied.
The fighters had developed a strong disdain for each other ahead of the fight due to a trainer. Mayer had been training with Kay Koroma for most of her career, but in September 2023, "Coach Kay" started training Ryan as well. Feeling there was a conflict of interest, Mayer left Koroma for trainer Kofi Jantuah, who was also on her team, following her loss to Natasha Jonas in January 2024.
Mayer beat Ryan by scorecards of 93-97, 94-96 and 95-95 in a close fight that separated both fighter by just one punch -- Mayer landed 186 punches to Ryan's 185 and also edged Ryan in power punches landed (132-128). But Ryan landed three more jabs than Mayer (57 to 54) throughout the 10 rounds.
Zepeda (32-0, 27 KOs) defeated Farmer (33-7-1, 8 KOs) by split decision last November in a fight for the WBC lightweight interim title. The fighters sere separated by just one round in all three scorecards (94-95 twice for Zepeda and 95-94 for Farmer).
While Zepeda, who was knocked down in Round 4, threw 191 more punches than Farmer, he landed only 33.3% of his total punches to 32.9% for Farmer. Zepeda also landed 90 body punches to only 45 for Farmer.
Let's look at both rematches by the numbers. Information from ESPN Research and CompuBox was used in this report.
Mikaela Mayer vs. Sandy Ryan
-115: Ryan's odds to win the fight per ESPN BET. Mayer is the underdog at -105.
60: Percentage of punches landed by Ryan in Rounds 6 to 10 (111 of 185). Mayer landed 54% of her punches in that same period (101 of 186). The biggest difference in the fight was Mayer's jab. She threw 317 jabs and 319 power punches, almost a 50-50 breakdown. Ryan threw 224 jabs and 343 power punches. Only 40% of her punches were jabs.
5: Number of title fights for Ryan (including Saturday's rematch with Mayer) in her 11 pro fights. Ryan defeated Marie-Pier Houle by unanimous decision in April 2023 to win the vacant WBO welterweight title. She fought to a draw in a unification fight against Jessica McCaskill in September 2023, then made one successful defense against Terri Harper in March 2024, before losing to Mayer in September.
9: Number of title fights for Mayer (including Saturday's fight with Ryan), and third at welterweight. Mayer lost to Natasha Jonas in January 2024 via split decision while challenging for the IBF welterweight title. She then defeated Ryan in September 2024 to capture the WBO belt. She also had title fights at junior lightweight and lightweight (interim title).
7: Mayer's spot in ESPN's pound-for-pound women's rankings. She's also the No. 2-ranked welterweight behind three-belt unified champion Lauren Price.
1: Difference in punches landed in their first fight (186 to 185, in favor of Mayer).
32.6: Percentage of punches landed by Ryan in her first fight against Mayer (185 of 567). She also landed a higher percentage in jabs (25.4% to 17% for Mayer).
9: Highest number of jabs landed by Mayer and Ryan in their first fight (Ryan in Round 1 and Mayer in Round 4). Neither Mayer nor Ryan threw jabs in double digits in any round.
8: Number of rounds in which Ryan landed power punches in double digits, to Ryan's seven. Mayer's most effective round was the 10th, when she landed 50% of her power punches. Ryan landed 54.8% in Round 4.
44: Total punches landed to the body by Mayer, to 33 for Ryan. Of those Mayer punches, only five were jabs, to only two landed by Ryan.
William Zepeda vs. Tevin Farmer
-750: Zepeda's odds to win the fight per ESPN BET. Farmer is the underdog at +475.
31.9: Average of punches landed per round by Zepeda in his last 10 fights. That's the highest among champions and title contenders at 135 pounds (15.9). He throws 96.5 punches per round, also highest among lightweight champs and contenders. In comparison, Farmer throws 55 punches per round, while the division average is 56.6.
23.8: Average of power punches landed per round by Zepeda in his last 10 fights, second highest among lightweight champions and contenders. That's exactly twice the average for the division (11.9 per round), and 10 more punches than Farmer (13.8 per round).
29.2 Percentage of power punches landed on Zepeda by his opponents (11.4 per round).
34.2: Percentage of body punches landed by Zepeda. Farmer lands 38.9%. The CompuBox average for the lightweight division is 29.5%.
19: Punches per round landed by Farmer in his first fight against Zepeda, almost three more than his 16.4 average. Of those punches landed, 13.8 per round are power punches.
79: Power punches to the body landed by Zepeda in the first fight against Farmer, who landed only 42 of his power punches to the body.
3: Total jabs to the body landed by Farmer against Zepeda in their first fight. That's less than half of his average of 6.4 landed per round.
7: Difference in punches landed per round in their first fight, in favor of Zepeda. Zepeda also averaged 19 more punches thrown (78-59) .
1: Knockdown in their first fight. Farmer dropped Zepeda with a left hand counter in the fourth round.