Sandy Ryan Thrashes Terri Harper While Ishmael Davis Steps Up To Beat Troy Williamson

Sandy Ryan successfully defended her WBO welterweight title with an impressive and one-sided win over Terri Harper.

Ryan went to work the body early while Harper tried to get a flow going behind straight shots, lefts and rights.

Ryan was on the front foot, however, and she really surged forwards in the third, landing several hard straight right hands that had Harper looking disorganised and hurt.

Harper tried to bounce out for the fourth, instructing her legs to move with some energy and urgency, but the relentless Ryan kept coming, and Harper’s defense was too porous and her head movement almost non-existent.

Ryan was bleeding from the nostrils but slamming in heavy left hooks and right hands, and when Harper made it back to her corner, trainer Stefy Bull called it a night for his fighter and Derby’s Ryan, 7-1-1 (3 KOs), could celebrate.

The veteran two-weight champion Harper, from Denaby Main, is now 14-2-2 (6 KOs).

“I just believe in myself,” said Ryan. “I’ve done this all my life. Now it’s time for me to get the rewards. I’ve taken myself away, out of the country training, away from my family and friends for so long. I respect her massively and she knows that. After round three I started putting the pressure on and I could see her fading and I thought, 'There’s no way I’m taking a back foot here'.”  

The fight between Troy Williamson and Ishmael Davis was on, and yesterday after Williamson missed the junior middleweight limit by more than 4lbs, it was off, but during negotiations that carried on through this morning it was back on.

In the end, Davis took the step up in class in his stride to well win a decent eliminator for the British title, winning by score totals of 117-111 and 116-112 (twice).

There was not a lot in it, but the right fighter won and the scorecards told the story of the fight. Williamson used his size and strength and Davis tried to catch him with sharp counters. Both had their moments, and both showed flashes of class, such as a spell of infighting in the fifth when Williamson worked his way inside and landed several shots, but he took two flashy left uppercuts for his trouble.

There was more good action as they jostled for position and control in the sixth, with Davis switching stances and both throwing freely, but Davis was a little more accurate.  

Williamson started to swell beneath his right eye through the seventh, and he was often being beaten to the punch. Despite trying to get his jab pumping, Williamson was coming second in the exchanges, although he was still applying pressure as the ninth-round closed and yet, the more Williamson tried to surge forwards, the more gaps he left for Davis to exploit.

Darlington’s Williamson is now 20-3-1 (14 KOs). Davis, from Leeds, improved to 13-0 (6 KOs).