Sandy Ryan goes all in on Vegas as she prepares for a 'belter' of a superfight

Sandy Ryan has gone all in on Las Vegas in 2024, and on Saturday night she hopes to cash in her chips….in Sheffield.

The WBO world welterweight champion made the huge decision last year to turn her boxing world upside down – she parted company with her entire management and training team.

Now the 30-year-old star from Derby is managed by Brian Peters (also manager of one Katie Taylor) and trained in Vegas by Emanuel ‘Flick’ Savoy as she prepares for an all-British blockbuster against Terri ‘Belter’ Harper at Sheffield Arena on Saturday night (live on DAZN).

Ryan made all those life changes on the back of her hugely frustrating Stateside debut last September – a hotly-disputed draw against Jessica McCaskill in their unification battle in Orlando.

Sandy Ryan on career changes

So far the changes are definitely to her liking, with Sandy believing that being so far away from home for camp just gives her added steely focus.

She explained: “At the end of last year a lot of changes happened in my career. I changed management, changed trainers and moved out here, made the decision to bring myself away from the UK. I feel it works better for me to be out of the UK to do a training camp. I feel like I’m fully focused. I’ve come here and I’m training really hard.

“I just love the way they work here in the gym. They really break things down. At this level that’s just what I need. Even in sparring, you’ve got to work on certain things making sure your shots are perfect. Keep doing them and doing them until I get the shots right. I’ve got all of the fundamentals and stuff, but I never really worked on them continuously until stepping in this gym.

“Before my last fight, I came out here like four weeks to finish camp off and I loved it. The people in the gym, we got along really well. They were just welcoming me to come back and it was a great decision that I made.

“It’s alright being away from home. As you know, I used to go to Portugal and stuff – but that’s like a 2-hour flight. This is literally like 11-hour flights. It kind of feels a bit different. I can’t just go home at the weekend. That’s probably been a bit of a mental challenge as well, but I’ve got a really good team around me right now and I’m happy.”

Belt business

Ryan had hoped to fight Harper up at super-welterweight, in a bid to snatch Terri’s WBA belt at 154lbs. But it was a case of no dice, and instead Sandy puts her strap on the line down at 147.

“We tried to get it at her weight but she didn’t want it at her weight so I’m defending my title. That’s just the facts. Of course I would have liked to have fought for her belt. I wouldn’t mind being a two-weight World Champion. They wanted to fight for my belt so they’ve still got their belt at 154lbs after the fight.”

The fight Ryan really wanted right now was a rematch with McCaskill – the injustice of that night still cuts deep. Fighting Harper is not a bad consolation prize though, with Sandy stressing she only wants to fight big names who bring the best out of her.

Big names only for Sandy

“Obviously I didn’t get the Jessica McCaskill rematch that everyone wanted to see. I needed another big fight to get me going. This is the one. Everyone saw that I won the fight but it’s not on my record is it and I haven’t got all the belts around me. I’ve learnt from it and it’s brought me to where I am now.

“I don’t want to fight someone who nobody knows. They asked if I wanted to take the fight with Terri and I just said yes straight away. The British fans are loving it; two British females, two World Champions – so it’s quite a big fight in the UK. ‘And Still’, that’s all I keep visualising.

“I think at this stage every fight is a must-win. I’ve just got to train hard like I have done and be fully prepared. She’s a good boxer. She’s good at the basics. She’s going to be fit, she’s going to be strong, she’s always in shape. I’m expecting her to come ready.”