English boxer Sandy Ryan accused Mikaela Mayer, her opponent in a title bout Friday night in New York, of orchestrating a prefight stunt in which Ryan was hit by an open paint can as she left her hotel earlier in the evening.
Ryan (7-2-1, 3 KOs) lost her WBO welterweight title to Mayer (20-2, 5 KOs) by majority decision, with the judges scoring the bout 95-95, 97-93 and 96-94.
The lead-up to the fight at Madison Square Garden was deeply personal for both, as Ryan had been working with former longtime Mayer coach Kay Koroma. Mayer parted ways with Koroma when he decided to work with Ryan, a move she saw as a betrayal.
As Ryan left her hotel for the venue Friday, she was struck by an open paint can from an unidentified man. She said she felt something "smash" into her stomach, then saw a man in a hoodie run to a car and drive away. Ryan was uninjured and continued on to the venue after changing clothes in her hotel room.
She and her team told ESPN they believed it was a member of Mayer's camp, an accusation Mayer has denied.
In a social media post Saturday, Ryan said she was still "trying to come to terms" with the attack, adding that her team had obtained closed-circuit television footage of the incident and was in contact with local authorities.
Despite pressing on with the fight, Ryan acknowledged after the loss to Mayer that the incident had affected her performance.
"It unsettled me at the start," she said. "Walking to the venue, I was shook up. And then it threw me off a bit of my game plan because I just wanted to fight.
"You seen at the start of the fight, I was handling her quite well on the jab. I was boxing her, and then I started to pick it up. But then, I was obviously pushing it too hard."
