Christina Linardatou To Defend WBO Junior Welterweight Title In June
Weeks after becoming the WBO junior welterweight champion and Greece’s first female boxing world titleholder, Christina Linardatou is already preparing for her first defense.
Linardatou will defend her title against Deanha Hobbs on June 7 at the Olympic Hall Galatsi in Athens. The fight will also mark Hobbs’ first attempt at a world title.
Linardatou won the then-vacant title in her second career attempt at a world championship on March 24 in Greece when she stopped Kandi Wyatt with a sixth-round TKO victory. The title was previously held by Amanda Serrano, who won the belt last September in Brooklyn, New York but vacated the title months later and eventually won the WBO super flyweight title earlier this year. Linardatou previously challenged for the WBC lightweight title back in 2016, but was unsuccessful as she lost a 10-round decision to Delfine Persoon. Since then, Linardatou has won three straight fights.
Hobbs is only eight fights into her pro career, but she has already collected a number of titles getting to this point. The undefeated Hobbs has won the Australian National junior welterweight title and is the current WBO Asia Pacific champion.
This isn’t the only women’s title fight at 140 pounds taking place in the coming months. Matchroom Boxing announced that WBC champion Jessica McCaskill will fight WBA titleholder Anahi Sanchez in a title unification on May 25 in Maryland with the fight being streamed on DAZN.
