Mikaela Mayer has not given up in her quest to run it back with Alycia Baumgardner.
Her first step towards fulfilling that goal is a meeting with the only fighter to hang a loss on the reigning unified junior lightweight champion.
BoxingScene.com has learned that hard plans are in place for Mayer to next face former two-time WBO junior welterweight titlist Christina Linardatou. The fight will take place at lightweight, though the exact timeframe and location are still in discussion as this goes to publish.
“If it’s on a map, it’s in play,” one source with knowledge of such talks quipped to BoxingScene.com, declining further comment.
No Smoke Boxing’s Darshan Desai was the first to break the news of the matchup between former titlists.
The fight will be the first for Mayer (17-1, 5KOs) since her narrow, majority decision defeat to Baumgardner in their lineal/WBC/IBF/WBO 130-pound championship last Oct. 15 in London. Mayer suffered her first loss as a pro, ending her title reign after having won the WBO belt two years prior—almost to the day. She added the IBF belt in a thrilling ten-round, unanimous decision win over Maiva Hamadouche last Nov. 5 in Las Vegas.
Efforts to secure a rematch with Baumgardner (13-1, 7KOs) went nowhere, as the reigning, unified champ instead pushed for an undisputed championship showdown with WBA titlist Hyun-Mi Choi. Baumgardner was granted her wish to a degree; she still gets to bid for the now vacant WBA belt, as Choi was downgraded to ‘Champion in Recess.’
As previously reported by BoxingScene.com, Baumgardner will face France’s Elhem Mekhaled for the undisputed championship on Feb. 4 at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
Mayer will mark her time by fighting at lightweight, merely as means to not shrink back down to 130 for what will be a non-title fight. The 2016 U.S. Olympian and former unified champ from Los Angeles—who is now based out of Colorado Springs, Colorado—has maintained a tight weight range of 129 ¼ to 130 ½ pounds through more than five years as a pro.
The fight taking place at lightweight will be of benefit to, but still somewhat of a confession for Linaradatou (14-2, 6KOs) who has competed at junior welterweight for her past five fights. Linardatou—a Dominican Republic-born boxer based out of Athens. Greece—move up in weight immediately followed a July 2018 split decision win over Baumgardner, which was fought at the junior lightweight limit.
She claimed the WBO 140-pound title one fight later in a sixth-round knockout of then-unbeaten Kandi Wyatt in March 2019. One successful defense followed before a November 2019 loss to the legendary Katie Taylor, who immediately vacated and returned to her undisputed lightweight championship reign.
Linardatou regained her old title in a February 2020 win over Prisca Vicot. She was unable to defend due to the combination of the pandemic and then becoming pregnant, which per WBO rules resulted in her being stripped of the belt.
England’s Chantelle Cameron has since claimed the WBO title along with every other major crown at junior welterweight. She completed her undisputed run with a ten-round points win over Jessica McCaskill, at the time the undisputed welterweight champion who moved down in weight for their November 5 clash in Abu Dhabi.
Linardatou was installed as the mandatory challenger and guaranteed a shot at the winner, with the fight ordered less than a week after Cameron’s undisputed championship coronation.
The two sides failed to reach a deal, thus—as reported by BoxingScene.com—prompted the WBO to send the fight to a yet-to-be-announced purse bid. Linardatou’s side lobbied for a 50/50 purse split given her status as a former champ who never lost her belt in the ring. The 75/25 split in favor of Cameron served as a dealbreaker, leading Linardatou’s team to instead entertain what is likely a far more lucrative offer to next face Mayer.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
