Former WBO and IBF junior lightweight champion Mikaela Mayer will make her debut at lightweight against Christina Linardatou, a source confirmed to ESPN.
A date and location for the fight have not been determined.
This will be Mayer’s first fight since a split-decision loss to Alycia Baumgardner in October that unified the IBF, WBC and WBO titles.
The 32-year-old Mayer (17-1, 5 KOs) unsuccessfully campaigned for a rematch against Baumgardner or a fight against then-WBA champion Hyun-Mi Choi at junior lightweight. Baumgardner also attempted to fight Choi, who was injured and is now the WBA’s champion in recess, before setting up an undisputed junior lightweight title fight against Elena Mekhaled on Feb. 4 in New York.
Without those two fights available, Mayer decided to move up to lightweight, something the fighter had been considering for about a year.
Linardatou (14-2, 6 KOs) has fought just once since 2020 — a win in July over Aleksandra Vujovic. The former WBO junior welterweight titleholder, Linardatou lost to Katie Taylor in 2019 and then regained the belt in 2020 with a win over Prisca Vicot.
Her only losses have come against Taylor and Delfine Persoon in a 2016 fight for the WBC lightweight title. Her best win came in 2018, when she beat Baumgardner by split decision. That was the only loss of Baumgardner’s career.
In November, the WBO named Linardatou as the mandatory challenger to Chantelle Cameron following Cameron’s undisputed junior welterweight title fight win over Jessica McCaskill.
Everything Boxing first reported on the Mayer-Linardatou fight.