Alycia Baumgardner’s homecoming will double as a revenge tour.
BoxingScene.com has learned that plans are in place for Baumgardner to defend her undisputed junior lightweight championship versus Christina Linardatou, the only fighter to hang a loss on her otherwise pristine record. The rematch is not yet finalized but remains the leading plan to headline a July 15 DAZN show in Detroit, Michigan.
As previously reported by Boxing Scene and other outlets, a discussed co-feature would pair Brooklyn’s unbeaten rising contender Richardson Hitchins—a 2016 Olympian for Haiti—versus Montana Love in a junior welterweight contest.
Boxing Scene has confirmed that Baumgardner (14-1, 7KOs) and Hitchins (16-0, 7KOs) will appear on the show, whether in the aforementioned fights or versus other approved opponents. The placement of Linardatou and Love, respectively, is entirely dependent on accepting the proposed matchups.
Linardatou (14-2, 6KOs) became available after she was medically declined to proceed with a planned April 15 bout versus former unified junior lightweight titlist Mikaela Mayer (18-1, 5KOs) in England. The fight fell apart just prior to the weigh-in when the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) would not approve Linardatou—a 35-year-old former two-time WBO 140-pound titlist from Athens, Greece— for a license due to a permanent lens in her eye.
The same lens was in place when Linardatou lost her WBO junior welterweight title to Irish superstar Katie Taylor (22-0, 6KOs), the undisputed lightweight champion who moved up for their November 2019 title fight in Manchester, but have since revised their medical policy which was the cause for her being turned away for this fight.
It left her available to challenge Baumgardner, if she wants the fight.
Baumgardner—a Fremont, Ohio native who lives and trains in the greater Detroit area—has won eight in a row since a heartbreaking split decision defeat to Linardatou in their July 2018 non-title fight in Louisville, Kentucky. Baumgardner was able to revamp her entire team, including her signing with Marshall Kaufmann’s King’s Promotions. She has since emerged as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters and the fully unified 130-pound queen.
More than three years after her lone defeat, Baumgardner claimed her first major title with a sensational fourth-round knockout of unbeaten WBC junior lightweight titlist Terri Harper in a November 2021 upset win in Sheffield, England. Three title defenses have followed, including a ten-round decision victory over Mayer in their lineal, WBC, IBF and WBO unification bout last October 15 in London.
The last piece of the puzzle was added in her most recent fight. Baumgardner floored France’s Elhem Mekhaled in the third round of an eventual ten-round, unanimous decision to add the WBA belt to her collection on February 4 at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in New York City. The fight was her first in the U.S. since August 2021; the July 15 show will mark her first career headliner and just her second fight in the greater Detroit area, having not fought in the area since her second pro bout in Dearborn, Michigan.
Linardatou has not fought since a six-round win last July after giving birth. Her pregnancy resulted in the unceremonious end to her second WBO junior welterweight title reign, having regained the belt in a February 2020 win over Prisca Vicot.
Baumgardner is among the lucrative future options for Taylor, who returns home and to the junior welterweight division this weekend in a challenge of undisputed 140-pound champ Chantelle Cameron. Baumgardner will be ringside for the DAZN-headlining championship clash this Saturday at 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox