Mikaela Mayer Heads Back To London In April

Mikaela Mayer Heads Back To London In April

Mikaela Mayer will head back to the UK and test the lightweight waters for the very first time against Christina Linardatou in April.

Mayer and Linardatou are set to feature as the co-main event to the heavyweight showdown between Joe Joyce and Zhilei Zhang, which takes place at the Copper Box Arena in London on April 15th. FightPost understands that the official announcement of the fight will be made early next week. News of the fight was first reported by Michael Rothstein.

The former unified world super-featherweight champion will look to get back to winning ways against the only fighter to beat Alycia Baumgardner, who took away Mayer’s unbeaten record and her world titles last October on a bitterly disputed split decision last October. Mayer desperately wants the rematch with Baumgardner, but with that rematch not immediately available to her, she has decided to move up to lightweight and look for the big fights that are open to her at the higher weights.

FightPost is of the understanding that the decision to fight in the UK again was made by the Mayer inner circle, including the fighter herself, to build on the momentum that Mayer gained from the fight with Baumgardner and could then lead to further fights in the UK down the road against the likes of Natasha Jonas and Chantelle Cameron. Both Mayer and Cameron have expressed an interest in fighting each other, and Boxxer’s Ben Shalom is constantly linking Mayer to a fight with the unified 154 world champion Jonas. In many ways, fighting Linardatou in the UK is smart business. It adds another little dimension or two to her fighting future.

Despite the setback against Baumgardner, Mayer at 32, still has her peak years ahead of her and will not be short of options if she gets past the former WBO junior welterweight champion Linardatou, who has only lost to Katie Taylor and Delfine Persoon.

While a rematch with Baumgardner looks too good to be lost, and there seems to be far too much money left on the table for it to be ignored for much longer, Mayer will simply go where the big fights are. Make no mistake, Mayer will not sit and wait for Baumgardner. With Mayer also chasing the likes of Katie Taylor, Jessica McCaskill and Cameron, it could be a case that rematch needs to happen sooner rather than later.