Katie Taylor Gets Judges Decision to Become Two-Division Champion; Takes WBO Super Lightweight Championship from Christina Linardatou

Matchroom Boxing’s feature champion Katie Taylor (15-0, 6 KOs) stepped up to Super Lightweight and relied on her boxing skills to claim the WBO belt from Greece’s Christina Linardatou (12-2, 6 KOs) at Manchester Arena.

“Medusa” Linardatou was aggressive from the opening bell, forcing Taylor to fight from the back foot majority of the 10 Rounds.

Taylor worked to keep the distance for her stellar hand speed to snap her rapid jabs and combinations, collecting the points advantage.

The entering champion consistently targeted the Unified 135 Champion with the heavily loaded right hand, proving that Taylor is not unbeatable.

Like June’s Lightweight Unification matchup with Delfine Persoon, Taylor eat more leather than many have been expecting through her first 13 pro fights.

Taylor’s corner kept insisting the plan was to keep the distance and rely on pure boxing while frustrating Linardatou to chase.

The eighth and ninth Rounds were the most engaging, with both traded pounding advances.

Official Scores: 96-94, 97-93, 97-93

After the bout, Taylor had this to say, “We knew from the start this was going to be a very, very tough fight, we said Christina was the best 140-pounder in the division… I boxed beautifully on the outside, I got smart for a change, instead of getting stuck into a fight this time.”

Reflecting on the May fight and coming into this next step, Taylor added, “I dug deep against Persoon and came out with the victory. I’m now a two-weight world champion. I can’t wait for the rematch with Persoon and also a huge, huge fight  Amanda Serrano as well.”

And down the road, “If the fight is available, maybe Cecilia Brækhus… leave the match-making to my team.”

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Promoter:
Matchroom Boxing