DiBella Entertainment has signed WBO Women’s Junior Welterweight World Champion Christina “Black Mamba” Linardatou (12-1, 6 KOs), of Athens, Greece.

The 31-year-old Linardatou, a native of the Dominican Republic, captured the vacant WBO 140-pound world title on March 24, with a sixth-round knockout of previously undefeated, #1-ranked contender Kandi Wyatt in Athens. The fight was the first boxing world championship contest in the country’s history. Following up on her world title victory, Linardatou successfully made her first defense on June 7 winning a 10-round unanimous decision against unbeaten challenger Deanha Hobbs at the Olympic Hall Galatsi in Athens.

“I’m honored to bring another world champion into the DiBella family,” said Lou DiBella, President of DiBella Entertainment. “With her fan-friendly style and willingness to fight anywhere in the world, Christina will become a big star in women’s boxing. Her manager Brian Cohen and I have very big plans and we are excited to see her career grow from here.”

The Linardatou signing comes one day prior to DiBella Entertainment’s next Broadway Boxing card, which will be live streamed on UFC Fight Pass tomorrow night from Foxwoods Resort Casino, in Mashantucket, CT. The event will feature three exciting women’s bouts, including WBA Super Middleweight Champion Alicia “The Empress” Napoleon-Espinosa defending her world title for the second time against Schemelle Baldwin. Former world champion Kali Reis and hard-hitting bantamweight contender Helen Joseph will compete as well.

DiBella Entertainment will also be promoting the highly anticipated WBO Women’s Featherweight World Championship fight between Heather “The Heat” Hardy and Amanda “The Real Deal” Serrano on Friday, September 13, at Madison Square Garden, in New York City.

“Lou DiBella’s passion and action speak loud and clear,” said Linardatou. “For many years, Lou has been not only one of the very best promoters, but a true supporter and fighter for women’s boxing, working with numerous top contenders and world champions. I’m very confident that he can provide me with big opportunities to take my career to the next level.”

On July 28, 2018, Linardatou fought in the United States for the first time, winning a six-round decision versus previously undefeated Alycia Baumgardner in Louisville, KY.

Photo via inthering.gr

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Christina Linardatou’s first WBO world title defense was a resounding success.

In the main event of a boxing card in Greece, Linardatou dominated Deanha Hobbs to retain the WBO junior welterweight title with a 10-round decision.

The fight started off with Linardatou picking her spots and throwing big hooks to the body while Hobbs threw lazy jabs and 1-2 combinations in the first few rounds. Linardatou briefly staggered Dobbs late in the second round, but failed to capitalize on the opportunity and drop Dobbs. For almost the entire fight, Dobbs fought off the backfoot, throwing simple combinations but unable to seriously hurt Linardatou.

As the fight progressed, Linardatou continued to throw harder punches as she kept walking Dobbs down. Dobbs did perform better in the second half compared to the first half of the fight, being more aggressive and willing to trade body blows with Linardatou in the center of the ring. Linardatou connected on a solid left hand in the seventh round, but Dobbs responded by pressuring the champion to the ropes and even landed a couple of hooks upstairs. Dobbs had perhaps her best round in the eighth when she landed a straight left that split Linardatou’s guard as well as a right uppercut that connected square on Linardatou’s face.

Linardatou started the ninth round with a flurry of body shots, immediately pushing Dobbs to retreat to the corner, and then connecting with a big left hook upstairs. Linardatou kept the frantic pace up, barely allowing Dobbs to throw anything big to get back in the fight. Linardatou nearly stopped Dobbs late in the round when she connected on another left hook that hurt Dobbs, but the challenger was able to survive the round. Dobbs had one more chance to turn the fight around when she landed a furious combination of punches in the final minute of the fight, but Linardatou was able to shrug off her opponent’s punches.

This was Linardatou’s first fight since winning the world title back in March with a TKO win over Kandi Wyatt. Linardatou dropped Wyatt three times en route to the sixth-round stoppage win in Greece.

WATCH Linardatou Vs. Hobbs in the next video:

VIA CARLOS TORO: https://www.fightful.com/boxing/christina-linardatou-retains-wbo-junior-welterweight-title-decision-win-over-deanha-hobbs

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Born in 🇩🇴 but living and training in 🇬🇷 Christina “Black Mamba” Linardatou (11-1, 6 KOs) defeated 🇨🇦 Kandi Wyatt (8-1, 3 KOs) via 6th-round TKO for the vacant WBO World Jr. Welterweight Championship in Athens.

Linardatou won via TKO in the sixth round after three consecutive knockdowns that had Wyatt streaming blood out of her face.

It was a bummer way for the Canadian to end the fight, after she controlled much the goings in the first few rounds and also suffered the first defeat of her professional career, leaving her with a record of 8-1.

Wyatt was hot out of the gate early — much to the delight of the fans at the Gods of War XII show in Greece — and unleashed flurry after flurry of punches to Linardatou that seemed to overwhelm the veteran Greek fighter early on.

There were numerous points during the first three rounds when Linardatou went for a clinch or tried to pull Wyatt towards the ropes in hope of looking for a clean break.

At second glance, however, perhaps it was just in effort to size up her opponent, who didn’t seem intent on trading in her aggression level for a more strategic approach as the fight went on. Linardatou started to reel in her own punch-count while picking her spots when openings presented themselves.The result of this was multiple tags that caught Wyatt through her remarkable offensive attempt.

First, a couple jabs.

Then some massive hooks.

It was then that the fight started to turn in the favour of the hometown fighter, who had seemingly found a working tactic against the fist-flying Canadian. The Athens native sat back, absorbed a barrage of punches while protecting herself and slowly picked apart Wyatt through small cracks in her armour.

It wasn’t long after that that the finish of the fight came barrelling down on Wyatt, who was sent to the mat in Round 6 after a brutal looking hook.

She got up, red liquid pouring from her nose, and was subsequently knocked down twice more to give Linardatou the TKO win.Afterward, the two fighters embraced and the two camps (everyone involved in both) stood together in the middle of the ring for a group photo.

via https://calgarysun.com/sports/other-sports/calgarys-kandi-krush-wyatt-loses-wbo-title-fight-in-greece

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