Christina Linardatou Durán (born 4 March 1988) is a Greek

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

. She is a two-time

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxin ...

female junior-welterweight champion, having won the title in 2019 and 2020. As of September 2020, she is ranked as the world's best active female junior-welterweight by ''The Ring'' and third

BoxRec BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profess ...

Career

Early career

Born in

Santiago de los Caballeros Santiago de los Caballeros ("James, son of Zebedee, Saint James of the Knights"), often shortened to Santiago, is the second-largest city in the Dominican Republic and the fourth-largest city in the Caribbean by population. It is the capital of ...

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

, Linardatou moved to

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

when she was a child. Later, she started to train for

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

Professional career

After several fights in Greece, Linardatou moved to the

to start her professional career. On 4 June 2016, Linardatou made her first attempt at a world championship, challenging

Delfine Persoon Delfine Persoon (; born 14 January 1985) is a Belgian professional boxer. She held the IBF female lightweight title in 2012 and the WBC female lightweight title from 2014 to June 2019, losing the title in a unification fight against Katie Tayl ...

for the WBC female

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing (sport), rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) boxing weight classes, weight class in the spor ...

title at Sporthal Schiervelde in

Roeselare Roeselare (; ; ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Roeselare proper and the towns of Beveren, Oekene and Rumbeke. The name of the city is derived from two ...

, Belgium, losing by

unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighte ...

. On 24 March 2019, Linardatou won the vacant

female

junior welterweight Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional boxing In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...

title, after beating Kandi Wyatt via

technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

in round six. This was the first world championship bout held in

. On 7 June 2019, Linardatou made the first defense of her title, defeating Deanha Hobbs by unanimous decision over ten rounds in a bout held at the

Galatsi Olympic Hall The Galatsi Olympic Hall is a multi-use indoor arena that is located in Galatsi, Athens, Greece. It was the site of table tennis and rhythmic gymnastics at the 2004 Summer Olympics. The Galatsi Olympic Hall has a seating capacity of 6,200, which ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. She relinquished her titles after she became pregnant. She gave birth to Apollo in September 2021.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Linardatou, Christina 1988 births Living people Light-welterweight boxers Greek women boxers Sportspeople from Santiago de los Caballeros World Boxing Organization champions 21st-century Greek sportswomen