IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC/WBO female super featherweight champion Alycia Baumgardner (15-1, 7 KOs) got revenge on Saturday night, beating Christina Linardatou (14-3, 6 KOs) by a ten round unanimous decision in Detroit.
The rounds were difficult to score, as Linardatou was all over Baumgardner, hitting her frequently with punches in an exciting war at the Masonic Temple in Detroit.
It was a close enough fight for it to be won by a couple of rounds by Baumgardner, but the judges gave it to her by these lopsided scores: 99-91, 98-92, and 98-92. It’s fair to say that Linardatou was the better fighter in the second half, while Baumgardner controlled the first part of the fight.
Baumgardner had said before the fight that she was going to “punish” Linardatou, but she failed to do that tonight, as it was a razor-close contest in which her opponent gave as good as she got.
“I would give it an A. I can close this chapter; I got my lick back like I said I would,” said Baumgardner to Matchroom Boxing when asked to give a grade to her performance against her former conqueror Linardatou.
“This game is about having fun, and that’s exactly what I was doing. I’m just thankful to be here.”
Andy Cruz defeats Juan Carlos Burgos
In the co-feature, lightweight Andy Cruz (1-0) won his pro debut against journeyman Juan Carlos Burgos (35-8-3 21 KOs) by a 10 round unanimous decision to win the IBF International belt.
The scores were 100-90, 100-90, and 98-92. Cruz landed a lot of speedy shots, but his lack of punching power prevented him from scoring a knockout.
Burgos was able to get himself out of harm’s way frequently by hitting Cruz to the body. The Cuban fighter clearly didn’t enjoy the body shots, as he backed off each time.
Burgos’ lack of hand speed made it difficult for him to connect to the head of Cruz, but he had no problems hitting him to the body, particularly when he had his back against the ropes.
Jermaine Franklin beats Isaac Munoz
Heavyweight Jermaine Franklin (22-2, 14 KOs) looked good, dishing out a lot of heavy punishment in winning an impressive 10 round unanimous decision against Issac Munoz (17-1-1, 14 KOs).
Franklin dished out some gawdawful punishment that Munoz bravely soaked up and, surprisingly, was even fighting back hard in the final three rounds.
It looked like Franklin had bargained for Munoz to be still around after the fifth because his punch output dropped after that. Once Franklin stopped throwing as much, Munoz started coming on, and he landed some big shots that puffed up the eyes of the hometown guy.
The scores were 100-90, 100-90, and 99-91.
Given that Franklin couldn’t score the knockout and gassed out after the fifth, it was a disappointing performance, as he should have been able to obliterate the inexperienced Munoz.
It looked like Franklin wasn’t in a good enough combination to fight hard for more than five rounds.
Franklin snapped his two-fight losing streak with the win, as he’d lost his two previous contests against Anthony Joshua & Dillian Whyte.
Ja’Rico O’Quinn edges Carlos Mujica
In the fight of the night, super flyweight Ja’Rico O’Quinn (16-1-1, 8 KOs) beat Carlos Mujica (8-3, 2 KOs) by a 10 round unanimous decision. The judges’ scores were 97-93, 96-94, and 100-90.
