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Joe Joyce
vs. Zhilei Zhang & Mikaela Mayer vs. Christina Linardatou
Headline This Friday In London
Top Rank on ESPN+ returns to London this Saturday with an
action-packed doubleheader at the Copper Box Arena.
In the main event, undefeated British knockout artist Joe
Joyce defends his WBO interim heavyweight title against
Chinese contender Zhilei Zhang.
The co-feature will see former unified junior lightweight
champion Mikaela Mayer making her lightweight debut against
former two-time junior welterweight world champion Christina
“Medusa” Linardatou in a 10-rounder for the WBC interim
lightweight championship.
Promoted by Queensberry Promotions, Joyce-Zhang, Mayer-Linardatou
and undercard bouts will stream live and exclusively in the
U.S. on ESPN+ beginning at 3 p.m. ET/12 p.m. PT.
Queensberry Promotions hosted a media workout TODAY in
London. CLICK HERE for courtesy photos.
Joyce (15-0, 14 KOs) captured a silver medal at the 2016
Olympics in Rio and debuted as a pro following year. The
37-year-old has notched wins over former world champs
Bermane Stiverne and Joseph Parker and against title
challengers Carlos Takam and Bryant Jennings. In his last
fight, Joyce stopped Parker in the 11th round to capture the
interim WBO title. The undefeated knockout artist is on the
path towards a potential showdown with heavyweight king
Tyson Fury, but he’ll need to defend his strap against a
fellow silver medalist.
Zhang (24-1-1, 19 KOs), a 2008 Chinese Olympian, started his
career in the paid ranks in 2014. He went 22-0 and captured
various regional titles before fighting to a draw against
Jerry Forrest in 2021. The 39-year-old then scored stoppage
wins over Craig Lewis and Scott Alexander before suffering
his first pro loss against undefeated Olympic bronze
medalist Filip Hrgovic. In terms of height and reach, Zhang
and Joyce are identical as both are 6’6” tall with 80-inch
reaches.
Mayer (17-1, 5 KOs), a 2016 U.S. Olympian, signed with Top
Rank in 2017 and captured the WBO junior lightweight
championship with a unanimous decision victory against Ewa
Brodnicka in October 2020. The following year, the Los
Angeles native unified the WBO and IBF titles against Maiva
Hamadouche. In her last fight, Mayer suffered the first
defeat of her career, a razor-thin split decision setback to
Alycia Baumgardner at London’s O2 Arena. Mayer wants to
reverse her lone defeat, but she’ll first step up to
lightweight to face Linardatou, the only woman to defeat
Baumgardner in the paid ranks.
In 2016, Linardatou (14-2, 6 KOs) unsuccessfully challenged
Delfine Persoon for the WBC lightweight world title. She
then bounced back with four straight wins, including a
victory over Baumgardner and a win against Kandi Wyatt to
capture the vacant WBO junior welterweight championship.
Linardatou lost the belt to Katie Taylor in 2019 but
regained it with a unanimous decision over Prisca Vicot in
February 2020. Linardatou returned from a 29-month layoff
last July with a six-round points victory against Aleksandra
Vujovic.
In other ESPN+ streaming action from London:
Undefeated heavyweight prospect Moses Itauma (2-0, 2 KOs)
makes his third 2023 appearance in a scheduled six-rounder
against Ukraine’s Kostiantyn Dovbyshchenko (9-12-1, 6 KOs).
Itauma made his professional debut in January with a
scintillating first-round knockout against Marcel Bode, a
performance he replicated against Ramon Ibarra in March.
In a battle of undefeated lightweights, England’s Sam Noakes
(10-0, 10 KOs) will put his regional titles on the line in a
12-round fight against Indian standout Karthik Sathish Kumar
(10-0, 4 KOs). Noakes is coming off a fourth-round TKO over
then-unbeaten Calvin McCord last November, while Kumar
notched a second-round TKO win over Meechaiya Kaiwiset in
March.
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