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In a complete surprise this morning, Dan Rafael first reported that the Mayer vs. Linardatou fight scheduled on the undercard of Saturday’s Joyce/Zhang fight has been canceled. The reason is completely ridiculous - the British Boxing Board of Control decided that a permanent lens in Linardatou’s eye - which she’s had her whole boxing career - suddenly did not pass their medical inspection, even though she had been cleared to fight in the UK in the past with it.
This last minute decision is confusing because it so obviously could have been discussed and resolved a long time ago, and because they allowed the face-off and all the promotion leading up to this fight to go on - whatever review system the board has in place definitely failed both the fighters and the fans. Linardatou losing this opportunity and this payday is so unfair.
Luckily for Mikaela Mayer, a last minute (in the truest sense of the phrase) opponent has been found - she’ll now be facing former IBO champion Lucy Wildheart (10-1, 4 KOs) with the WBC World Interim Lightweight Title still at stake.
After all the press that Mayer did, I’m glad she’s not losing her lightweight debut opportunity, but it’s definitely not the fight she or anyone else was hoping for. We’ll cross our fingers that it’s still a fun one to watch!
The fight will air tomorrow night BST - or in the morning if you’re in PST like me, on ESPN+.
What are your thoughts on this new match up? I’d love to know.