Cork boxer Christina Desmond eyes title fight after moving into world ranking top 10
Christina Desmond, here celebrating a victory in February at the Parochial Hall, has now won four fights in six months. Picture: Doug Minihane
Cork professional boxer Christina Desmond remains unbeaten after she beat Polish fighter Bojana Libiszewska by unanimous decision 60-54 in a welterweight six-round bout at the JB Pomotions No Turning Back event at the National Boxing Stadium in Dublin.
This was Desmond’s fourth fight in six months, an amazing achievement in itself. By virtue of this victory, she has catapulted herself into the top 10 in the world ranking.
She hopes to fight for some sort of title by the end of the year.
The southpaw, who is based in Dungarvan, has won her three previous fights, including Joanna Frasczal from Poland with a first-round stoppage, also at the National Boxing Stadium. She defeated Abigail Poloso from Argentina by unanimous decision in Belfast and beat Johana Rajmount by unanimous decision again in front of her large group of supporters in her homecoming bout in Cork at the GUC Parochial Arena last February.
The Cork fighter imposed herself on her opponent from the very first bell by landing a combination of right and left shots. Libiszeewska was struggling with Desmond’s right jab and tried to tie her up by holding at every opportunity.
She came out for the second round and continued to work behind her jab. However, a short, sharp left rocked the Polish fighter. It was constant pressure from Desmond as she cut off the ring and was able to unleash a flurry of heavy shots that certainly caught the judges' eyes.
She finished the round with another left hook that brought some swelling to Libiszeewska's left eye.
Christina began the third round with an overhead right to the head that had her opponent stuck against the ropes. She continued to hunt down Libiszeewska down but was very composed and controlled in her approach. She didn't leave herself open to any of the Polish fighter's wild punches.
However, a clash of heads late in the round brought some swelling and a nasty mark under Desmond’s right eye, but she didn’t leave that impact her to finish the round well.
Desmond continued to push the pace at the start of the fourth round and landed another flurry of punches that backed her opponent into the corner. Libiszeewska was just trying to survive at this point of the fight with Desmond. Another sharp left to the head that rocked her and she was holding at every opportunity to try to get through the round.
By the fifth round the toll was showing on Libiszeewska’s face and when Desmond caught her with another sharp left hook, she had to hold on to try to survive, which warranted a warning from the referee. In fairness to the Polish fighter, she showed that she was a very tough boxer and she had to use all of her 80-plus fights to get through the round.
Desmond started the sixth and final round trying to get the knockout going through the gears by landing powerful shots to her opponent’s head and body. Again, Libiszeewska was under pressure as the Cork fighter was able to continue to land successful shots that had her backpedaling.
Desmond certainly never let up for the last minute of the round and all Libiszeewska could do was try hold on. However, she was able to survive the round, but she definitely will know she was in a fight against a quality boxer in the morning.
As for Desmond, she will now have her sights firmly set on her next outing when or wherever that will be. However, a title fight isn’t far away for the former Echo Sportswoman of the Year, who put on another breathtaking performance that sent her loyal and large group of supporters home happy again from the capital.
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