Double History – Christina Desmond Becomes Ireland’s First Female European Champion
By Kieran Doherty
Cork has a new European Professional boxing Champion after Christina Desmond added the EBU Super Lightweight title to her Irish Lightweight title after she beat Spanish native Clara Lopez on points after ten tough rounds in the Spaniard’s own backyard at the Campeonato De Europa Stadium in Sagurt, Valencia, Spain last Saturday night.
Desmond is now unbeaten in her seven professional fights (all in the last 12 months ) and made history two weeks ago when she won the very first IBU Super Lightweight title at the GCU Parochial Arena.
However, she has now made history again by adding a European professional title to go with her European amateur belt, as she can now enjoy the next few months and look forward to a bright 2027 where she will surely be looking to add a World title.
It was the Cork woman who settled in behind her right jab and was using her reach to good effect by landing some superb one-two combinations. Lopez was a very similar opponent to Desmond’s last opponent, Louise Creaven, as she was a brawler and tried to get Desmond into a dogfight, but the Cork woman was able to use her boxing and great footwork to keep her at bay.
The second and third rounds were similar with Desmond catching Lopez with consecutive shots that was really frustrating the Spaniard. However, when Lopez did get in close, she did land some shots but nothing of significance.
Desmond started the fourth round on the front foot and was boxing beautifully behind her right jab and caught her opponent with a stiff left to her head. As the round went on Lopez was running in low and swinging wildly to put a dent in Desmond, but the Cork woman just danced her way out of trouble to finish the round with some good work of her own.
The fifth round was very scrappy with the referee warning both fighters for holding, however, Desmond kept her discipline and was able to box her way out of trouble by using her distance with her long reach that left the Spaniard frustrated.
Desmond made a bright start to the sixth round and picked off her opponent with multiple head and body shots. Lopez then started to try close off the ring and pin Desmond in the corner, but the Cork woman just danced her way out to trouble and caught her with a punishing left to the head that had the Spaniard head spinning.
Both fighters looked tired at the start to the seventh round as the volume of punches thrown and the pace of previous rounds was taking its toll. But it was Desmond who finished the round with a flourish by landing some telling one-two combinations that certainly caught the judges’ eyes to win the round.
There is an old saying, “ when the going gets tough, the tough gets going,” and that is what Christina certainly did in the eighth round. Her opponent was now rushing in and swinging wildly to her body, but the Cork woman used all her experience to make sure that she didn’t land anything of significance.
Desmond came out for the ninth round and began to get her rhythm back by boxing behind her jab to keep Lopez at distance. The Spaniard then got warned for using her forearm; however, it didn’t faze Desmond as she finished the round on top.
The final round was a slugfest with Lopez looking to land one big shot, but Desmond already was after doing enough to win the fight and bring the title back to Leeside.
