Jack Catterall 140 vs. Jorge Linares 140 – weigh-in results for Saturday on DAZN

By Boxing News - 10/20/2023 - Comments

By Charles Brun: Jack Catterall & Jorge Linares both weighed in at 140 pounds on Friday at their weigh-in for their much-criticized headliner this Saturday night on October 21st at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England.

Fans wonder why Catterall has been matched against the 38-year-old Linares (47-8, 29 KOs), considering he’s lost his last three fights and competes at 135, not 140.

 

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This might be as good as Catterall’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, could get for him in terms of a name fighter he’s capable of beating. If Hearn matched Catterall against one of the 140-lb contenders like Gary Antuanne Russell, Arnold Barboza Jr, and Sandor Martin, he might lose. That would be the end of any title hopes he has.

The two will square off on DAZN in a fight that could see the winner challenge for a world title against the Regis Prograis vs. Devin Haney clash victor.

Eddie Hearn says a fight against Ryan Garcia is also possible for the Catterall-Linares winner, but that would be a long shot.

Catterall (27-1, 13 KOs) wants either a title shot or a rematch with Josh Taylor next, but that likely has to be at welterweight because the former undisputed 140-lb champion is moving up in weight after his recent defeat against Teofimo Lopez.

Other weights:

Peter McGrail 121.4 vs. Fran Mendoza 119.8
Jack Turner 117.3 vs. Adam Yahaya 116.6
Aqib Fiaz 130 vs. Reece Bellotti 128.9
Shabaz Masoud 121. 8 vs. Jose Sanmartin 122

“I know fight fans are supercritical, saying, ‘Oh, he’s coming off a couple of defeats,’ but I know he took those fights [Zhora Hamazaryan & Zaur Abdullaev] in Russia without any preparation in one of them; he actually got turned over,” said Eddie Hearn to Matchroom Boxing about Jorge Linares’ recent two defeats in Russia last year.

Linares’ loss to his last two opponents wasn’t due to a lack of preparation. Those defeats were more a sign of his advanced age and the wear & tear of a long professional career. Yeah, Linares still has excellent hand speed and better power than the likes of Catterall, but that’s not saying much.

He doesn’t have the physical tools at this stage of his career to compete with the best at 135 or even some of the fringe contenders.

“I remember being in New York when he lost in one round to [Pablo Cesar] Cano and came back after that with some of his best performances,” Hearn continued about the 38-year-old Linares.

“You will get a legend on Saturday who mentally will put everything into this fight. He’s not going, ‘I’m retiring, so I’ll just have this fight.’ He’s going, ‘I’m putting my whole career, all my energy into this fight, and if I win, I’m going to fight a mega-fight after,'” said Hearn.

If Linares loses this fight to Catterall, it’s hard to say where he goes from here because this would be the final nail in what’s left of his successful career. Catterally will probably never win a world title, so getting beaten by this level of opponent would strongly indicate that Linares needs to pack it in.

“So forget, ‘He’s at the end, he’s not trying.’ He will give everything on Saturday night. He’s got blistering hand speed; his engine is incredible,” said Hearn about Linares. “You see him at 140; you see the shape of him. Don’t worry about that. The only thing is, can he hold a shot like he used to?”

Linares doesn’t belong at 140, as he was blasted out in one round the last time he fought in this weight class against Pablo Cesar Cano in 2019.

“Sometimes earlier in his career, he got knocked out in the lighter weights, but can he stand up? Jack Catterall isn’t a devastating puncher but can punch. We saw that in the Foley fight as well,” said Hearn.

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