By Allan Fox: Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn plans on having Chris Algieri and Jorge Linares fight in separate contests on his January 18 DAZN card at Madison Square Garden in New York with the idea of matching the two of them later in 2019 against WBO light welterweight champion Maurice Hooker. Heavyweight contender Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller will also be on the card, according to Dan Rafael.
Additionally, WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade will defend against Artur Akavov in the headliner of the January 18 card on DAZN.
Hearn plans on having Algieri fight on January 18 on DAZN, and then potentially challenge Hooker for his WBO 140 lb title in February or March, according to Dan Rafael. That’s obviously a quick turnaround for Algieri, but it would be doable as long as his January 18 opponent isn’t too much of a problem for him. Algieri is promoted by Joe DeGuardia of Star Boxing. The preparation time for Algieri won’t be long for him in getting ready for the Hooker fight. It’s unclear whether it’ll make a difference or not. Even Algieri with a massive amount of training time would have a lot of problems against a fighter like Hooker. All you can hope is Algieri doesn’t look as bad as he did in his losses to Manny Pacquiao and Errol Spence Jr.
Former three division world champion Jorge Linares (45-4, 28 KOs) will be looking for his second win at 140 after destroying journeyman Abner Cotto in a 3rd round knockout on September 29 in his first fight at light welterweight. Linares moved up in weight from lightweight following his 10th round knockout loss to Vasyl Lomachenko on May 12. Former World Boxing Organization light welterweight champion Chris Algieri (22-3, 8 KOs) is making his second fight of his comeback following his 10 round unanimous decision win over journeyman Angel Hernandez on November 30 in an impressive performance from Chris.
After struggling in the last four years in getting controversial draws against Darleys Perez and Abel Ramos, Hooker (25-0-1, 19 KOs) has made vast improvements in his game in beating Terry Flanagan by a 12 round split decision to capture the vacant WBO 140 lb title last June, and then defeating the previously unbeaten contender Alex Saucedo by a 7th round knockout in his first defense on November 16. Hooker looked great in both of his last two fights, and appears to be a guy that could be the top fighter in the division right now.
Hearn’s decision to match Linares and Algieri against Hooker has to be seen as him feeding him two guys that he’ll likely have too much size, power and skills for. Linares, 33, is a very good fighter, but he’s fighting in his fourth weight class, and he’s clearly not a natural light welterweight. Asking Linares to try and defeat a fighter as big and as powerful as the 5’11” Hooker might be asking a little too much of him. Hooker would have to be viewed as a heavy favorite against 34-year-old Algieri and Linares. That’s not to say that they’re not good fighters still, but both are getting up there in age.
Hearn co-promotes Hooker, 29, and he wants to put him in situations where he has a good chance to succeed. Matching Hooker against the likes of interim World Boxing Council light welterweight champion Regis Prograis, IBF champion Ivan Baranchyk, WBC champ Jose Ramirez and unbeaten contender Josh Taylor might prove to be a step too far for the Texas native. Hooker would have a chance of beating all four of them, but it wouldn’t be a definite thing like it would for him against Linares and Algieri.
As for Linares, Hearn wants to have him fight Hooker in May or June. Linares would have a lot more time to get ready for the Hooker fight than Aligeri will obviously. Linares will still need to face a lesser opponent in his January 18 fight in order to get through it without the risk of injury so that he’ll be able to fight Hooker in May or June for his WBO light welterweight title on DAZN.
It would be a big deal if Linares or Algieri were able to pull off a big upset by beating Hooker for his WBO title. Algieri isn’t a huge puncher that Hooker is, so it’ll be a lot tougher for him to pull off the upset. Linares has mad boxing skills, and enough power for him to beat Hooker if he can somehow avoid his big shots to wear him out and beat him by a decision or a stoppage.