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By Dan Ambrose: Jorge Linares hit back at unbeaten lightweight contender Ryan Garcia on Monday saying that he’s ready to fight him after the 21-year-old mentioned him as as the guy he wants to face next.
Following Garcia’s 1st round knockout win over Romero Duno last Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada, he said he wants to face Linares (46-5, 28 KOs) and then Luke Campbell in his next two fights.
Linares has won world titles in the following weight classes:
- Featherweight
- Super Featherweight
- Lightweight
At this point in Ryan Garcia’s career, it’s debatable if he’ll ever win a world title. If he has to beat Devin Haney or Gervonta Davis to capture a world title, he probably won’t do it. Garcia would be a huge underdog against both of those guys.
Linares ready to fight Ryan Garcia
Former three division world champion Linares is game, and says he’s ready to fight Garcia. It would be a BIG step up in competition for #4 WBA, #6 WBO and #8 WBC Ryan Garcia, who has been matched lesser opposition by his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions since turning pro in 2016.
The 34-year-old Linares has lost 2 out of his last 4 fights in knockout defeats against Pablo Cesar Cano and Vasiliy Lomachenko. Linares suffered a 1st round knockout loss to Cano last January in his debut at 140. The size and the power of Cano was clearly too much for Linares, who started his professional career 17 years ago at super bantamweight.
“Ryan G. If you feel prepared enough for something big then let’s fight, but this time won’t be just training, said Linares on his Instagram. “This time [I’m not sure] how many rounds you can do, because I remember that you could only do some rounds when we sparred. [For] you to win 3 world belts, you have to stop talking so much and fight with boxers of Truth. If you really want to fight me, we don’t need words,” said Linares.
The question is does Linares have enough left in the tank to defeat Garcia? Linares took a lot of punishment in his 10th round knockout loss to Lomachenko last year in May, and that fight took something out of him. Although Linares dropped Lomachenko in the 6th, it wasn’t a competitive fight.
Garcia wants Linares and then Campbell
“I want to fight Linares next, and then I want to fight Luke Campbell,” said Ryan Garcia during last Saturday’s post-fight news conference. “Those are the fights that I realistically want. That’s my plan. I said I wanted to fight Avery Sparrow, and then fight Duno here [in Las Vegas], and then fight Linares, and then fight Luke Campbell. I didn’t change, and I haven’t changed anything,” said Garcia.
This could end badly for Ryan if he isn’t seasoned or talented enough to take on a fighter like Linares. This is an ADVANCED level fighter that Ryan would be facing. We’re not talking about a limited fighter like Duno, Braulio Rodriguez and Jose Lopez. The guys that Golden Boy Promotions have been feeding Garcia are fodder-level fighters, and not world class.
It doesn’t matter that Duno was given a #4 ranking by the World Boxing Organization. That’s the same sanctioning body that had heavyweight Tom Schwarz ranked #2. Duno looked like a 2nd tier guy guy, and has never looked like a top 15 level contender in this writer’s view. Linares is a top contender. He’s obviously not the fighter he used to be seven to ten years ago, but he’s still quite good.
#2 WBC Luke Campbell (20-3, 16 KOs) is expected to challenge WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney (23-0, 15 KOs) in early 2020. Campbell, 32, won’t bother taking a fight against Garcia until AFTER he face Haney for his WBC title.
Linares might be too advanced for Ryan Garcia
If Linares has anything left at 34, he could give Garcia a boxing lesson, and stop him. Garcia looked amateurish at times in his fight against Duno last Saturday. Ryan stood straight up like a stork, and got away with holding his left hand extended straight out in front of him. Garcia is a good prospect, but he’s not shown the ability needed for him to tangle with the best at 135. If Golden Boy throws him in with Linares right now, he could get schooled.
Garcia was placing his left hand on the forehead of Duno to keep him from getting close. It was an illegal move by Ryan, and the referee failed to stop him from doing that. Garcia was then able to tee off on Duno without worrying about him getting close enough to land.
