By Brad Slotnick: Jorge Linares is already looking at possible good-money fights against Ryan Garcia, Vasily Lomachenko, or Teofimo Lopez if he defeats WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney this Saturday night in their fight in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The 22-year-old King Ryan Garcia still hasn’t come back from his mental health timeout from boxing, and it’s unknown when he’ll return. Although Ryan’s trainer Eddy Reynoso predicted that he’d resume his career in the summer, there’s still nothing on tap for him.
Linares (47-5, 29 KOs) rates the unbeaten Ryan Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs) as a tougher fight for him than Haney because he has a powerful right hook that he likes to land on his opponents. In comparison, Haney is more of a potshot type of fighter who wins his fights by landing pinpoint punches with little power on them.
If the underdog Linares, 35, defeats Haney (25-0, 15 KOs) this Saturday in their headliner on DAZN, it’s highly possible that Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn will make a huge offer to Jorge to give Devin a rematch.
Whether the money will be good enough for Linares to fight Haney in an immediate rematch unknown.
You got to imagine that Linares would make a lot more money in a fight against Ryan Garcia, Lomachenko, or Teofimo than he would by fighting Haney again. Those guys have bigger fan bases than Haney.
Ryan Garcia available
“I think Ryan Garcia is more difficult. Because he’s tall, he’s more dangerous with the hook. I think Garcia has more punch than Haney. [Garcia] has a right hook; that is the only danger he has,” he told the DAZN Boxing Show.
“The only guy without a fight is Ryan Garcia, and Javier Fortuna has a fight now,” Linares continued.
“First, I have to have the fight on Saturday night and then sit down and see what competition I have. Why not [Teofimo] Lopez, why not [Javier] Fortuna, why not [Ryan] Garcia, why not Gervonta?”
Given what Ryan has gone through with his mental health problems, it’s improbable that his management and promoters at Golden Boy will want to risk him by setting up a fight against Linares.
We saw Ryan get dropped hard by his last opponent Luke Campbell in the second round of their fight last January, and that was against a non-puncher. Linares hits harder than Campbell, and he has better hand speed.
If Linares beats Haney this Saturday, he’ll be on top of the world, and he wouldn’t be the ideal guy for Ryan to fight at that time.
“Lomachenko is not the same Lomachenko after me,” said Linares. “He had a little difficult fight next time, the Japanese guy [Masayoshi Nakatani] is not easy: he’s tall – he has punch also.
“Maybe a second fight with Lomachenko is more interesting.”
Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KOs) is the worst possible option for Linares because he lost to him already, and I don’t think he’s improved enough to beat the Ukrainian.