By James The Grad: In the past I have been successful here on Boxing News 24 determining who would be the Fighter of the Year and while it is still very early to make a prediction I would say Mikey Garcia has the biggest opportunity this year to win Fighter of the Year and catapult to the top of the P4P list. The reason for this is simple, the opponents he could face this year.
By Hector Gonzalez: A few years back I recall what the pundits were saying about Jorge Linares. I remember watching the Venezuelan vs. Antonio De Marco on HBO. The HBO commentators were hyping Linares, and understandably so. Emmanuel Stewart (RIP) said that Linares was one of the best boxers he had ever seen. Linares was the heavy favorite vs De Marco, Linares boxed beautifully, amazing footwork, angles, beautiful combinations yet he had a major defect, his face was susceptible to cuts from heavy punches.
By Scott Gilfoid: WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan (32-0, 13 KOs) wants to avenge the loss of Anthony Crolla after he defends his title against #2 WBO contender Petr Petrov (38-4-2, 19 KOs) next month on April 8 at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. Crolla was whipped by Linares (42-3, 27 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision last Saturday night in their rematch in Manchester. Linares would have a good chance of beating Flanagan. It would be a bad fight for Flanagan in my estimation because he’s slow and easy to hit. The only thing Flanagan has going for him is his size.
It was obvious to me that Crolla was going to be smacked around by Linares the moment the fight was signed, because he wasn’t able to beat him the last time he fought him when he was using just 1 arm due to a hand injury. If Crolla couldn’t deal with Linares with him temporarily limited because of his hand, he sure as heck wasn’t going to beat him when he regained the use of his right hand for the rematch.
By Scott Gilfoid: WBC lightweight champion Mikey Garcia (36-0, 30 KOs) wants a unification fight this summer against WBA World lightweight champion Jorge Linares (42-3, 27 KOs) in the U.S. Garcia saw Linares put on a masterful performance last Saturday night in taking Anthony Crolla (31-6-3, 13 KOs) in their rematch in front of 13,000 boxing fans at the Manchester, Arena in Manchester, England. Linares looked great in the first 7 rounds of the fight.
By Gav Duthie: Jorge Linares is somewhat of an enigma, Venezuelan born, residing in Tokyo Japan and making a big name for himself in England in the last couple of years defeating two of their best lightweight talents in Kevin Mitchell and Anthony Crolla. His talent is also enigmatic. He arguably has the fastest hands in boxing, top 5 for sure, he is a 3-weight world champion but he has lost some strange fights in his career but he seems to have improved a lot. Just how good is he and what can he achieve?
Jorge Linares defended his WBA Lightweight World Championship with a unanimous decision victory over Anthony Crolla Saturday evening on SHOWTIME BOXING INTERNATIONAL from Manchester, England. The win sets Linares up for a possible unification fight with WBC Lightweight World Champion Mikey Garcia, a matchup that would be considered one of the best that can be made in any weight class.
(Photo Courtesy: Lawrence Lustig/Matchroom Sport)
Saturday’s main event from Manchester Arena aired live on SHOWTIME. Live fight coverage was provided by Sky Sports with Adam Smith calling play-by-play and world champion Carl Froch serving as ringside analyst. Garcia joined SHOWTIME Sports host Brian Custer and analysts Al Bernstein and Paul Malignaggi to provide commentary from a New York studio.
By Scott Gilfoid: WBA World lightweight champion Jorge Linares (42-3, 27 KOs) put on a boxing clinic in defeating former WBA champion Anthony “Million Dollar” Crolla (31-6-3, 18 KOs) in what some fans saw as a pointless rematch at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. The victory for the 31-year-old Linares earned him the WBC Diamond title and the Ring Magazine lightweight belt.
By Scott Gilfoid: Anthony “Million Dollar” Crolla (31-5-3, 13 KOs) will be giving it another try tonight in his rematch against WBA lightweight title holder Jorge Linares (41-3, 27 KOs), but it doesn’t figure to end well for him at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. Crolla already lost to the talented be shaky-chinned Linares last September in losing a 12 round unanimous decision.
By Jeff Aranow: Tony Bellew is predicting that Anthony Crolla (31-5-3, 13 KOs) will emerge as the winner on Saturday night in his rematch against WBA World lightweight champion Jorge Linares (41-3, 27 KOs) at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. Bellew, who holds the WBC cruiserweight champion, sees Crolla getting the victory by his high work rate. Crolla isn’t normally a high work rate type of fighter. He’s more of a fighter that likes to jab slowly and work himself in position to throw his body shots.
By Scott Gilfoid: WBA World lightweight champion Jorge Linares (41-3, 27 KOs) weighed in successfully at 134 ¼ pounds for his weigh-in on Friday for his rematch against former WBA belt holder Anthony Crolla (31-5-3. 13 KOs) his Saturday night at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. Crolla weighed in at 134 ½ lbs. here wasn’t much animosity between Crolla and Linares during the stare down. It was more like two friends than two guys about to go into combat.