Often underestimated, Venezuelan lightweight Jorge “Niño de Oro” Linares proved you can deliver a sensational performance and earn the respect of boxing fans even in defeat. In his last fight, Linares was the first to send the current No.1 pound for pound fighter Vasyl Lomachenko to the canvas and was winning in one judge’s scorecard and tied in another before hitting the canvas himself to put an end to the explosive fight in the 10th round.
On Saturday, Sept. 29, Linares returns to the ring at the Fantasy Springs Resort and Casino in Indio against Puerto Rican super lightweight contender Abner “Pin” Cotto for a promising 12-round bout which will be streamed on Golden Boy Promotions’ Facebook Live Fight Night starting at 6 p.m. P/T.
Before his loss to Lomachenko last May, Linares (44-4, 27 KOs) was on a 13 victories streak, more recently defeating two southpaws back-to-back in Luke Campbell and Mercito “No Mercy” Gesta. His experience with southpaws helped him against Lomachenko along with his underrated speed.
As Linares’ first opponent at 140 pounds, Cotto (23-3, 12 KOs) hopes to continue his winning streak since coming back to the ring in 2016. Though he was inactive for about a year and a half after 2014, he’s remained active fighting twice a year since his return.
Should Linares take the night with a spectacular performance against Miguel Cotto’s nephew, he may then regain the attention of four-division world champion Mikey Garcia who also moved to super lightweight to take on Sergey Lipinets in March. Though there had been talks in the past of both multiple-division champions to meet in the ring at 135 pounds, negotiations fell off as Garcia also showed interest in fighting Lomachenko. However, after defeating Robert Easter Jr in his last fight, Garcia only talks about welterweight champion Errol Spence as his priority.
The junior welterweight division will hold plenty of possible opponents for Linares who hopes to become a four-division world champion and hold belts around his waist after losing them to “High Tech” Lomachenko.
Tickets for the bout this Saturday are still available for purchase at https://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase
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