By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten WBC Lightweight Champion Devin Haney of San Francisco will be defending his title for the third time time this Saturday May, 29th when he takes on former WBA and WBC Lightweight Champion Jorge Linares of Venezuela in Las Vegas. The fight can be seen live in most nations on DAZN. Linares last fought in February, 2020 when he stopped Carlos Morales in the fourth round. Haney last fought in November when he beat veteran Yuirokis Gamboa by a wide unanimous decision. Haney originally won the interim WBC belt when he stopped Zaur Abdullaev after four rounds in September, 2019.
The 22-year-old Haney is regarded as a can’t-miss prospect by most boxing fans and experts following an excellent 138-bout amateur career after getting into the sport as a seven-year-old. He won a silver medal at the USA Junior National Championships in 2013 and reached the quarterfinals of the World Juniors the same year. He then won a gold medal at the 2014 US Junior National Championships and the 2015 USA Youth National Championships.
He was the youngest boxer ever to win the Youth World Championships and captured a total of seven national titles along the way. Haney, who was born in San Francisco and fights out of Las Vegas, then turned pro in December of 2015 as a 16-year-old and has a perfect record of 24-0 with 15 Kos and has boxed 138 rounds. He’s also won several regional and minor titles along the way including the WBC Youth World, USBA, IBF North American, WBC International, and WBO Inter-Continental Lightweight Belts.
Haney stands 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 71-inch reach and possesses tremendous skills and speed. He’s not the most powerful puncher out there but has a current knockout ratio of 60 per cent. His first four pro fights took place in Mexico since he was too young to box professionally at the time. He’s beaten everybody in front of him so far with his toughest opponents being Gamboa, Alfredo Santiago, Antonio Moran, Mason Menard, Juan Carlos Burgos and Xolisani Ndongeni.
The 35-year-old Linares was defending the WBA Lightweight Title for the fourth time when he ran into Vasyl Lomachenko in May, 2018 and although he decked Lomachenko in the sixth round he was stopped in the 10th. He won the belt in 2016 and also defended it against Anthony Crolla by unanimous decisions then stopped Darleys Perez in the ninth round before edging Luke Campbell by split decision and then beat Mercito Gesta by unanimous decision. After losing to Lomachenko he stopped Abner Cotto in the third round four months later.
However, his hot streak ended in January of 2018 when Pablo Cesar Cano stopped him in the first round. He then fought Toyogon as a confidence builder before stopping Morales. Linares will enter the ring at 47-5 with 29 Kos. He has plenty of world-class experience, skill and speed and is also a former featherweight and super featherweight world champion who has recently been living in Japan. Linares won the vacant WBC Lightweight Belt in December, 2014 by stopping Javier Prieto in the fourth round in Tokyo.
The WBC stripped him of it in February, 2016 though after suffering a hand injury and being unable to defend the title. They then named him WBC Diamond Champion for what it’s worth. Linares’ other three losses have been against Juan Salgado in 2009, Antonio DeMarco in 2011 and Sergio Thompson in 2012. Those defeats revealed a questionable chin since all three men stopped him as did Lomachenko and Cano.
Linares’ biggest wins have been over Cotto, Campbell, Crolla (twice), Jesus Chavez, Oscar Larios, Nihito Arakawa and Rocky Juarez. He stands 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 69-inch reach so is the same height as Haney but has a two-inch reach disadvantage. He’s fought 320 rounds since turning pro in 2002. Linares has decent power as he carries a 55.8 per cent knockout ratio around with him but has just two stoppages in his last eight fights. Before knocking Cotto out in 2018 his last stoppage came against Ivan Cano in 2015.
Prediction…
There’s a big difference in age here with Haney being 13 years younger and although Linares has boat loads more pro experience, Haney has a lot of amateur knowledge to fall back on. This is definitely Haney’s stiffest test as a pro and Linares should prove to be a handful. However, Haney’s skills should see him through to victory.
