By Ian S Palmer
Former WBA and WBC Lightweight Champion Jorge Linares of Venezuela returns to the ring at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California this Saturday, September 29th when he takes on Abner Cotto of Puerto Rico. The 10-round junior welterweight bout can be seen live in the U.S. On Facebook Watch. Linares last bout was a 10th-round TKO loss at the hands of Vasyl Lomachenko while Cotto last fought in May when he stopped Samuel Santana in the fourth round.
The 33-year-old Linares was defending the WBA Title for the fourth time when he ran into Lomachenko. 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 beating edging Luke Campbell by split decision and then beating Mercito Gesta by unanimous decision. He enters the ring at 44-4 with 27 Kos under his belt. Linares has plenty of 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. However, the WBC stripped him of it in February, 2016 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 and Lomachenko have stopped him.
Linares’ biggest wins have been over Campbell, Anthony Crolla (twice), Jesus Chavez, Oscar Larios, Nihito Arakawa and Rocky Juarez. The former champ stands 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 69-inch reach and has fought 302 rounds since turning pro back in 2002. Linares has decent power as he carries a 56 per cent knockout ratio around with him and dropped Lomachenko in the sixth round. However, he hasn’t stopped anyone in his last four fights. His last stoppage came over Ivan Cano in the fourth round in October, 2015.
Cotto is 31 years old and turned pro back in 2009. He had a good amateur career, but was beaten 26-9 on points by Lomachenko. He now has 125 rounds of pro experience under his belt. He enters the fight with a record of 23-3 along with 12 Kos. Cotto, like Linares, also has a bit of a suspect chin as two of his losses have come by way of knockout. Omar Figueroa Jr. stopped him in the first round in 2013 and Javier Fortuna stopped him in the fifth round 19 months later. His other loss was a 10-round unanimous decision to Francisco Vargas in March, 2014.
Cotto has beaten some recognizable opponents such as Fernando Torres, Sergio Perez, Jerry Belmontes, Edwin Lopez and Jorge Rodriguez. He doesn’t really possess much in the way of power as his current knockout ratio is 46 per cent. Cotto does have a height and reach advantage over Linares though as he’s 5-feet-10-inches tall with a wingspan of 71 inches. He has some good boxing overall skills, but he struggles when stepping up in class and Linares will be the best boxer he’s stepped into the ring with since turning pro.
Prediction…
Linares is a fine boxer, but has been hard pressed in several of his most recent fights and hasn’t stopped anybody in almost three years. This is basically a confidence-building comeback bout with a name opponent after his excellent performance against Lomachenko. Linares should actually have gained confidence against Lomachenko and I’m expecting him to earn a win over Cotto.
