By Ian S Palmer
Former WBA and WBC Lightweight Champion Jorge Linares of Venezuela returns to the ring in Tokyo, Japan this Saturday, September 7th when he meets Al Toyogon of the Philippines in a 10-round junior welterweight clash at the famous Korakuen Hall. Linares was demolished in 168 seconds by Pablo Cesar Cano of Mexico in his last bout in January and will be trying to get his career back on track. Toyogon last fought in July when he dropped a 10-round unanimous decision to Shuya Masaki.
The 34-year-old Linares was defending the WBA Lightweight Title for the fourth time when he ran into Vasyl Lomachenko in May of 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 beating edging Luke Campbell by split decision and then Mercito Gesta by unanimous decision. After losing to Lomachenko he stopped Abner Cotto in the third round four months later before running into Cano.
Linares enters the ring at 45-5 with 28 Kos under his belt. 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. 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 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. The former champ stands 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 69-inch reach and has fought 306 rounds since turning pro in 2002. Linares has decent power as he carries a 56 per cent knockout ratio around with him but has just one stoppage in his last six fights. Before knocking Cotto out his last stoppage came against Ivan Cano in 2015.
As for Toyogon, he’s just 21 years old and will climb through the ropes with a mark of 10-4-1with 6 Kos. He made his pro debut back in 2015 as a teenager and has boxed 81 rounds since then. He’s 5-feet-4-inches tall with an unlisted reach so gives up four inches in height to Linares. Toyogon’s lone career stoppage defeat came at the hands of John Ray Logatiman in the fourth round in May of 2017. His other losses were decisions to Robin Dingcong over six rounds in 2016, to Ryo Sagawa over 12 rounds this May and to Masaki in his last outing in July.
Toyogon’s draw was with Jimboy Rosales in 2016 and he enters the fight against Linares with two straight defeats on his record. His loss against Sagawa was for the WBC Asian Boxing Council silver Super Featherweight Title which he was attempting to defend for the second time after winning it last September. Toyogon hasn’t got much in the way of knockout power with a current stoppage ratio of 40 per cent. He’s still young and learning though but will be stepping up in class quite a bit against Linares.
Prediction…
Toyogon is more or less moving up in weight since he’s been campaigning as a super featherweight. He did weigh 134 lbs in February of 2018 though when he stopped Naotoshi Nakatani in the first round.
Linares is a fine boxer with good power and a questionable chin and it’s hard to predict how he’s going to react when Toyogon lands. Linares has the skills, size, power and experience on his side while the younger Toyogon’s only realistic chance is to land a shot on the chin and hope Linares’ is now a shot fighter. Linares has bounced back from being knocked out before and i expect him to do the same against Toyogon.
