Venezuela’s WBA and Lineal world lightweight champion, ‘El Niño de Oro’ Jorge Linares successfully made the third defence of his WBA and RING Magazine titles against Filipino Mercito Gesta on Saturday night.
Linares recorded his 14th straight consecutive victory with that performance against Gesta.
Gesta put up a brave, valiant effort in the fight but the difference in class was clearly evident from the get-go. Linares dismantled his adversary with sharp, accurate combinations.
Linares recorded wide verdicts on the scorecards. Two of the judges gave it to Linares with scores of 118-110. With the third judge scoring the fight 117-111.
Following the fight, Jorge Linares shared that he has two targets, those targets are to take on WBC lightweight champion Mikey Garcia and WBO super-featherweight champion, Vasyl Lomachenko.
Top Rank mogul, Bob Arum has previously touched on the prospect of Lomachenko and Linares facing off against Lomachenko, in an interview with BoxingScene.com.
Arum paid tribute to Linares for being a ‘tremendous fighter’. Arum also touched on the unpredictability of seeing Lomachenko campaign in his third weight class.
“I didn't really feel Gesta’s power, though I hurt my hand in the 4th or 5th round. I threw my right hand without really putting too much power into it. I was just touching him. There wasn't a knockout because he was well prepared.” @JorgeLinares#MatthysseKiram#LinaresGestapic.twitter.com/ETmz9csBra
— Golden Boy (@GoldenBoyBoxing) January 28, 2018
“I think Linares is a tremendous fighter. He has a great resume, he’s a lightweight champion that has had a number of defences,” Arum told BoxingScene.com.
“Lomachenko has been tremendous at 126, 130. Now he’s going up to 135.”
“Hopefully, from my standpoint, he’s as brilliant at 135 as he was in the lower weight classes. But who really knows until we see him?”
Linares’ promoter, Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions is willing and keen to make that match-up during the current year.
“We’re ready, we are ready. Lomachenko vs. Linares is the fight to make.
“So we must make it. For 2018, our goal is to always make the best fights and that’s actually one of them – out of many, so Bob Arum – give me a call,” De La Hoya said.
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