Jorge Linares: Bet The House

Fightnews.com

By Miguel Maravilla

WBA lightweight champ Jorge ‘Nino De Oro” Linares (44-3, 27 KO’s) of Venezuela is poised for his showdown against Ukrainian star Vasyl Lomachenko (10-1, 8 KOs) on Saturday May 12 at New York’s Madison Square Garden live on ESPN. We caught up with the Venezuelan Golden Boy to talk about his upcoming fight and preparation with Lomachenko.

“First of all I’m grateful to go for this opportunity. This is a dream come true fighting at Madison Square Garden,” Jorge Linares told Fightnews.com®. “This is the most important fight of my career. This will be interesting. I’m confident that I can win. We have to come in at our best. I have my plan. I have to be fast and quick with my feet. Trust in me and bet the house!”

After talk of potential fights with Mikey Garcia, Vasyl Lomachenko, or Garcia facing Lomachenko, Linares landed the fight against the Two-Time Olympic Gold Medalist after weeks of ongoing discussions.

“There was talk of me fighting Mikey but this opportunity came up,” Linares said.

He had been training in Japan and has resumed his camp in Las Vegas, working with trainers Jorge Capetillo, his brother Carlos Linares along with assistant/cutman Rudy Hernandez.

“The most important thing is to have a solid camp,” Linares commented. “We are training hard. It was a solid first half training in Japan and now we are in Vegas for the second half of this camp.”

In this fight, Linares will be without his trainer Ismael Salas, who is training former heavyweight champ David Haye for his May 5 rematch with Tony Bellew in London.

“We had a tough 2011, losing to Thompson and DeMarco but I have bounced back due to my hard work. One major change I made back then was getting a new trainer, Ismael Salas. Many people are worried because my trainer won’t be in my corner. In this fight, there is a conflicting schedule but I have had 2 of my last 3 fights without him,” Linares said.

There is no question that this will be the most important fight of Linares’s career as he takes on the man they call High Tech.

“He is fast with his combinations and his angles. All repetitive and we will work on that. He is a boxer with skills that plays mind games with his opponents. He knows he’s going up against a big tall fast fighter and not up against an ordinary fighter. All the fighters he has faced come forward and stay in front him.

“Loma’s biggest accomplishments have been as an amateur. He had a great amateur career but as a pro in my opinion when he lost, he wasn’t ready for a pro like Salido, he showed it.”

Lomachenko is coming off an impressive stoppage over the slick and always elusive Guillermo Rigondeaux.

“To be honest I fell asleep watching the fight. He had his advantage vs. Rigo. I have my advantage and I’m a natural lightweight. He is coming up,”

For Linares coming into this fight he is riding a 13 fight win streak since suffering his back to back losses. Redeeming himself by winning the vacant WBC title with a knockout over Javier Prieto and WBA lightweight titles over Anthony Crolla. Linares started his 2018 campaign successfully defending his WBA title with a unanimous decision over Mercito Gesta in January. Now he looks to defeat Lomachenko who comes into this fight with a 9 fight win streak dominating and outclassing his opponents forcing them to quit.

“He is special but not perfect. Fans will stop calling him No Mas Chenko. There is no quitting in me. Now imagine when I defeat this ‘special fighter’ how special I will be,” Linares concluded.