Linares will defend his WBA title against Campbell on Saturday

Linares will defend his WBA title against Campbell on Saturday.

Jorge Linares will defend his World Boxing Association (WBA) Lightweight Championship against Luke Campbell this week in California. Both boxers have already arrived in the western United States for a fight that promises to be a real battle at The Forum, Inglewood.

The Venezuelan will face the first-ranked boxer in the division in a mandatory fight. The Champion will return to fight in America after two fights against Anthony Crolla in Manchester.

Linares won the belt last September when he defeated Crolla by unanimous decision. In March, he returned for the rematch and made his first successful defense.

Now, he will have to face Campbell, an Olympic medalist who is rising and will try to surprise him. Campbell is a left-handed boxer who earned the right to fight for the belt by defeating Colombian Darleys Perez in April. Linares attended that match and saw him from the front row, since he already assumed that the winner would be his next opponent.

Both fighters fine-tune the details for Saturday night’s showdown. Linares has a record of 42 wins, 3 losses and 27 knockouts, while his challenger has a balance of 17 wins, 1 loss and 16 knockouts.