Jorge Linares has had a lot of success against British boxers promoted by Matchroom.
Victories over Kevin Mitchell, Anthony Crolla and Luke Campbell have helped define the former three-division champion’s career over the past eight years. The hard-hitting Venezuelan veteran hopes to add a younger, fresher Jack Catterall to his list of English conquests Saturday night in what could be the last significant fight of Linares’ long career if he loses.
Catterall (27-1, 13 KOs) and Linares (47-8, 29 KOs) are scheduled to square off in a 12-round junior welterweight bout that will headline a Matchroom card DAZN will stream from Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. DAZN’s coverage of the card headlined by Catterall and Linares is set to begin at 7 p.m. BST in the United Kingdom and 2 p.m. EDT in the United States.
The 38-year-old Linares is 0-3 in his past three fights, but he returned to respected Cuban trainer Ismael Salas’ gym in Las Vegas to train for the Catterall clash. He spent nearly two months there preparing to face Catterall, who hopes to challenge the winner of the Regis Prograis-Devin Haney fight for Prograis’ WBC super lightweight title December 9 at some point in 2024.
“I have a lotta beautiful memories here in England,” Linares stated during a press conference Thursday in Liverpool. “In London, Kevin Mitchell. Crolla two times. Campbell in California. So, this is a different time, different day, different opponent. I feel I’m coming to fight with [an] undefeated boxer. For me, Catterall is a world champion. I think he never lose the fight with [Josh] Taylor. So, this is [a] big thing for me, especially because I’m so close to retire. You know, I’m coming [at a] very good weight. I trained super well this time, better than 10 years ago, better than when I’m fighting with Kevin Mitchell, with Crolla.
“So, I feel like 20 years old. So, I’m excited. I’m super happy to be here again. So, I’m training amazing with Ismael Salas again in Las Vegas for seven weeks. And the thing is, I don’t like talking too much. I like to work hard, so I’m excited to make a beautiful fight with Jack this Saturday night.”
The only loss of Catterall’s career came in February 2022 in Glasgow, where he dropped a controversial 12-round split decision to Scotland’s Josh Taylor, then the undisputed, undefeated junior welterweight champion. Catterall, a 30-year-old southpaw, was supposed to battle Taylor in a rematch early this year, but it was postponed twice and eventually scrapped altogether when Taylor was ordered by the WBO to make a mandated defense against Teofimo Lopez (19-1, 13 KOs), who upset Taylor (19-1, 13 KOs) by unanimous decision June 10 in The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Catterall, who is a 9-1 favorite over Linares, has therefore fought only once since Taylor defeated him. He dropped Darragh Foley twice, once apiece in the seventh and ninth rounds, on his way to a 10-round, unanimous-decision win against Australia’s Foley (22-5-1, 10 KOs) on May 27 at AO Arena in Manchester, England.
Linares will end a 10-month layoff when he encounters Catterall. The former featherweight, junior lightweight and lightweight champion lost his last bout to Armenia’s Zhora Hamazaryan (14-3-2, 9 KOs) by 10-round unanimous decision December 11 in Ekaterinburg, Russia.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.