Jorge Linares

Jorge Linares
Linares in 2015
Statistics
Real name	Jorge Luis Linares Palencia
Nickname(s)	El Niño de Oro ("The Golden Boy")
Rated at	Super bantamweight Featherweight Super featherweight Lightweight
Height	5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Reach	69 in (175 cm)
Nationality	Venezuelan
Born	August 22, 1985 Barinas, Venezuela
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	43
Wins	40
Wins by KO	27
Losses	3

Jorge Luis Linares Palencia (born August 22, 1985), best known as Jorge Linares, is a Venezuelan professional boxer. He is a three-weight world champion, currently holding the WBC lightweight title, having previously held the WBC featherweight and WBA super featherweight titles. Linares currently resides in Tokyo.

Amateur career

Linares compiled an amateur record of 89–5. Some of his other accomplishments include:

• 1999 Gold Medal Venezuela's Juniors National Championship (14 years)
• 1999 Gold Medal Venezuela's Juniors Venezuela Panama Dual
• 2000 Silver Medal National Championship (15 years)
• 2001 Gold Medal Venezuela's Junior National Championship (16 years)

Professional career

Linares made his professional debut as a boxer managed by the Teiken Boxing Gym in December 2002.^[1] He was trained by Sendai Tanaka there, and Antonio Esparragoza who was trained by Tanaka's master Amílcar Bursa gave Linares the nickname of El Niño de Oro.^[2]

On July 21, 2007, Linares won the vacant WBC Interim World Featherweight Championship after knocking out Óscar Larios, who would later inherit his title, in the 10th round.^[3] He won his first defense of his title by an 8th round KO against Gamaliel Diaz on December 12, 2007. Linares relinquished the title on August 13, 2008, in order to move up to super featherweight.^[4]

Linares won the WBA super featherweight championship with a 5th round stoppage against Whyber Garcia on November 28, 2008. He defended it on June 27, 2009, against Josafat Perez by TKO in the 8th. Linares contracted with the Golden Boy Promotions in September 2009. Currently he is co-promoted by both Teiken Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions.^[5]

On 10 October 2009, Linares lost his WBA Super Featherweight Title and his unbeaten streak when he was defeated by Juan Carlos Salgado in the first round by TKO. This stunning defeat was named Ring Magazine's 2009 Upset of the Year.

In his return fight on July 31, 2010, Linares easily defeated Mexican-American boxer Rocky Juarez by unanimous decision.

Linares defeated Mexico's Adrian Verdugo by a technical knockout in the seventh round of a ten-round lightweight bout in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico, on May 28, 2011.^[6][7] After that fight, Linares has trained with Freddie Roach at Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood,^[8][9] along with the U.S. Olympic boxing team in Colorado Springs, Colorado,^[10] and served as Manny Pacquiao’s sparring partner in Baguio in the Philippines.^[9]

Linares fought for the vacant WBC lightweight title against Antonio DeMarco at the Staples Center on October 15, 2011.^[8] He outlanded DeMarco 216 to 97 in overall punches landed, but lost by TKO after suffering a major cut on his nose eventually allowing DeMarco to begin pounding on it, forcing the referee to stop the fight in the eleventh round.^[11] In addition to his own wish, Golden Boy Promotions^[12] and Teiken Promotions^[13] appealed to the WBC for a rematch.

A rematch with Antonio DeMarco had been scheduled ahead of time to take place at the Home Depot Center on July 7.^[14] However, Linares lost to Sergio Thompson in a WBC Lightweight title eliminator via a second round stoppage in Cancun, Mexico on March 31, 2012.^[15]

Linares faced Jorge Francisco Contreras on 10 November 2013, sensationally knocking out Contreras in the first round.^[16]

Professional boxing record

See also

• List of WBC world champions
• List of current world boxing champions

References

1. Michael Rosenthal (December 13, 2007). "Venezuelan 'Golden Boy' happy to call Japan home". ESPN. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
2. Sendai Tanaka (April 10, 2010). アルゼンチン・ボクシング紀行. Boxing Magazine (in Japanese). No. April 2010 issue (Tokyo, Japan: Baseball Magazine Sha Co., Ltd). p. 77.
3. http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=11806&more=1
4. "Linares vacates setting up twin bill in Japan". 15round.com. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
5. Dan Rafael (September 19, 2009). "Linares signs with Golden Boy". ESPN. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
6. The Boxing Tribune (May 29, 2011). "Linares impresses, not Chavez". Fox Sports. Retrieved May 29, 2011.
7. Gabriel F. Cordero (May 28, 2011). "Linares wins in Mazatlan". fightnews.com. Retrieved May 29, 2011.
8. "Bernard 'The Executioner' Hopkins el monarca más veterano en la historia del boxeo, enfrentará al ex campeón mundial Chad 'Bad' Dawson el 15 de octubre en "Aunque usted no lo crea: Hopkins vs. Dawson"" (in Spanish). Golden Boy Promotions. August 10, 2011. Retrieved August 26, 2011.
9. "Pacquiao begins tough grind". Manila Standard Today. September 20, 2011. Retrieved September 22, 2011.
10. "Linares with USA Olympic Team". Fightnews.com. September 5, 2011. Retrieved September 22, 2011.
11. Michael Rosenthal (October 16, 2011). "DeMarco snatches victory from defeat by stopping Linares". The Ring. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
12. Robert Morales (October 20, 2011). "Golden Boy, Roach Push For DeMarco-Linares Rematch". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
13. "リナレス、逆転負けで3階級制覇失敗…WBC世界ライト級戦" (in Japanese). Sports Hochi. October 16, 2011. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
14. Dan Rafael (March 21, 2012). "Antonio DeMarco lines up July fight". ESPN. Retrieved March 22, 2012.
15. Boxing Clever (March 31, 2012). "Shocker: Sergio Thompson Stops Jorge Linares in Two". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
16. http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=157610&cat=boxer. Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

• Professional boxing record for Jorge Linares from BoxRec
• Official website (Spanish)
• Jorge Linares on Twitter
• Jorge Linares's channel on YouTube