Crolla and Linares meet in rematch
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Anthony Crolla from Manchester, England, will have another crack at trying to beat Jorge Linares of Venezuela when they meet in a rematch at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England, for the WBA lightweight belt on Saturday night.
In their first fight on 24 September last year at the same venue, Crolla (31-5-3; 13) lost the WBA belt to Linares (41-3; 27) on a unanimous points decision with scores of 117-111, 115-113 and 115-114.
The 31-year-old Linares, who is based in Japan, and is a former WBC featherweight, WBA junior lightweight and WBC
lightweight champion, used his greater skills to build up an early lead but Crolla, 30, came back in the middle rounds.
However, the tiring Linares managed to score well in the last three rounds to take the decision and the WBA belt.
Linares was stripped of the WBC lightweight belt for not defending.
Crolla’s trainer Joe Gallagher believes he has learnt a lot about Linares from their first fight and that his fighter is better prepared this time around.
Linares, who has been fighting as a pro for more than 14 years, is a highly skilled fighter with a good jab and is able to rip in stinging combinations to the head and body.
The only three losses on his record have all been inside the distance in world title fights against Juan Carlos Salgado (tko 1), Antonio DeMarco (tko 11) and Sergio Thompson (tko 2). Since the loss to Thompson he has won ten fights.
Crolla won the WBA belt in November 2015 when he beat Darley Perez in rematch after they fought to a draw in their first fight, and made a successful defence against Ismael Barroso before losing the belt to Linares.
Most pundits are of the opinion that Linares, who is the betting favourite, will do it again on a points decision.
The other lightweight champions are Mikey Garcia (WBC), Robert Easter (IBF) and Terry Flanagan (WBO).
On the undercard, Brian Rose (29-4-1; 8) meets Jack Arnfield (23-2; (6)) in a 12-round middleweight fight for the WBA International title.
Martin J Ward (16-0-2 (8)) defends his British junior-lightweight title against Maxi Hughes (16-2-2; 2).
ZEUGE DEFENDS WBA BELT
Tyron Zeuge 19-0-1; 11 defends his WBA super-middleweight belt against Isaac Ekpo 31-2; 24 t the MBS Arena in Potsdam, Germany, on Saturday night.
Zeuge, 24, from Germany won the belt with a 12th-round knockout over Giovanni De Carolis in November last year and the 34-year-old Ekpo from Nigeria is his mandatory challenger.
The other super-middleweight champions are James DeGale (IBF) and Gilberto Ramirez (WBO). The WBC title is vacant.
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