On October 6th of this upcoming month, live from the Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento,Ca Jorger Linares looks for Redemption. Its seems as though it was just yesterday that Jorge Linares was another one of Freddie Roachs prized pupils on pace to becoming the talk of the lightweight division. Yet, not unlike Amir Khan, a former Freddie Roach fighter, who now is in limbo as to where he will be fighting next, Linares seems to have an uncertain future. His chin, rather than his heart, has been called into question. After stellar showings, Linares went to Japan only to be knocked out in the 1st round in a manner similar to Khans 1st round KO loss to Breidis Prescott. Even in the knock out fight his skill was evident, especially in his untraditional left jab / left uppercut combination thrown at length.
Time passed and Linares fought on the undercard of the Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Juan Diaz II PPV in which he won a very one sided decision. It seemed that maybe the loss was a way for Linares to respond and become a better rounded fighter. Unfortunately, he met Antonio DeMarco at Staples Center. DeMarco stopped him, though not as a quickly as he did John Molina Jr. This time Linares lasted until the 11th round. Surely that shows he is not just a glassed jaw wunderkind technical boxer who will lay down the minute he is petted with a punch. Unfortunately, earlier this year he was once again stopped. That time he was denied by a technical knockout in the 2nd round. So, three out of his past seven fights have ended in knock outs.
This leads to the true point of this story; will we finally see the redemption of Jorge Linares? Linares has the tools and style to be a champion. Do we believe he can take a punch or better yet will respond well if hit hard? The fan in me wants to say he can. I would love nothing more than to have every word in this article turned against me as a fighter shows his strength and overcomes adversity. In actuality, the realist in me fears that after losing two fights in such a violent manner he may just not have it in him. The way Linares looked after the DeMarco fight showed a man of entitlement having it stripped away in a slow plodding manner. Linares looked deeply troubled and not himself.
We are forgetting one other story. The downfall of Freddie Roach. In the summer of 2008, it looked as though Freddie Roach was destined to be a mainstay for years to come with Pacquiao, Khan and Linares. Now, with Linares in the 11th hour of his career and Pacquiao losing to Tim Bradley and then Marquez IV and Khan, getting KOed so bad that he left Roachs gym. Oh, and lets not forget the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr experiment that seemed to go all wrong. On the fringes of this October 6 match in Sacramento is the rear view mirror image of Freddie Roach who is now no longer a part of Team Linares. He was replaced by Teiken Boxing trainer Sendai Tanaka. Will this change make as big a difference as Linares believes?
Then there is the question of the foe, Hector Velasquez, who seems to have become the opponent after Humberto Zorrita Soto could not come to terms with a fight and the Bay Areas own Richard Hargraves, whose name was being whispered for a fight before losing a decision in San Diego, Ca on August 30th of this year. Why does that come into play? For a thinking mans fighter like Linares it would seem that an extended period of time to plan for a fight would benefit him more. For Velasquez, this is the opportunity to show at age 37, with a record that in the past few years has more red than green when looking at the boxrec page, this is a chance for a man with 35 KOs to show that he is no stepping stone. Velasquez most notably lost to the rising star Edwin Valero in a fight that Velasquez was able to stay alive in. If Velasquez three years ago had his moment against Valero, I find it hard to believe that he wont have any success in this fight.
The action kicks off October 6th, 2012 live from Memorial Auditorium located at 1515 J St in Sacramento, Ca and will be available on TV on Fox Sports affiliates (Please check local listing). To purchase tickets for this event please go to
Tickets.com or to find out about more details surrounding this and future events go please go to
Paco Presents . I know one thing; October 6th will certainly be a historic night in a classic fight town like Sacramento
