The newly crowned WBC Diamond, WBA, Ring Magazine and Lineal Lightweight World Champion Jorge “El Niño de Oro” Linares (41-3, 27 KOs) defeated Anthony “Million Dollar” Crolla (31-4-3, 13 KOs) in a huge unification blockbuster at the Manchester Arena on September 24, 2016, live on Sky Sports. After a bout going all twelve rounds with both Linares and Crolla fighting resiliently until the end, the judges announced their scores of 115-114, 117-111, 115-113 all awarding Jorge Linares the unanimous decision victory.
“I want to thank all the people of Manchester. Anthony Crolla and I gave the people a beautiful fight,” said Jorge Linares of his victory. “I hurt my hand in the sixth round, and backed off and it worked. I told my corner my strategy in the 10th round and what I was going to do for the next three rounds. I feel I hurt Crolla a couple times, but didn’t want to go forward too much and hurt him too much, because I knew I had to be intelligent. In the beginning of camp, I was worried about my hand but as the weeks went on I began to feel comfortable and feel much better. After this, I want to take a good break and rest, I want my hand to heal and then I will begin training again. I hope to come back to Manchester!”
“Jorge Linares has proved himself once again as a world champion fighter with incredible skill, strength and talent. This is a fighter that continues to fight the best and win against the best in the lightweight division,” said Oscar De La Hoya, Chairman and CEO of Golden Boy Promotions. “Linares gave us a highly entertaining and thrilling fight against Anthony Crolla today, and we can’t wait to see what more is to come from him following this tremendous unification victory.”
Anthony Crolla vs. Jorge Linares was a 12-round fight for the WBA, WBC Diamond and the Ring Magazine Lightweight World Championships presented by Matchroom Boxing and Golden Boy Promotions in association with Akihiko Honda’s Teiken Boxing Gym.
Jorge Linares won a twelve round unanimous decision over Anthony Crolla to win the WBA/Ring Magazine and retain his WBC Diamond Lightweight titles at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
The bout, which took place this past Saturday, headlined a card that was broadcasted live all over the United States on AWE- A Wealth of Entertainment and streamed on www.klowdtv.com.
“The fight lived up to expectations and was a terrific contest,”said Charles Herring, President of AWE-A Wealth of Entertainment.
“This is another in the long line of great fights that have come to the network and we should be announcing some more great fights real soon.”
“We were ecstatic and extremely happy about the response we had for this fight,”said Chris Schickedanz, KlowdTV Managing Director.
“We had an overwhelming turnout, and we will continue to show the biggest and brightest fights from all over the globe.”
It was a tough grueling fight that saw Linares ump out to an early lead on the strength of his quick combinations and handspeed.
In round five, Linares was cut over his left eye. In round six, Crolla was starting to take charge of the bout with his work to the body and uppercuts inside, until Linares hurt Crolla badly with a right hand that wobbled the Manchester native on the ropes.
Both guys had their moments down the stretch as Linares, at times seemed like he was losing his stamina, only to come back with hard combinations and he was able to eek out rounds.
Linares of Venezuela won by scores of 117-111, 115-114 and 115-113 and is now 41-3. Crolla is now 31-5-3.
Jack Arnfield won a twelve round unanimous decision over John Ryder in a middleweight bout.
Arnfield won by scores of 117-114, 118-110 and 115-114 and is now 21-2. Ryder is 23-3.
Callum Johnson scored a 9th round stoppage over Wilbeforce Shihepo in a scheduled twelve round light heavyweight bout.
In round five, Shihepo was docked a point for holding. Shihepo kept holding and was deducted another point in round seven. Later in the round, Johnson dropped Shihepo with a body shot. Johnson finihed things with a huge right that dropped Shiphepo in the 9th round. Shihepo could not beat the count at 2:07.
Johnson is now 16-0 with 11 knockouts. Shiphepo of Namibia is 23-9.
Conor Benn remained undefeated by scoring a 6-round decision over Ross Jameson.
The score was 60-55 for Benn, who is now 5-0. Jameson is 1-2.
Hosea Burton scored two knockdowns in the 3rd round and stopped Fernando castaneda in the same round of their scheduled ten round light heavyweight bout.
The stoppage came at 2:18 of round three, for Burton, who is now 18-0 with nine knockouts. Casteneda is 24-11.
Anthony Crolla vs. Jorge Linares is a 12-round fight for the WBA, WBC Diamond and the Ring Magazine Lightweight World Championships presented by Matchroom Boxing and Golden Boy Promotions in association with Akihiko Honda’s Teiken Boxing Gym.
