By Robert Morales
When Golden Boy Promotions signed Jorge Linares of Venezuela to a promotional contract last month, it seemed like a sweet signing. But it turned sour over the weekend when Linares was decked twice and stopped in the first round by Mexico's Juan Carlos Salgado in Tokyo, Japan. Linares (27-1) suffered his first loss, and he lost his super featherweight world title.
BoxingScene.com caught up with Golden Boy executive Eric Gomez at Saturday's Israel Vazquez-Angel Priolo featherweight fight in Los Angeles. When a reporter told Gomez he was shocked at the result of the Linares fight, Gomez echoed that sentiment.
"We all were," Gomez said. "But what happened to him could happen to anybody. I think he needs to get an immediate rematch. We gotta talk to him, we gotta talk to Mr. Honda."
Linares is co-promoted by Akihiko Honda of Japan. Gomez said Golden Boy remains in Linares' corner.
"We're with him 100 percent," Gomez said. "We still feel that he's a very good fighter and I think that, hey, he's gotta prove now that he deserves to be a champion and get back up. "We're behind him 100 percent."
Linares won a vacant featherweight world title with a 10th-round stoppage of Oscar Larios in July 2007. He made one defense, knocking out Gamaliel Diaz in the eighth round in December 2007.
Linares, 24, moved up in weight and won a vacant super featherweight belt with a fifth-round technical knockout of Whyber Garcia last November and had made one successful defense - an eighth-round TKO of Josafat Perez in June.