MANCHESTER - In a highly anticipated showdown for the WBA/WBC Diamond/Ring lightweight titles, Jorge 'El Nino de Oro' Linares (41-3, 27 KOs) won a twelve round unanimous decision over Anthony 'Million Dollar' Crolla (31-5-3, 13 KOs). The scores were 115-114, 117-111 and 115-113.
Crolla was targeting the body early when the first round began. Linares was using his speed and picking his shots very carefully. Crolla was applying the pressure and pushing the tempo of the fight, but not landing too many punches as he was mostly feeling Linares.
Linares was going to the body himself in the second round and shooting those shots in quick. Crolla was keep a very tight guard as Linares was throwing in some fast combinations. There was also a lot of upper body movement from Linares and he was stay away from being pressed against the ropes. The hand speed of Linares was giving Crolla some trouble early on.
The speed and rapid combinations of Linares continued to cause issues for Crolla in the third. Crolla was not affected by the punches, continued to come forward and was applying that pressure to leave little distance between them. Crolla was getting hit with normal body shots in the fourth round, as Crolla's beltline was up high, but Linares continued to get warned by the referee as Crolla complained they were low. Linares was unloading with big shots as Crolla upped his pace and started getting more active his punches.
Linares was coming forward with more motivation in the fifth, throwing hard shots and pushing Linares back. A shot by Crolla opened up a cut above the left eye of Linares. He was really pushing the tempo hard and starting to get to Linares. In the sixth Crolla continued to back him up and getting in his shots. Linares was still throwing some rapid combinations to the head and body. But Crolla came firing right back and they were trading hard shots. Crolla was starting to land a lot of shots to the body, but he was badly hurt at the end of round when Linares snuck in a hard right hand counter. Linares then battered Crolla against the ropes for the final twenty seconds.
Crolla came out well in the seventh, throwing hard hooks and applying more pressure. Linares was still throwing a lot of quick punches, but it was Crolla who was landing the harder punches at this point. Linares went back to the jab in the eight round, pot-shotting and being more selective with his punches as his gas tank seemed to be down a bit. Crolla started standing in close and trading punches with him to the body and head. Linares landed some solid combinations on Crolla when he walked inside.
Not much by either fighter at the start of the eleventh round. Linares was landing some solid punches in the second minute as Crolla, obviously tired, was taking his foot off the gas. Crolla was looking to come back with a few punches, but he was being outworked. Linares started very fast in the twelfth, throwing and landing some quick punches on Crolla. During the second minute Crolla tried to come on with shots to the body, and Linares was landing to the head.
Crolla stayed in Linares' face in the tenth, coming forward and throwing solid punches. Linares was landing some solid shots of his won when Crolla was coming in close. The action continued to be close with hard shots landing for both fighters, but Linares landed some telling right hands in the final minute.
The pace slowed down in the ninth round. Both fighters taking their time and picking their shots. The action was close, as each fighter seemed to be tiring and not having as much power on their shots. Crolla was doing the better work and connecting with the better shots as Linares was starting to move around a lot more. The hand speed of Linares was winning the day and pushing Crolla back with explosive combinations.
In his last fight back in May, Crolla made the first defense of his title when he overcame adversity to score a knockout victory over the undefeated and heavily favored mandatory challenger Ismael Barroso to retain his title
Linares has been out of the ring since last October when he knocked out Ivan Cano. He suffering a bad right hand injury which kept him on the shelf for nearly a year. Prior to that, he traveled over to the UK last May, and came off the floor to stop Kevin Mitchell at the O2 Arena in London.
