By Steve Kim
After his thrilling come-off-the-canvas victory over Kevin Mitchell in London on May 30th, WBC lightweight titlist, Jorge Linares, could be making his next title defense in his native country.
"October 18th in Venezuela," stated Robert Diaz of Golden Boy Promotions. "There's no opponent and obviously because there's no opponent, we don't have a contract. We wouldn't be the promoters, it's a local promoter."
Diaz says that he was contacted early in 2015 after Linares won the vacant WBC belt on December 30th by stopping Javier Prieto in four rounds in Japan but a deal was unable to be struck before his voluntary defense period ended. After stopping Mitchell in ten rounds, the local promoters in Venezuela reached out to Diaz, once again.
He is hoping to have a conference call with them at some point this week and wrap up a deal.
"I can basically put them on notice that I need a contract, I need an opponent and I need something in writing," said Diaz.
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.