By Jake Donovan
Strong rumors have begun to swirl of Jorge Linares making the first defense of his lightweight title versus former featherweight champ Yuriorkis Gamboa.
Promoter Pepe Gomez confirmed negotiations were underway during a recent segment on ESPN Deportes’ A Los Golpes Radio. Once finalized, the fight is likely to land in Cancun sometime during the spring.
Linares (38-3, 25KOs) won a vacant lightweight belt with a 4th round knockout of Javier Prieto last December in Tokyo, Japan. The win made the 29-year old from Venezuela a three-division champion, having previously reigned at featherweight and super featherweight.
The win extended Linares’ unbeaten streak to seven straight following back-to-back stoppage losses to Antonio DeMarco and Sergio ‘Yeyo’ Thompson.
Gamboa (24-1, 17KOs) saw his bid to become a three-division champion thwarted in his thriller with Terence Gamboa last June. The former super bantamweight and featherweight titlist bravely traveled to his opponent’s hometown and held his own before falling apart in round five. Crawford eventually finished the job, putting away the Cuban wunderkind in the 9th round of their non-stop thriller.
The 33-year old – who also owns a Gold medal from the 2004 Athens games amid one of the greatest careers in amateur boxing history – has since rebounded with a decision win over Joel Montes de Oca last November in Cancun. The show was promoted by Gomez’ Cancun Boxing, who would promote the proposed title fight should it come to fruition.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com, as well as a member of Transnational Boxing Ratings Board and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
