By Miguel Rivera

There is one month remaining before two-time Olympic gold medal winner Vasyl Lomachenko moves up to the lightweight division to challenge WBA world champion Jorge Linares on May 12 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

On paper it will be the most dangerous fight in the career of Lomachenko, who captured world titles at featherweight and super featherweight.

The fight will headline a big televised event on ESPN.

"This fight is different, each fight is different, each opponent is different, but this fight is of a very high level, a level that goes up and up more and more, very few people imagined this fight and would happen," said Linares to ESPN Deportes.

"I feel more and more happy, more cheerful, more confident that I can achieve this victory, because I trust in myself, I believe in myself, in my corner, in my preparation, in everything that surrounds me, that makes me feel more secure."

Linares accepted that he has struggled a bit with the issue of adapting to the higher elevation of Las Vegas after spending several weeks training in Japan, but this has not prevented him from working at the highest level possible to achieve the physical strength and speed that is necessary to compete with someone like Lomachenko.

"You have to work hard, every day I work harder, stronger and stronger, learning different things, looking for speed, looking for strategy and that's what you want, but I like what I do, I really enjoy physical preparation. Obviously these weeks I have to adapt a lot because I've come from Japan, from an altitude close to sea level, in Las Vegas we are at 3500 and in the mountains almost 9,000 feet above sea level, so it will always affect you, but we are walking well, doing a good job and every day I feel more motivated, for my daughter, for my family, for my team," Linares said.

Linares will arrive with a professional record of 44-3 and 27 knockouts in his favor, while Lomachenko will arrive with a 10-1 record and 8 knockouts.