By Ben Jacobs

During recent conversations with krikya360.com, three well known faces of the Cuban boxing school offered their opinions on the topic of Jorge Linares’ unification fight with Anthony Crolla which will take place in Manchester, England on September 24.

Ismael Salas, who trains Linares chuckled at the suggestion that Crolla may currently be the number one lightweight in the world.

“We have a young man here in the gym called Jorge Linares and we are going to train him to go over there and beat Crolla,” insisted Salas. “I saw his fight with Ismael Barroso but Barroso is just a fighter who looks for the knockout, you cannot compare him with Jorge Linares.  He fought like an amateur against Crolla.”

“Linares is going to win that fight, he is my friend, I train with him,” stated Rancés Barthelemy, also based in Las Vegas under the tutor ledge of Salas. “I see what he does in the gym, the abilities that he has and I believe he will win - 100%.” 

Barthelemy, who has stated that he would never fight Linares, recently moved up to the junior welterweight division after a successful defence of his previously owned IBF title at 135lbs.

Meanwhile, Pedro Díaz, currently preparing Guillermo Rigondeaux for his own UK encounter against James ‘Jazza’ Dickens anticipates a high quality match-up which sees the WBA, WBC Diamond belt and Ring Magazine title up for grabs.

“It’s a good fight, each man has a good team around them,” Pedro said in reference to Salas and Crolla’s trainer, Joe Gallagher. 

“It’s a fight that really attracts the attention of the fans, two top competitors.  We just saw what Crolla did to Barroso so it will be a good fight.  I wasn’t too surprised that Crolla knocked him out because he is indeed a good boxer.  Anything can happen when the fighter is in top shape like Crolla was.”