By Miguel Rivera
While his status within the World Boxing Council is still the 'champion in recess,' Venezuelan lightweight Jorge Linares has made it clear that nobody will take away his dream of being a unified champion at 135 pounds, and therefore he promises to deliver his body and soul to secure the win on September 24 at Manchester Arena when he faces the world champion of the World Boxing Association, Anthony Crolla.
The three-time champion of Barinas, Venezuela,was presented a few days ago with the green and gold WBC belt at a press conference, and from there showed his respect for Crolla and the British fans, who always fills arenas to support their own.
"Crolla and I have similar styles, there is a lot of respect between us. I'm working hard because I know it will be a very tough fight. But I want to win all the titles, my goal is to be a unified world champion at lightweight. I'm ready for the challenge and ready to reclaim my crown," Linares said to ESPN Deportes.
Linares (40-3, 27 KO) will come to the fight with Crolla (31-4-3, 13 KO) with a run of nine wins, including a knockout in 10 rounds in England against Kevin Mitchell in what was his first defense of the WBC lightweight title that he won in December 2014. Linares was named 'champion in recess' after suffering an injury that prevented him from fighting with Montenegrin Dejan Zlaticanin.
"This is my second time in the UK, and I actually enjoy it a lot when I fight here. The UK has some of the best fans in boxing, it's always great the way they fill the arenas. It will be another great fight for me, and I'm happy to be in a big event like this," Linares said.
Crolla arrived to the fight with a 10 win streak without a defeat, but with three draws and one of them quite controversial to Darleys Perez, who he then knocked out in the rematch last year.
According to oddsmakers, Crolla is very slight favorite to defeat Linares.