Lightweights Ryan “Kingry” Garcia and Jorge “El Nino de Oro” Linares will headline in separate bouts on February 14 at Honda Center in Anaheim, California, streamed live on DAZN.
Garcia (19-0, 16 KOs) defends his WBC silver lightweight title in a 12-round fight against Francisco Fonseca (25-2-2, 19. KOs). Garcia demolished “Ruthless” Romero Duno in the first round in his last fight on November 2. Fonseca is moving up from super featherweight after a draw against Alex Dilmaghani for the vacant IBO title.
Former three-division world champion Linares (46-5, 28 KOs) of Barinas, Venezuela will return in a 12-round lightweight fight against TBA in the co-main event.
Other Fights:
Welterweight sensation Alexis “Lex” Rocha (15-0, 10 KOs) of Santa Ana, Calif. will defend his WBC Continental Americas Welterweight Title in a 10-round 147-pound clash.
Blair “The Flair” Cobbs (13-0, 9 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada will defend his NABF Welterweight Title in a 10-round bout.
Oscar “El Jaguar” Negrete (18-2-2, 7 KOs) de Tierralta, Colombia will fight Alberto “Impacto” Melian (6-1, 4 KOs) of Buenos Aires, Argentina for the vacant WBA International Bantamweight Title in a 10-round bout between two Golden Boy contenders.
Alejandro “PinPon” Reyes (2-0, 2 KOs), a native of Mexicali, Mexico who trains out of Los Angeles’ Westside Boxing Club, will return in a four-round lightweight battle.
Evan Sanchez (6-0, 5 KOs) of Parlier, Calif. will participate in a six-round welterweight bout.
Opponents for the undercard will be announced shortly.
Linares overall is a solid veteran as a boxer. I have always admired his gritty onslaught of punches with a decent high work rate. Linares may have defeats on his record, but he is a future hall-of-famer in my book.
A fine fighter no doubt, but I do not think he should be in the HoF. Also he is nearing the end of his career and at a dangerous spot of getting injured.
Linares +150
TBA -150
I agree with your safety concerns. However, I do not agree with your HOF future assessment however. He is a three time world champion and hugely talented. He was under appreciated for most of his career and deserves by merit alone, HOF status once retired, which as we both agree, Hope happens sooner then later. He has an awesome gym in Vegas. Hope he focuses on that soon. (_) Bless
Nah, he lost nearly all his biggest fights. And didn’t make a huge enough impact to get the Arturo Gatti nod. We giving out HOF awards now when the old timers had to do so much. Now you just need to be a very good Boxer to get a mention.
i dont think gatti should be in the hof if hes in the surely linares,mantecas medina or even mayorga can be
Hall of fame definitely does not come to my mind when I think of Jorge Linares. He had a solid career and is a three division World Champion, but was he ever in any huge, memorable fights? Getting ko’d by Antonio Demarco should eliminate any HOF consideration right then and there. However, boxing doesn’t seem to have the same standards as other sports for entry into The Hall. There are a lot of fighters who got in that I wouldn’t consider quite worthy. But then again, Harold Baines made it to the baseball HOF!
Good match-up!
Fonseca gave Tank some troubles before he went down in the later rounds. His second loss against Farmer was also a competitive fight.
Kingry is turning into a feared KO artist, and usually also has the judges on his side. On paper, he is a clear favorite to win this fight. A win over Fonseca could possibly set up some excellent fights at super lightweight for Garcia. Since he’s 5’10”, he will have a hard time to stay at lightweight for much longer.
Linares will probably fight Carlos Morales and he should win this fight, despite the fact that he lost 2 of his last 4 fights. Linares is 34 but still able to compete at top level.
so hows that work he isnt a mandatory for the wbc silver an he is not Ryans weight what a joke.
Fonseca showed us what Davis is like when he comes in out of shape. Davis fought in spurts and rested between those spurts. Garcia will be in great shape so this fight will tell us more about what Garcia is capable of. The fight against Duno ended so quickly I really don’t know what to make of it. I’d need to see more of Garcia against top competition. If he blows out Fonseca, consider me fully impressed.
As for Linares, he’s a good fighter at lightweight, but his foray into a higher weight class against Cano ended in disaster. He should do well as long as he stays in the lightweight division. He really needs to choose his future opponents carefully if he wants to stay relevant.
Garcia a dick! And I hope he gets KTFO but he wont because he is actual not a bad fighter, he needs to step it up though.
Linares would be undefeated if it were illegal to hit on the chin.
@Nick: Thanks for making me laugh :))
Cobbs is a talented fighter with a bunch of personality. Keep your eye on that cat.