The newly crowned WBC Diamond, WBA, Ring Magazine and Lineal Lightweight World Champion Jorge “El Niño de Oro” Linares (41-3, 27 KOs) defeated Anthony “Million Dollar” Crolla (31-4-3, 13 KOs) in a huge unification blockbuster at the Manchester Arena on September 24, 2016, live on Sky Sports.
After a bout going all twelve rounds with both Linares and Crolla fighting resiliently until the end, the judges announced their scores of 115-114, 117-111, 115-113 all awarding Jorge Linares the unanimous decision victory.
“I want to thank all the people of Manchester. Anthony Crolla and I gave the people a beautiful fight,” said Jorge Linares of his victory.
“I hurt my hand in the sixth round, and backed off and it worked. I told my corner my strategy in the 10th round and what I was going to do for the next three rounds. I feel I hurt Crolla a couple times, but didn’t want to go forward too much and hurt him too much, because I knew I had to be intelligent. In the beginning of camp, I was worried about my hand but as the weeks went on I began to feel comfortable and feel much better.
“After this, I want to take a good break and rest, I want my hand to heal and then I will begin training again. I hope to come back to Manchester!”
“Jorge Linares has proved himself once again as a world champion fighter with incredible skill, strength and talent. This is a fighter that continues to fight the best and win against the best in the lightweight division,” said Oscar De La Hoya, Chairman and CEO of Golden Boy Promotions. “Linares gave us a highly entertaining and thrilling fight against Anthony Crolla today, and we can’t wait to see what more is to come from him following this tremendous unification victory.”
