Jorge Linares dug deep in his veteran bag of boxing skills Saturday night and discovered a way to edge England?s Luke Campbell by split decision.
Linares was awarded victory by scores of 114-113 and 115-112 while another judge scored the bout for Campbell 115-113. The triumph at the Forum in Inglewood allows the Venezuelan to retain the World Boxing Assn. lightweight belt.
Linares, coming off back-to-back unanimous-decision victories over England?s Anthony Crolla, quieted the smaller group of vocal Brits who attended Saturday?s fight with a second-round knockdown of Campbell.
After peppering some jabs, Linares floored Campbell with a right cross to the right eye, cutting the challenger for the first time in his pro career.
The left-handed Campbell sought to answer Linares? superior athleticism with creativity and counter-punching. His calm, complemented by skill, allowed him to edge Linares through the ensuing rounds until he sent the fight toward its stretch by landing three hard, impressive left hands in the seventh.
Linares leaned on his elusiveness and punching volume while attempting to slow Campbell?s streak of winning rounds, but Campbell?s defining punches made it anyone?s fight going to the final rounds.
Linares did more to pull out the victory.
?I had to let the dogs out and that?s what I did,? said Linares, who added he wants a shot at World Boxing Council lightweight champion Mikey Garcia .
The bout came a day after Eric Gomez, president of Golden Boy Promotions, opened negotiations with Gennady Golovkin?s promoter, Tom Loeffler, for a rematch with Canelo Alvarez. The pair fought to an action-packed draw Sept. 16 in Las Vegas, leaving Golovkin (37-0-1) with the first blemish on his record.
?Very good, very positive? meeting, ?we?re headed in the right direction,? Gomez said Saturday. ?We each have to do some homework with both [fighters], but at least for this one, we?re speaking the same language.
?In the first fight, Tom was speaking German and I was speaking Spanish. This time, we know the fans want it.?
Alvarez has a better bargaining position after generating 1 million buys for his May victory over countryman Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., with preliminary industry numbers placing the Alvarez-Golovkin pay-per-view sales around 1.2 million and no higher than 1.5 million.
Saturday?s co-promoter, Eddie Hearn, also had news to announce: the signing of former World Boxing Assn. secondary middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs, with HBO being his new television home.
Jacobs, who took Golovkin the distance in March, said he?ll fight Cuba?s unbeaten Luis Arias in November on HBO, then seek a date with either Golovkin or Alvarez in 2018.
