CROLLA’S CRUSHED BY CLASS
Beaten Brit hails brilliance of champ Linares
ANTHONY CROLLA did not underperform – he was simply outperformed by one of the world’s best.
Jorge Linares retained the WBA lightweight title he took from the Manchester man last September in even more impressive fashion.
Crolla admitted he would have been enjoying the work of the silky-skilled Venezuelan if he had not been on the end of the punch-perfect display.
“I’ve said it before when I watched him years ago, I was a fan of his,” said the 30-year-old.
“If it wasn’t me taking the punches I would have been admiring the work he was doing.”
Electric
Linares was booed into the Manchester Arena by the 14,000 fans who made it an electric atmosphere for the hometown hero.
But even they must have admired the visiting fighter’s work when it got going.
It may not have been the result Crolla’s fans wanted but in years to come they can say, ‘We watched Linares in the flesh’.
When the Venezuelan arrived in Manchester for their first meeting last September, he had been out for almost a year with a broken hand.
That night he was still the better man but Crolla had more success in a closer fight.
The hope for ‘Million Dollar’ this time was that it was the first sign of Linares getting old at 31. ® But, in reality, Linares was only shaking off ring rust and produced one of his finest displays in his 45th bout.
He won almost every round to take this fight 118-109 on all three scorecards having also floored Crolla in the seventh.
“My ribs went in round four but that is not to be used as an excuse,” said Crolla.
“He was good, I lost to the better man. I’m absolutely gutted but I gave everything.
“I tried to force it but I lost to the better man. He came back better in most departments.”
Linares was faster, his power more threatening and his ring craft a level above.
He had brains for the brawn he brought and his promoter, ring legend Oscar De La Hoya, must have been enjoying it from ringside.
When Crolla could find a way past the jab of the man known as a road warrior for his willingness to travel for big fights, he would be on the end of a straight right or uppercut that would rock him to his boots.
It was a left uppercut that floored him in the seventh before the crowd roared him on to give it one more go.
A better round in the eighth followed but by the end of the 11th, Crolla’s trainer Joe Gallagher had seen enough and tried to pull his man out.
“Joe wanted to pull me out,” said Crolla. “I was just pleading with him to let me go on. I was all right.
“I just think Joe thought he was in his rhythm and that I had to stop him to win, which was unlikely.
It is not me being brave, any fighter would have wanted to go on.”
Joked
But he was certainly brave to keep showing the guts to go after a man of Linares’ class.
It was an almost impossible task against a boxer who should now go on to become a pay-perview star in America.
Linares joked earlier in the week that he would want an apartment in Manchester if he was to return to this city for a third time to fight Crolla’s old school mate and WBO champion Terry Flanagan.
In truth, the man who shares his time between Venezuela, Las Vegas and Tokyo never looked so at home as he did in the Manchester Arena ring on Saturday night.