This battle between our top-rated fighters at two weight divisions took some making with two promoters involved, but in the end, ESPN did some time slot maneuvers to allow this fight to take place.
It truly matches two of the best fighters in the world and with the exception of Mikey Garcia (TRS 2), the winner will clearly have the claim for the best lightweight in the world.
Linares certainly has the talent and power to give Lomachenko his toughest fight since his only loss (a very controversial one) to Orlando Salido, but Linares can be hit and he cuts very easily.
Lomachenko continues to move up after starting his career at featherweight and for all of his extremely talented skills, sooner or later he will hit the wall where he changes over from great to very good (think Roman Gonzalez for an example).
I don't think this will happen this time, but with the best opponent he has ever faced and at a weight that he hasn't fought at before, Lomachenko will be tested.
This should be one worth seeing and with an eight o'clock start for the card, you should be able to catch it live (Fred Landucci will be DVRing it with his graphing the craziness in Harrisburg tonight).
The reason it is starting at eight EST?
Linares' promoter Golden Boy has an HBO card and didn't want to have one of their fighters on one network against their offering on another.
The main event there shows WBO junior middleweight champion Sadam Ali (TRS 4) making his first defense against Jaime Munguia.
Ali upset Miguel Cotto to win the belt in his last fight and was scheduled to face mandatory contender Liam Smith tonight before Smith fell out with an illness.
Late substitute Munguia is undefeated with what looks to be huge power (28-0 24 KO) but has faced anyone of note, let alone someone of world title caliber.
The interesting part of this fight is that Ali is a true 147 pounder, not a junior middle and was knocked out in his only loss by Jessie Vargas, who is not a huge puncher and Munguia, although untested, appears to be a big hitter and fears no one.
How do I know that? Munguia was going to be the person that fought Gennady Golovkin before he was not sanctioned for the fight having the limited record and never having fought at middleweight, yet still wanted the fight.
If you don't fear Gennady Golovkin, you are either extremely confident in your talent or very deluded.
Rey Vargas (TRS #2) defends his WBC junior featherweight title against Azat Hovannisyan in the HBO opener.
Vargas has looked strong of late in moving up the 122-pound ladder, but Hovannisyan walked right through the respected Ronny Rios in his last fight stopping him in six after Vargas had decisioned Rios in their fight a few months before and could be a live dog in this fight.
This could be a very interesting fight.
I added one more fight to the challenge that you might have to find on YouTube without American TV as former world title challenger Hughie Fury returns after his decision loss to Joseph Parker to challenge for the British heavyweight title against Sam Sexton.
Sexton is on a nine-fight winning streak including an upset win last time out over undefeated Gary Cornish who entered the fight at 24-0, but six of those nine wins were over fighters with losing records including this gem over Tomas Mrazek who is 10-51-6!
That's right- 51 losses and he still is sanctioned to fight?
The Sexton-Fury bout is in Bolton.England.
I lead Ramon Malpica in the boxing challenge 81-67.
WBA Lightweight Title 12 Rds
Jorge Linares vs Vasyl Lomachenko
R.L: Lomachenko Unanimous Decision
TRS: Lomachenko TKO 8
WBO Junior Middleweight Title. 12 Rds
Sadam Ali vs Jaime Munguia
R.L: Ali Unanimous Decision
TRS: Munguia KO 9
WBC Junior Featherweight Title. 12 Rds
Rey Vargas vs Azat Hovannisyan
R.L: Vargas KO 8
TRS: Vargas Unanimous Decision
Heavyweights. 12 Rds
Sam Sexton vs Hughie Fury
Both: Fury Unanimous Decision
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