Round-By-Round - Jorge Linares (c) vs. Anthony Crolla 2 - March 25th 2017

[ThereByTheGrace]

Surely Linares wants to come back to UK for Flanagan - more belts - decent money and save the Garcia risk for later ?

No its a big payday! In the millions !

For sure, but it could be the last one. Why not take a decent payday first and build it. The guy must feel @ home in Manchester by now, might even have the crowd on his side if the $M fans are bitter !

Might as well make the last one in the millions even if he lost he can still come back here its a no brainer

[handsofstone]

Bring back Craig Stephen...

Craig Stephen was busy doing an amateur show today.

For the main event intro he said:
'For the hundreds in attendance and the millions around the world..... who dont know what they are missing'

I was speaking to Craig at an amateur show he was doing a few months ago, he's a proper dude, sound as they come and chatted to me for a good 10 minutes outside, really nice fella and for my money the best MC in the country by a mile

[Counter-puncher]

He's got ATG will, heart and boxing brain - but British title physicality.

Like i say mate this is really well-put

[skanksta]

No its a big payday! In the millions !

For sure, but it could be the last one. Why not take a decent payday first and build it. The guy must feel @ home in Manchester by now, might even have the crowd on his side if the $M fans are bitter !

Might as well make the last one in the millions even if he lost he can still come back here its a no brainer

You're right IF you think Flanagan is much of a risk for him ?

[skanksta]

He's got ATG will, heart and boxing brain - but British title physicality.

Like i say mate this is really well-put

[ThereByTheGrace]

For sure, but it could be the last one. Why not take a decent payday first and build it. The guy must feel @ home in Manchester by now, might even have the crowd on his side if the $M fans are bitter !

Might as well make the last one in the millions even if he lost he can still come back here its a no brainer

You're right IF you think Flanagan is much of a risk for him ?

Not a risk at all he would beat him easy

[brilo33]

i think a good terry flanagan could be dangerous

[Emmseegee]

why would you try to pull your man out in the last round of his final world title challenge and not pull the young lad out earlier with a full career ahead of him that was getting battered?
Tesco Joe at his finest...

Just catching up, what was happening there?
Was he trying a strange way of getting Crolla up for the 12th or genuinely gonna pull him out. Would have been a crazy decision.

[wesshaw1985]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl4cL8_5us8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FxOkUXTpXI

[magwitch]

I think Crolla has a great chance here in a very good fight!

Thanks for the RBR one and all My prediction just fell short

Crolla sounds like a real tough guy, and a polite chap too!

[magwitch]

top lad crolla , got better with age,wasnt disgraced today

Naturally Crolla classy as fvck in the interview


Also, as I have said before, nicest classiest man in British boxing

In my humble opinion there’s a few, and one guy fighting next month ranks among them, that’s Liam Walsh.

[magwitch]

"hes a sen-ceptional fighter" Bellew is a moron...

That was funny - your post - come on man, cut him some slack

[Andrew]

Abysmal, I've looked at the previous undercards in Manchester that Hearn has put on and they've been really poor. Check the Crolla Barroso undercard, it's an embarrassment. There's a better card on in three weeks at the Manchester Arena, main event aside.

I was there !! not been to a big show since then was absolutely shocking had massive gaps as well fed up. Getting tickets for the April 8th show this week actually. Left it late in case anything got cancelled



Arnfield v Rose is ok. Will probably go 12, I think Brian is quite shot now and Jack Arnfield is on a decent run of form looked good last time and v Blackwell ( at very short notice).

Ward v Hughe just doesn't warrant a 3rd fight and Morrison v Welborn looks a bad mis match.

You called it >_>

ended up going last night Jason deserves his own thread.

[Andrew]

Flanagan Vs Linares? Well...Falanagan will have to reclaim his title after Petrov takes it from him >_>

You fancy Petrov ?
Flanagan may well have gone stale a la Nathan Cleverly.
He's gotta fight Crolla for me either way - they went to the same school ffs

Flanagans the champ and Crollas coming off 2 losses, how do you think those negotiations will go?

Unless Crolla leaves Joe Gallagher that fight will never happen.

Said this for some time now.

[Andrew]

So I ended up going last night at late notice. Decent atmosphere and the card was better than I thought it would be. The arena must have done some serious booze sales last night the bars were heaving.

Anyway got in for the Ward v Hughes fight. People seem to think it was close I actually had Maxi winning that 115-113. There were very close rounds but Maxi made Ward miss a lot with pretty good movement. But then to win the title you have to rip it off the champion something Maxi didn't quite do. That said disgusting scorecard 118-111 for Ward. Think Ward may drop the belt instead of fighting Cacace who I hear is decent. Que Hearn " moving on to bigger things"

Morrison v Welborn was a pretty brutal fight. Gave Welborn his praise in his own thread as he deserves it. The refereeing was disgusting IMO. I felt there were three or at least two occasions that should have been stopped and if Morrison was getting Welborn in those situations the ref would have stepped in.

Morrison can learn from that but he needs to change trainer. I am a critic of Gallagher but he can work well for some fighters to get to British /Euro level. Morrison is simply not a pressure fighter and was second best on the inside against a much smaller guy and does not fit in with Joes style at all. He also seemed to carry way to much muscle as he was blowing after round 3. He is young enough to comeback but needs to make the adjustments straight away.


Katie Taylor. Just not that interested at this level of fights. I just don't know the standard of women's boxing at all? If she fights for a world title I'll tune in.

Rose and Arnfield you felt may have got lively at some point and did a little in the mid rounds. Both lads did seem to know each other too well in the ring. Had it 116-112 Arnfield, would have liked to have seen someone really take full control but felt Jacks work when he got on the inside was much better.

As for the main event

Jorge Linares

Was an absolute masterclass. I scored it 120-107 Linares and I am a fan of Crolla as well its my 5th time being at one of his fights.
It was an absolute joy to watch. He just learned so much from the first fight and going into this with a bit of activity unlike last time. I remember him beating Larios on sky nearly 10 years ago and thinking he was quality then he fell off the radar after bad defeats only to re emerge after he won the WBC lightweight title a couple of years back. Can not wait to watch him fight again.

[Rockys gum shield]

Huge mistake career wise to get back in with Linares, he should have stepped away and rebuilt himself against someone else.

Linares was classy in the interview but even he said he had completed his obligation, basically hinting at bigger and more globally respected fights.

Whilst I appreciate Crolla will have been financially rewarded for last night's fight he went into the ring with one thing on his mind, to battle through and end the fight. Crolla never had the power to realistically hurt Jorge, that's the simple truth and Jorge knew that himself.

Huge respect to Linares, I thought he could have finished that fight any time after the knock down, I honestly believe he wanted Crolla to stay till the bell.

[Jackson328]

Naandrew, 120-107 Linares is maybe a little bit harsh. You didn't give Crolla one single round? I thought Crolla had rounds 1 and 8, maybe even the 9th or the 10th, I was drinking however and rooting for Ant lol. The last 3 rounds were not clear shut-outs for Linares either as I saw it, although it was a masterclass overall I couldn't give him a whitewash, my son gave Crolla round 8 and nothing more so maybe I'm just getting misty eyed. I had it 117-110 Linares