Jorge Linares fought Kevin Mitchell in a 12 round bout for Linares’ WBC lightweight title in the co-feature of Brook-Gavin.
Linares started off very well in the fight and established himself as the better, more technically sound fighter. He was getting off first and last, following up with shots on top of shots. Mitchell seemed reticent and unsettled in the early going. Linares was able to get off hard combinations thrown with intent, and he was throwing them at the right times.
Mitchell was able to rebound in the 3rd and started making Linares fight his fight. Linares was best when he was getting off first, but he wasn’t always decisive enough in the fight. Mitchell made it a fight and Linares had to act fast and make adjustments.
Linares paid for his indecisiveness in the middle rounds as Mitchell made the most of his moments and even scored a knockdown on the often glass jaw Linares. Linares managed to get up and actually rebounded well enough in the next round that he’d sapped most of the momentum created.
It was a fairly even fight from that moment on and neither fighter was ever really out of the fight, although it was becoming clear that Mitchell was on the receiving end of the harder shots.
Linares really hurt Mitchell in the 10th round but he seemed to gas himself a bit. He took his time and landed a huge right on the chin of Mitchell. Mitchell backed up and then took a knee, the referee counted but eventually called a stop to the fight.
It was a good thing Linares got the stoppage because one of the judges actually had Mitchell up by 6 rounds.
