Jorge Linares Stopped Again; Should He Retire?

Linares after the DeMarco loss. He was again cut and stopped out against Thompson. Is his run done?

Seems like he should retire, huh? Jorge Linares, who just a few months ago was seen as a young gun on the re-ascent, has suffered his second stoppage loss in half a year, this time at the hands of unknown Sergio Thompson, on Saturday night in Mexico.

In October, in a fight for the vacated WBC lightweight title, Linares got stopped out in round 11 by Antonio DeMarco, and a rematch of those two was to be a much-anticipated scuffle. Throw that out the window, along with, sad to say, the future prospects of the 26 year-old Linares, ex feather and super feather champ out of Venezuela. The 22-2 Thompson was supposed to be a stay-busy foe, a guy with a nice record built on home-cookin’ in his native land, Mexico. But in round two Saturday, he got up in Linares’ face, backed up the taller boxer, and landed a right cross which buzzed the ex titlist. A flurry buzzed him more, and down he went on his butt with 57 seconds left in the round. He started at the canvas, looking like he was pondering the rest of his life, and hopped up at eight. The ref gave him a few extra friendly seconds when he ordered Thompson deeper into a neutral corner. He then brought Linares over to the doc to take a look at a cut on his left eye, the doctor looked for a couple seconds, took out a red card, held it up, and declared Linares unfit to continue. Game over, maybe career over.

The kid gets buzzed too easily, some say. Could he re-work his style, become a defense-first fighter, so he can continue to play the trade? Oscar De La Hoya took to Twitter to say Linares would be helped by dumping trainer Freddie Roach.

My guess is we see him in the ring again. He’s just 26, and it’s hard to contemplate another vocation, to be told and convinced that you are all done, at age 26. Then again, Linares didn’t offer any resistance to the doctor at all, so it’s not like his actions and body language are telling us his fighting spirit is fully present. So, we shall see…

In other weekend action, Arthur Abraham (age 32; now 34-3; ex middleweight champ who was fed a diet of second tier foes to keep the belt, and then had a disastrous Super Six when he went to 168) kept his career alive with a win in Germany, as he scored a UD12 victory over Pole Piotr Wiczewski (30-3) in a super middleweight scrap. Um, can we all agree that Abraham was overrated, and will, to be candid, be dismissed with a shrug of the shoulders when he exits the stage? Who of you out there liked him to win the Super Six when it was announced? Want to take credit for that? LOL.

Big Jameel McCline (age 41; 41-11-3 record) couldn’t get the ring out of his system, and has been on the comeback train since last fall. He scored a split decision win over Livin Castillo (age 36; 16-12 record) on Saturday in New Jersey, coming back from a UD loss to Harold Sconiers two months ago. McCline weighed 271 to Castillo’s 215 pounds, and he had the loser hurt in the first, but couldn’t finish the night then.

Another heavyweight oldster, Frans Botha, had lesser luck on Saturday, in France. Botha (age 43; 48-7-3) dropped a TKO11 to Carlos Takam, a Frenchman who is now 25-1.

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