Jamie Jackson’s report
Manchester gives their man a final ovation as the fighters exit the ring. Crolla showed a lot of heart to get off the canvas and go the distance, but this was a very different story to the thriller in September. Jorge Linares put on a masterclass, a clinic of counter-attacks, jabs and uppercuts that will surely elevate him into the big leagues. That’s all from me – we’ll have a ringside report from Jamie Jackson online soon. Bye!
Here’s an emotional Anthony Crolla: “Jorge Linares is a great champion, he proved it again tonight. Manchester, I’m so sorry I couldn’t do it for you tonight. He caught me with a great shot, I thought I was gonna get to him but he moves so well. I got beat by the better man, no excuses.”
Updated
Jorge Linares speaks (via a translator): “I didn’t feel the pressure like last time, because I know the crowd appreciate me. Anthony and I are both warriors... I’m in the best moment, I worked three times as hard [for this fight] and I want to tell Manchester, Anthony Crolla has some big balls.” Lovely.
Updated
Jorge Linares defeats Anthony Crolla by unanimous decision
All three judges score the fight 118-109 in Linares’ favour.
Round 12: A tired right hand to the ribs from Crolla, before a low blow from Linares earns a warning from the referee. It’s about the only mistake he’s made all night. Another imperious uppercut rocks Crolla on his heels, but he hangs on to the bitter end. Crolla’s admiration for his opponent is clear as the fighters embrace.
Round 11: Plenty of guts and gusto from Crolla, desperate to give his home crowd a show in the last two rounds. He’s nowhere near shaking Linares, who has performed with such swagger tonight. After skipping around the ring and ducking everything Crolla threw at him, Linares ends the round with another vicious uppercut. Joe Gallagher thinks about stopping this, but Crolla demands to hear the final bell.
Updated
Round 10: Linares will not give Crolla a second to strategise, serving up a clinical counter attack whenever Crolla steps forward. The end result is a flurry of ineffectual punches from the home fighter, who needs a knockout if he is going to win his belt back.
Updated
Round nine: Crolla keeps rallying, turning to the body shot again and pulling his opponent down. Linares is understandably tiring, his punches lacking their early ferocity, but he still has an answer for everything Crolla throws at him. A close round swings the champion’s way as Linares brings out the trusty uppercut before the bell sounds.
Round eight: Crolla has only been stopped once in his career, and wants to give his hometown crowd something to cheer. He lands a feisty combination and a body shot, with Linares’ concentration wavering. Another body shot has the crowd making some overdue noise, and Crolla may have edged that one...
Round seven: Crolla is down! Linares’ clinical jabs are really hurting his opponent now, and as he tries to regroup, a long-range uppercut through the guard sends Crolla to the canvas! He’s utterly dazed, and does well to beat the count, before clinging on for the rest of the round.
Updated
Round six: Crolla can only hope his opponent tires later in the fight, but it’s the home fighter looking weary here, shuffling in search of an opening but walking into an uppercut, then a jab. Crolla has a cut above his left eye, and very little to take comfort from in the first half of the fight.
Jorge Linares: Pure, vicious class
— Sachin Nakrani (@SachinNakrani) March 25, 2017
Updated
Round five: Crolla gets Linares on the back foot with a clumsy-looking left hook, but he’s understandably cautious about attacking. Linares is ferocious on the counter, landing body shots, then a spiky uppercut. That’s four rounds in a row in the champion’s pocket.
Round four: Linares making ‘Million Dollar’ Crolla feel like about ten quid, bobbing and weaving at lightning speed as the challenger’s punches connect with fresh air. Linares doesn’t over-exert himself on the counter, but makes his uppercuts count. It’s been a near-flawless start from the champ.
Updated
Round three: The champion lands a razor-sharp right, earning a nod of respect from Crolla. The challenger tries an uppercut, but Linares counters with a fearsome four-punch combination. Very few gaps in Linares’ armour in the early stages.
Updated
Round two: Another very tight, tentative round, but Linares is able to steer clear of Crolla’s attacks with his tremendous speed. Crolla was on top in the first bout, but didn’t make it count before a big sixth-round shot swung the fight in Linares’ favour.
Seconds out, round one...
Referee Howard Foster has a quick word with both fighters, and we’re off. Both fighters exchanged body blows, but Crolla may have edged it with a clean right-hander to the body. He certainly needs a strong start against such a classy opponent.
The tale of the tape
31-year-old champion Linares is a year older than Crolla, and has 41 career wins to Crolla’s 31. The Venezuelan has won 27 fights by knockout, compared to just 13 for his opponent. Linares has won world titles at four different weights but has lost three fights by knockout – although the last was five years ago. Physically, there’s very little to separate these two – Crolla weighed in at 9st 8lbs 8oz, with Linares four ounces lighter. Both men are 5’8”, while Linares has a two-inch reach advantage.
For Linares, it’s an Eminem-AC/DC combo, like we’re at a student union night rather than a boxing match. A few boos around the arena, but Linares’ reputation as a lovely bloke and excellent boxer make him hard to hate.
The ring walks are under way
Starting with Anthony Crolla, who makes his way out to (I think) James Arthur’s cover of Adele’s ‘Hometown Glory’. Makes sense, but I prefer a bit of Stormzy.
Jack Arnfield takes it, declared the narrow winner on all three judges’ cards – by two points on two, and by four on the other. Tony Bellew says it was “a sparring contest”, and he’s right that it never really caught fire.
The final round sees Arnfield land the bigger punches, but it remains too close to call. Rose was the cleaner boxer, Arnfield preferring to wear his opponent down. Different motivations for both fighters – Arnfield looking to build on recent progress, Rose hoping to prolong his career with a landmark win. Who’s got it?
Rose is proving a wily operator against Arnfield, countering well when the champion tries to dominate. It’s a very even contest with four rounds remaining, although Arnfield has had the better of recent rounds.
Meanwhile, Anthony Crolla is warming up in his dressing room, with three of the four Smith brothers – Callum, Liam and Stephen – helping him out with sparring and moral support.
Into round six, and Arnfield is getting back into the fight, using his jab well against Rose, who is left with a swollen nose after a particularly vicious left-hander from Arnfield.
Updated
It’s the Battle of Blackpool now, with Brian Rose and Jack Arnfield fighting for bragging rights, and the WBA international title. It’s currently in Arnfield’s possession but Rose, five years his senior, has edged the first couple of rounds. So far, it’s nowhere near as lively as the weigh-in:
The weigh-in for Jack Arnfield vs Brian Rose gets a bit feisty with Rose's trainer Bobby Rimmer in the thick of it. Via @VJRichMcCarthy pic.twitter.com/xSedyoeFqg
— PA Sport (@pasport) March 24, 2017
Before the next bout gets under way, a quick announcement. Our colleague Dan Lucas sadly and unexpectedly passed away earlier his month. His family are raising money for Juvenile Diabetes in his memory. If you’d like to donate, follow this link.
Katie Taylor wins 80-72 on points, winning each of the eight rounds. “That was a great contest for me against a strong opponent” she says, adding that she hopes to challenge for a world title after “two or three fights”. Taylor will be back in action on the Joshua-Klitschko undercard in April.
Taylor turns up the heat on Koleva in the sixth round, a flurry of punches giving the Bulgarian nowhere to go. It continues in the seventh, Taylor able to pick and choose her shots. Koleva is unsteady on her feet, going down once, but will return for the final bell...
This is Taylor’s fourth professional bout, and her first eight-rounder. She’s trying to finish it inside the distance, throwing left hooks and combinations in the second round and dominating the first half of the fight.
Meanwhile, Oscar de la Hoya has popped in to see fellow ‘Golden Boy’ Jorge Linares in his dressing room. There’s the usual array of pugilists ringside, including Carl Froch, Tony Bellew and Kell Brook.
We’ve just seen a surprise, with promising local middleweight Marcus Morrison beaten on points by Jason Welborn. Morrison had won his first 14 fights but was comfortably beaten by Welborn, whose last fight was at a leisure centre in Solihull. Tonight, he’s stunned the Manchester Arena to take the WBC International belt.
Preamble
It was a long, hard road to the world title for Anthony Crolla. After two defeats in 2012, he finally earned himself a world title shot in January 2015 – only for a horrific injury weeks before to leave him back at square one. Crolla was struck by a concrete slab while chasing burglars out of his home, leaving his boxing career in jeopardy.
Against the odds, Crolla recovered for a title fight just seven months later, against Colombia’s Darleys Pérez. The Mancunian was denied victory in front of his home crowd – judges controversially calling it a draw. Four months later, against the same opponent, a well-timed body shot was enough to finally land the belt. After just one successful defence, Jorge Linares strolled into town and took it away last September.
There were no complaints about the outcome this time, the Venezuelan’s speed and precision earning a deserved win on points, but a thrilling contest led to immediate plans for a rematch. Crolla has made a habit of taking second chances, but may need the performance of his life if he is to finally crack boxing’s big time.
Also on the undercard: Brian Rose and Jack Arnfield bring their weigh-in antics to the ring, Ireland’s Katie Taylor takes on Milena Koleva, a Bulgarian with previous in MMA, and Olympian Lawrence Okolie makes his professional bow. The main event is slated for 10.30pm, GMT.
Updated
