Anthony “Million Dollar” Crolla failed to offer up a display to match his moniker as the Manchester fighter lost his WBA lightweight title to Jorge Linares, the 31-year-old Venezuelan, whose triumph gave him a fourth world crown across three different divisions, nine years after his first.
After an intriguing contest which went the distance, the score was a unanimous verdict of 115-114, 117-111, 115-113 to Linares. It felt the right result and margin of victory as Crolla won barely three rounds of the 12.
The 29-year-old can be proud of taking the teak-tough Linares the distance and there is no argument here regarding his heart and willingness to stand and trade with his opponent.
Equally to his credit was Crolla’s post-defeat honesty. “I have no complaints,” he said. “He rocked my world, I’m not going to lie, my head is still spinning. I am absolutely gutted. It was a pleasure to share a ring with him and he is the best fighter I have fought but I never celebrate losing. I have to make sure I win a rematch.”
While Eddie Hearn, Crolla’s promoter, confirmed an “agreement” for a second meeting, the gracious Linares said: “We gave Manchester a beautiful fight and we can do it again. Why not come back to Manchester in the future? I love it here.”
As Crolla conceded, the glaring truth is Linares turned in a far classier exhibition of technical and pure punching acumen. Each time he connected it hurt Crolla. The same cannot be said of the Mancunian who did, of course, pose questions of Linares on occasion – just not often enough.
The first round had each man taking tentative shots and refusing to give ground. Crolla would have been be the happier of the fighters, though, getting in behind his left jab more than Linares managed with his own.
Those opening three minutes were illustrative of the tactical approach the home fighter had spoken of before the bout but at the start of the second round Linares managed to unload quicker, though one blow was definitely below Crolla’s belt. By the third round the sense already was that while Crolla may have been the title-holder he would have to turn in a career-defining display if he was to emerge the victor.
Linares underlined this with a sweet combination; later a left uppercut hurt Crolla, who countered by walking Linares into a corner and landing, though his opponent was quick to wriggle away.
By the start of the fourth Crolla responded by finding his best form, landing a heavy right and backing up the Venezuelan. Moments later the referee Terry O’Connor warned Linares about a low blow. Yet he repeated the tactic – to boos from the crowd – and the referee was forced once more to step in.
If this made Crolla the clear winner of the fourth, the fifth began with him pinning Linares back with his heaviest connections so far. Linares was now cut, over his left eye, but this did not prevent him clumping Crolla with a vicious round-house to his temple.
The tear-up that had been anticipated was unfolding and as they broke for the bell before the sixth, Crolla had claimed a second round in a row.
Yet this was about as good as it got for Crolla. Having made the ring-walk to the sounds of the White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army he failed to find the heavy artillery required to stop Linares as the ensuing rounds followed a pattern of the challenger landing thudding shots that Crolla found difficult to replicate.Crolla’s preparation
He had described this as a potential “legacy fight”; one which, if he won, could propel him to the bright lights and lucrative pay days of Las Vegas. But in front of a crowd that numbered around 15,000 and which included Crolla’s friend Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick, plus Leicester City’s Wes Morgan and Danny Simpson, he came up short and by the final bell grimaced, seeming to know as much.
Crolla should come again, of course, and the hope will be that this night can be drawn upon when he seeks to regain a world belt.
