Their first fight was amazing, in fact it was even on the score cards through the first six rounds. The rematch told a different story. On Saturday night March 25th, Jorge Linares (42-3, 27 KO’s) proved that he indeed was the superior fighter, when he defeated Anthony Crolla (31-6, 13 KO’s) again in their rematch. Corolla looked great in the first round, and looked like he would make this another close fight. Unfortunately, that was the only round he looked great in.
Linares completely took over the fight from the second round on, by controlling the distance and range with his jab, and landing vicious left hooks to the body that slowed Crolla down. In the 5th round, Linares found the right uppercut, and landed it repeatedly throughout the rest of the fight. The left uppercut would come as well, as Linares dropped Crolla with it in the 7th round. Crolla actually came out strong in the 8th, perhaps feeling a sense of urgency, and did box a bit better in the later rounds. On my card, Crolla won the 8th, but it would be the only other round besides the first that he would win. All judges were in agreement at the end of 12 rounds, with a final score of 118-109 in favor of Jorge Linares.
-David Jukic, INSIDE RINGSIDE