By Elisinio Castillo
Former champion Jorge Linares (37-3, 24 KO) is hungry to bring in the New Year with a world title, when he returns on December 30th in Tokyo, Japan. Linares will look to recapture what he lost nearly four years ago, when he was shockingly stopped by Mexico's Antonio DeMarco.
Linares will take on Javier Prieto (24-7-2, 18 KOs) for the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) lightweight championship. Linares has been studying videos of Prieto and plans to use multiple strategies in the contest.
"The most important thing right now in the final stage is to make the weight, which is the most complicated step we got through and I feel great for the fight," Linares said. "I've seen his videos and he is a good fighter, has the hunger and desire to win the belt. I realize that he is a very technical fighter who always comes to fight at long distance, rarely makes the fight inside. For my part, I do not trust that. We have developed strategies to counter what he wants to do, whether to counter or box. I'm ready. I'm fine physically and technically and hope that my work will pay off in the ring."
