Jorge Linares wins in unimpressive fashion against Mercito Gesta
Jorge Linares needed to look good against the unknown Mercito Gesta in order to make the argument that he’s the best in the lightweight division. He looked good but not good enough.
Many believe that Jorge Linares is the best lightweight in the world. His opponent, Mercito Gesta, is trained by Freddie Roach who once trained Linares. Gesta had little chance of winning against Linares, but he gave it his all and gave a beneficial account of himself in the process.
Mercito Gesta looked surprisingly good in round one. He took the fight to Linares early and landed several combinations. He showed fast hands, and his southpaw stance gave Linares problems. Linares came back and landed hard punches later in the round, but Gesta took the round and held his own.
Linares started round two in a better fashion. He controlled the distance and kept Gesta away with a solid straight left. Gesta landed some meaningful shots but lost the round because he wasn’t able to duplicate the same activity he showed in the first round.
By round three, Gesta’s activity dropped even more. His feet became static and his right jab missed. Linares showed patience and let his opponent throw and miss. He played the role of counterpuncher effectively and put another round in his pocket.
Not much happened in round four as both boxers posed and looked for openings that never came. They were measured and nothing substantial landed for either fighter. There was a lot of defense, but not much output offensively.
Round five heated up and Linares displayed precision punching. Gesta’s punches were out of control and Linares made him pay with stinging rights and lefts. Gesta tried to fight back with ten seconds remaining, but Linares established himself as the dominant boxer.
Gesta showed a lot of heart in the first minute of the sixth round. He pressed forward and threw combinations at Linares, but his punching power couldn’t make a dent on Linares. His hands were fast but caused no damage. Linares strategically allowed him to expend energy.
Linares landed to Gesta’s body in round seven. This opened up Gesta’s head and Linares took advantage landing several fast, powerful punches to Gesta’s head. He took the punches well and showed he can take a punch, but lost another round in the process.
Linares continued to outbox Gesta in the eighth, but a cut opened up over his right eye. He’s always cut easily, so this was no surprise. On replay, it looked like a punch opened up the cut.
Round nine was competitive. Gesta landed combinations early and Linares counter-punched well down the stretch. He controlled the round, but Gesta wasn’t backing down and took Linares’s best punches well.
In the tenth, both boxers tried to establish dominance over each other. There were several moments where this fight looked like it could become a brawl, but Linares didn’t allow it. He wisely elected to box and didn’t get sucked into trading punches with Gesta. He played it safe. Linares realized several rounds earlier that he couldn’t knock out Gesta.
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Linares continued to box in rounds 11 and 12 and cruised to a decision victory. Gesta proved to be a tough contender and upped his stock. He will probably get more high-profile fights because of his tough performance.
Linares on the other hand plateaued. He needed an exceptional performance to vault his reputation over Mikey Garcia and Vasyl Lomachenko. He didn’t get it. He’s an excellent boxer, but he’s not phenomenal. He’s a lower-level A fighter, but if he had to fight Garcia or Lomachenko next, he would be a sizeable underdog. Linares lost, even though he won.