Junior welterweight contender Jack Catterall 27-1 (13) believes former three-weight world champion Jorge Linares 47-8 (29) is a future Hall of Famer and victory over him at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England on October 21 will put him back in line for a second world title shot.
The 30-year-old British southpaw was unlucky not to get the decision over then-undisputed 140-pound champion Josh Taylor 19-1 (13) in February last year.
Veteran Linares, 38, of Venezuela promises to present a stern challenge, but Catterall is confident he will have his measure.
“I got the call quite some weeks ago now for this fight,” said Catterall. “I said to [manager] Sam [Jones] straight away, ‘sign me up!’ I’m not in boxing to be fighting guys that want to come and roll over and build up a record. I want to test myself and see how good I can be in the sport of boxing.
“I’m excited. I’ve seen Linares and his training videos – he seems very motivated and that excites me, it makes me go to the gym and work extra hard. Like Linares said, we want to make a beautiful fight. But not only that, I want to come away victorious.
“I think we all know Linares is a future Hall of Famer and I wouldn’t show the disrespect to any opponent by talking about any other fights right now.
“I said to Sam and the team around me, we don’t talk about any fights – it’s 100% focus on Linares. We pay him that respect and we train hard to win that fight on October 21st.
“I think that’s why the fight is exciting – Linares has been over to our turf, my turf, and always picked up the victories. I’m next up now to defend our turf and pick up the win.”
Catterall’s manager Sam Jones added: “I’ve had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with Jorge in his camps and I know how hard he trains, how hard he works. I know people judge him off his defeats, he had defeats earlier on in his career and I know how that motivated him.
“I know him personally. I know what type of person he is, I know how hard he trains. Usually, I can antagonise opponents and all of that but I can’t do that with Jorge because I have too much respect for him. He’s one of the best people I’ve ever met, he’s a legend.
“I just think in boxing it’s about timing. Jack reminds me a bit of how Linares trains. A demon, focused, lives well, clean life, trains very hard and I just think the old lion and the young lion – I think it’s Jack Catterall’s time. I think he’s the best 140-pound fighter in the world, but a motivated and hungry Linares is a problem for any fighter in the world.
“I have whole heaps of respect for him and I know he’s coming to bring it. As soon as I hear he was going back to [Ismael] Salas to train, I knew this was game on! This is a real fight. The connection they have together is fantastic. I know Salas wouldn’t let Linares box I he thought he was finished. This fight is going to be electric – 100%”
