CHAO, JORGE

Jorge Linares closed the curtain on an iconic boxing career after he was outpointed by Jack Catterall on a fairly unremarkable night in Liverpool. 

It was a performance that prompted bitter rival Josh Taylor to say the Matchroom fighter ‘couldn’t finish a roast dinner’ - a comment patently unfair considering Catterall should have ended Taylor’s world title reign 18 months ago. 

In truth, there were moments in which a more aggressive Catterall may well have ended the fight inside the distance. Instead, he breezed over the unanimous finish line. 

It was a wary, technical opening round, but one where both men landed. If Linares was in for a tough night, a cut caused by an accidental clash of heads in the second did little to help. 

Catterall was light on his feet, and whilst popping in and out of range of the Venezuelan, popped his own left hand out in attack. It was neat stuff.  

Linares had a better fourth round as two straight right hands in the closing minute gave him his first notch on the scorecards. However, it was the fifth in which those same scorecards were first threatened as redundant. 

A left-hand stumbled Linares back into the ropes, and Catterall sensed a finish. 

But this was an old dog, and he didn’t need new tricks. Linares managed to see out the remaining 30 seconds and make it to round six. 

A dominant sixth and seventh continued in a similar fashion. Catterall was breezing to victory, and his left-hand was the protagonist. He soon added round eight into that category too. 

Linares landed what was the last significant punch of his career in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough to dent the distinctly fresher Catterall. 

As the final rounds ticked, so did time on Linares’ career, and it showed. The former three-weight world champion could barely throw with any sort of force, let alone land with such. 

Catterall won convincingly and will now surely move towards a big fight. That means either a world title, or this long-desired shot at revenge against, well, you know who. 

Whilst Catterall chases the dream, Linares can celebrate living it. Twenty-one years is a hell of a shift in the sport of boxing, and one that deserves a settled and content retirement. 

It was one we, and I’m sure Linares himself, knew was coming. Four straight defeats was boxing’s way of telling him that it was time to end. 

Hopefully retirement doesn’t hit as hard as the world title era Linares did. 

In all three of those world title wins, he never let his opponent see the final bell. A statement fighter with a statement career. And, on a personal note, one of my modern favourites. 

Let’s hope this really is the end. 

Whilst one man saw the end, another saw the returns of his hard work. 

That man is Isaac Chamberlain, who dominated Mikael Lawal to become British and Commonwealth cruiserweight champion. It was an emotional night for Chamberlain after a logistically frantic week. 

But a brilliant boxing display saw him dislodge Lawal and earn himself a sense of redemption after several tough years in the sport. 

It can’t have been easy. His fight with Lawrence Okolie ridiculed as dull. His fight with Chris Billam-Smith leaving him in the lurch. This was a fighter fading into oblivion.  

Now, he sits holding the belts he said he has always craved, and the possibilities look very exciting. 

Oscar Bevis