Jorge Linares Vs Javier Prieto ordered for WBC Lightweight title, bout expected THIS YEAR!

Earlier this week we reported that Jorge Linares (37-3, 24) was taking part in a training camp in Narita alongside Teiken stablemate Ryota Murata (5-0, 4). That camp finished earlier today with both men managing to avoid any niggles or little injuries and it now seems that both men will be looking forward to bouts at the end of the year, something that has been hinted at by Teiken all week.

For Murata there is still no clue on who he will be fighting though it appears that we now know who Linares will be fighting, Javier Preito (24-7-2, 18). More importantly for Linares however is that he will be fighting for the WBC Lightweight title after the WBC ordered the two men to fight for the now vacant belt with the winner to face Champion in Recess Omar Figueroa (24-0-1, 18) in their first defence.

The WBC didn't state a date for the bout but did say they expected the contest to be promoted in 2014, further hinting that this is the bout Teiken have been working on behind the scenes for Linares's end of year bout.

For the Japanese based Venezuelan this will see him getting a second chance at becoming a 3-weight world champion having previously held titles at both Featherweight and Super Featherweight. Sadly for Linares he lost his first Lightweight world title fight despite being well in the lead against Antonio DeMarco when he essentially ran out of steam late in the contest. The Narita training camp has however been focussing on the stamina of both Linares and Murata, a weak point for both men.

For Preito, who actually enters this contest on the back of successive draws with Ivan Cano,this will be his first world title bout. Interestingly however he has shared the ring with several notable fighters including Miguel Vazquez, Edgar Puerta and Vicente Mosquera. Incidentally Puerta will be fighting Linares's stablemate Takashi Miura on November 22nd.

Whilst no date has been announced for the bout we have heard several rumours about the contest coming in very late December. One rumour suggests the bout will be on December 30th, the same date as the recently announced Ohashi show, whilst another suggestion is December 29th kicking off what would be 3 days of successive world title action in Japan. The one thing that appears certain is that December is going to be insane for Japanese boxing fans who also had the announcement of a national Light Middleweight title bout for December 28th recently.

(Image courtesy of boxrec.com)

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