Mañana, on Golden Boy Fight Night on FacebookWatch at 9pm EST/6pm Pacific. Live stream will be here: This content is protected
"Pin", if you are unfamiliar, is a second cousin of Miguel Cotto. He was a decorated amatuer, claiming gold in several Puerto Rican national as well as Pan-America tourneys, but was comprehensively outclassed in his biggest steps up on the global stage (losing to Vasyl Lomachenko 26:9 in the world championships in 2007 and to Robson Conceição 24:6 in Olympic qualifiers the following year) He received a lot of support early on from his famous cousin and was at one time considered a very good lightweight prospect until Omar Figueroa blitzed him in 2013. He is currently on a 5-0 (5) streak at welter & light welter since his 2014 shootout with Javier Fortuna, dropping the Dominican early but succumbing via KO5.
That is to say, Linares is getting in with a big, natural lightweight possessing some moderate pop, and not unskilled. This isn't a danger-free assignment for him, especially coming off thirty-four hard rounds in the last year (with Campbell, Gesta, and Lomachenko) That said, I expect Linares to put on a clinic and slice Cotto up en route to a mid-late stoppage while ahead comfortably on the cards.
