FightFranchise | Salgado Shocks Linares: Wins In 73 Seconds

In what was one of the biggest shocks this year in boxing, newly signed Golden Boy Promotions fighter Jorge Linares lost his WBA World super featherweight title in 73 seconds against the unbeaten Mexican Juan Carlos Salgado.

Linares who signed for Golden Boy Promotions only a few weeks ago was looking to put on a special show in what could have been his last fight in Japan before his next assault on world boxing started in the United States. One man who didn't want this to happen was Mexican Salgado who was fighting in his 1st world title fight.

The 24 year Mexican was stepping up in class in fighting the Venezulean but seemed unfazed in fighting outside of North America for the first time and worked well behind his jab in the early exchanges. Salgado's first big assualt came with a left hook then right hand combination. The left hook got past the guard of Linares and sent him towards the canvas causing the right hand to miss. Linares was down from a shot that landed on his temple and looked in trouble. He beat the count easily but looked very unsteady, but intent to fight on. Referee Luis Pabon ordered the fight to continue and Salgado, sensing Linares was in trouble, rushed in and started to throw a flurry of punches, which sent Linares to the canvas again. This time Pabon didn't bother counting and stopped the fight with a time of 73 seconds elapsing.

Now Golden Boy Promotions and Linares will need to evaluate their next plan of attack. Linares was looking like possible HBO material next year but the manner of the defeat may delay those plans until he comes back, possibly in a rematch with Salgado. What Linares does have on hs side is age, being only 24 years old, he has plenty of time to rebuild his career and still make his name in the United States.

Salgado on the other hand, has put himself in the mix at 130lbs. Not expected to win, it was not just the victory but the manner of the victory against an opponent who has shown in the past he can take a punch. If Salgado gives Linares a rematch and wins, he could really make a name for himself.

Chief support was a WBC Super Bantamweight title fight between 33 year old champion Toshiaki Nishioka and challenger Ivan Hernandez.

The Mexican challenger came out and attacked the champion but Nishioka showed some solid defensive skills and made Hernandez miss, and also landed some nice left hand counter punches to Hernandez body. In the 2nd a clash of heads left a small cut on the challenger, meaning that the champion had a point deducted according to the rules of the WBC. In the 3rd round a solid left hand landed on Hernandez chin and suddenly forced the Mexican to change tactics and back off. Hernandez made it to the end of ther 3rd but with Nishioka starting to dominate, the Mexican challenger refused to come out for the 4th round claiming he had broke his jaw in the 3rd round.

Nishioka made his 2nd successful defence of his title and is keen to fight some of the big names in the Super Bantamweight division