Ni Gilbert Espeña
MALAKI ang sampalataya ni Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach na masisira ang diskarte ni WBA at Ring Magazine lightweight champion Jorge Linares kapag napagtatamaan ng kombinasyon ni challenger Mercito Gesta sa kanilang sagupaan bukas sa The Forum, Inglewood, California sa United States.
Minsang sinanay ni Roach si Linares kabilang ang pagkatalo ng Venezuelan via 2nd round TKO noong Marso 2012 kay Mexican Sergio Thompson sanhi ng isang pagbagsak at putok sa kaliwang pilikmata.
Ngayong nasa ilalim niya si Gesta na main event sa “Boxing After Dark” ng HBO, naniniwala si Roach na mawawalan ng puso si Linares kapag napagtatamaan ng Pinoy boxer.
“It’s a very, very tough fight,” sabi ni Roach sa BoxingScene.com. “[Linares] is a very good fighter. I worked with him before. But Gesta could take his heart. The thing is, he’s getting older and so forth, and once he gets caught, he falls apart. If you frustrate him, he falls apart. If things don’t go his way, he can be a little bit of a baby.
At this point in his career, I think we have a very good shot to win that fight.”
May rekord na 43 panalo, 3 talo na may 27 knockouts, nagtala si Linares ng 12 sunod-sunod na panalo at kailangan niyang talunin si Gesta para sa malaking laban sa super lightweight division.
“Linares is a great fighter,” diin ni Roach. “He’s had a great career and so forth. For anyone to get a win over him, that’s a great, great achievement, because he is a very good fighter.”
Para kay Roach, hindi totoong mismatch ang laban ni Gesta kay Linares dahil maganda rin ang rekord ng Pilipino na 30-1-2 na may 17 knockouts at natalo lamang sa puntos kay dating IBF lightweight champion Miguel Vazquez noong Disyembre 2012.
“I know they gave Peter Nelson a bunch of sh*t about this fight,” sabi ni Roach hinggil sa HBO executive na nag-aproba sa Linares-Gesta bout. “I told him, ‘We’re gonna save the day for you, because we’re gonna win this fight.’”
