Friday 22 September 2017 16:04, UK
Jorge Linares handed out painful lessons to British fighters in the past, so we sought tactical advice for Luke Campbell from former opponents and fellow lightweights.
The WBA lightweight champion defends his title against Campbell in the early hours of Sunday morning in Los Angeles, live on Sky Sports, as Linares looks to defeat another Brit boxer after victories over Kevin Mitchell and Anthony Crolla.
'El Nino De Oro' conquered Mitchell in a brutal battle before heading back to these shores to complete two classy points wins over Crolla.
After painful experiences at the hands of Linares, we asked Mitchell and Crolla to offer their own game-plans for Campbell. Tommy Coyle and Derry Mathews, two former opponents of the Hull man, have also joined The Panel to suggest a winning formula...
The important thing Luke needs, if he is to have any success, is to start well. If he lets Jorge get into a rhythm, even in the first two rounds, he will be very difficult to fight and even harder to take him out of his groove. I found that out for myself in the second fight; he started well and I just couldn't get him out of that.
Me and Luke are very different stylistically, but his strength from that southpaw stance is drilling in that left downstairs. He's got to try and land them in this fight, but landing them won't be easy.
Jorge is great at judging the distance and Luke has, in most of his fights, had the advantage of being a sharp, counter-punching southpaw. I know Jorge lost to Antonio DeMarco and he was a southpaw, but he certainly didn't have any problems with that. In fact, he looked brilliant for the first part of the fight and it only went wrong at the end.
If you start being friendly and nice to Jorge Linares, he feels comfortable, so as soon as we met I was nasty to him. I can tell with Jorge, he likes being calm and relaxed. It depends how Luke has made him feel when he's been in his presence.
My advice to Luke would be to set about him straight away, land his big heavy back hand, and not mess about with him. But the boxing ability of Jorge Linares is great. Once he starts getting confident and letting his hands go, there is no stopping him.
I've sparred Luke a lot and he's got heavy hands. If he can get his left hand going, Luke can knock him out.
Luke straight away needs to put Linares under pressure by throwing bombs and trying to hurt him. I dropped Linares with my right hand and I was never a massive puncher with my right hand. My left hook was always heavy-handed. I've sparred Luke a lot and he's got heavy hands. If he can get his left hand going, Luke can knock him out.
He's got to out-box him at range and mess him around. He's got to nulify him, off-set him, and stop him getting into a rhythm, which is easier said than done. He has to try and make his fight boring, fiddle his way through it.
You've got to remember that when you pop in and out of range, as Luke can do, you use a lot of energy and when you are trying to nick a fight, it is very taxing on your body.
For the first four rounds it will be like a chess match, but I really think Linares is the full package. He's got skill, he's got grit and punch power and Luke doesn't really punch hard enough to get Linares' respect. I see Linares walking through him.
What I've seen in his previous fights, Campbell does like to have a fight, but against Linares I don't think he can get involved. I think he needs to box smart, be clever, and stick to the game plan.
As soon as the bell goes, I would stick to basic boxing. Don't try and do something that you've never tried before. Linares is a world-class fighter and everyone knows that. He's a superb fighter, but he's there to be beat and I think Anthony Crolla did very well against him.
I think Linares might take a safety-first approach, but if he does, Luke will win the first couple of rounds and his confidence is going to grow. Linares will have to chase the fight and if he does, that's where Luke's amateur pedigree will come in and his boxing skills. He'll get on that back foot and pick him off.
Watch Luke Campbell challenge Jorge Linares for the WBA lightweight title on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports from 3am on Sunday.
