Three-weight world champion Jorge Linares (41-3, 27 KOs) outpointed WBA lightweight champion Anthony Crolla (31-5-3, 13 KOs) on Saturday night at the Manchester Arena.
It was a close, hard-fought battle, but Linares’ combinations and counter-punching earned him a unanimous decision by scores of 115-114, 117-111 and 115-113.
Linares did the better work in the early rounds, landing hard shots to the head and body.
But the hometown fighter came back with some shots of his own in the fourth and…