Jorge Linares believes he could fight Vasiliy Lomachenko or Ryan Garcia after his bout with Devin Haney.
WBC champion Haney will defend his belts this weekend in a fight shown globally on DAZN against the Venezuelan challenger, and while Linares is focused on the task at hand, he noted that Garcia is the only big-name fighter in the division without a fight on the cards.
Garcia recently stepped back from the sport in order to exercise a degree of self-care, but that has not stopped his name being mentioned by other boxers. Indeed, Linares thinks that Garcia is a better fighter than Haney.
“I think Ryan Garcia is more difficult. Because he’s tall, he’s more dangerous with the hook. I think Garcia has more punch than Haney. [Garcia] has a right hook, that is the only danger he has,” he told the DAZN Boxing Show.
“All the fighters have fights right now, Teofimo Lopez has a fight soon, Loma has a fight, the only guy without a fight is Ryan Garcia, and Javier Fortuna has a fight now.
“First I have to have the fight on Saturday night and then sit down and see what competition I have. Why not Lopez, why not Fortuna, why not Garcia, why not Gervonta?
“But the most important thing is to win this fight on Saturday. Then I can start to work again.”
Asked if he believed his former opponent Lomachenko deserved to be considered one of the kings of the division, alongside Haney, Teofimo Lopez, Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Garcia, Linares claimed that the Ukrainian was no longer at the top of his game, in part because of the punishment dished out when the pair met.
“Lomachenko is not the same Lomachenko after me. He had a little difficult fight next time, the Japanese guy [Masayoshi Nakatani] is not easy: he’s tall - he has punch also.
“Maybe a second fight with Lomachenko is more interesting."