This guy just got annihilated by a distinctly shop-soiled (despite his relatively tender age) Pablo Cesar Cano, a guy who was only ever a fringe contender at his best. Can we finally give up the mystique and hype around this Chavez-worshipping socialist now? After his DeMarco/Thompson humiliation phase, he was inexplicably allowed to rebuild his myth on the back of a run whose highlights were wins over a trio of also-ran Brit names in Mitchell, Crolla and Campbell (all of whom gave him competitive fights to varying degrees) and a win over Mercito frigging Gesta (of all the toothless 'where are they now?' trivia fodder).
Sky's gushing over him in the moments leading up to this evening's bout was as vomit-inducing as the gushing of his online cult.
Weight and age are no excuse. Listen to his fervent disciples, and they'll tell you that this guy is equipped with the kind of skillset that makes nonsense of size differentials (especially when faced with fringe-level competition like Cano). He's also a well preserved 33, appears to look after himself and, due to the generally mediocre level of his competition over the years, hasn't shipped a ton of punishment in his career outside of his prior four defeats (two of which ended very early).
He just isn't that good, face it. He was overrated pre-DeMarco/Thompson, and he became massively overrated all over again on the back of a win-streak of minimal world level substance. Talented, but ultimately a notably flawed B fighter on his best night and nothing more. He isn't the first guy to be possessed of physical gifts and turn out to be a distinctly average contender at the world level, and he won't be the last. We might as well revive Adrien Broner's absurd hype train, too, if we're going to continue blowing smoke up Linares' butt.
And guys said this chap would trouble Garcia? Laughable.
Not to mention that ridiculous top knot, for Christ's sake.
Give it up already.