“My goal is to return to the top in world boxing,” says highly regarded former WBA super featherweight champion Jorge Linares, who was shockingly KO’d by unheralded Juan Carlos Salgado in 73 seconds last October. Linares says he was not properly prepared for that fight, but will not make that mistake again. “As a world champion, many things change around us and from time to time we aren’t prepared for this because we don’t know how to control those situations. Now I’m ready to continue my career in boxing and I believe that I can do well in my personal life, as well. That night I destroyed years of work and efforts and that minute was the saddest in my life,” he said.

“The loss of Salgado to Uchiyama shows many things, among them that that was not my night when I fought Salgado, and the way he was stopped by Uchiyama says a lot to the boxing world. He pulled off a great surprise in October but now things changed because Uchiyama was concentrated on what he wanted to achieve and that was to defeat the WBA world titleholder. I believe that it’s very important to have humility and to have one’s life in order to be a good world champion,” said Linares.

His plans include a return to the ring in the near future and try for a new world belt. Linares is training currently in Japan with Sendai Tanaka and Yuichi Kasai, but is waiting Golden Boy Promotions approve his old trainer, countryman Jorge Zerpa.

To his fans in Venezuela and around the world Linares says “Please trust me that I’ll be champion again, and this time with more maturity.”