Background and career
Jorge Luis Linares Palencia (born 22 August 1985) is a Venezuelan former professional boxer. He has held world championships in three weight classes, including the WBC featherweight title from 2007 to 2008; the WBA super featherweight title from 2008 to 2009; and the WBA, WBC and Ring magazine lightweight titles between 2014 and 2018.
Linares compiled an 89-5 record as an amateur, winning several national junior championships in Venezuela. At the age of 17, Linares moved to Japan at the suggestion of his countryman, WBA president Gilberto Mendoza. Linares wanted to turn pro as soon as possible and he would've had to wait until he turned 18 in Venezuela.
Linares made his professional boxing debut managed by the Teiken Boxing Gym in December 2002. He was trained by Sendai Tanaka there, and Antonio Esparragoza who was trained by Tanaka's master Amílcar Bursa gave Linares the nickname of El Niño de Oro. Linares made his debut at the age of 17 at featherweight. The fight took place at the Prefectural Gymnasium in Osaka, Japan on 15 December 2002. He knocked out Kyong-Soo Chung in the first round of their scheduled four round fight. His next fight took place in February 2003, a six-round bout against Chawal Sor Vorapin at the famous Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. The fight aired on NTV G+ in Japan. Vorapin was dropped in round 1 and Linares was down in round 2 as the fight went to the scorecards. Linares won a unanimous decision (59-54 58-54 58-54). In his next five fights, Linares floated between super bantamweight and featherweight and remained undefeated, winning three via stoppages. On 31 January 2004 Linares, at the age of 19 fought for his first title, against 36 year old veteran and multiple weight world champion Hugo Rafael Soto (55-9-2, 38 KOs) in his home country of Venezuela at the El Poliedro in Caracas. Linares won the vacant WBA Fedelatin super bantamweight title after winning a unanimous decision with scores of 100-90, 100-90 and 99-91. Soto retired after this fight. In his tenth professional fight in August 2004, he won the vacant WBA Fedelatin featherweight title after defeating Renan Acosta (13–1, 5 KOs) at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. The fight went 10 rounds with the scores of 98-95 98-96 97-95 all in favor of Linares. Following a string of four wins, all via stoppage, Linares challenged 30 year old Jean Javier Sotelo (13–2, 8 KOs) for the vacant WBA Fedecentro featherweight title. The fight took place at the Estadio Luna Park in Buenos Aires on 6 May 2005. Linares was knocked down for the first time in his career in round 2. He beat the count and knocked Sotelo down twice in round 2 forcing a stoppage win. Linares spent the next year fighting in Venezuela, Japan and South Korea.
On 21 July 2007, Linares fought on the undercard of Bernard Hopkins vs. Ronald Wright at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Nevada. It was the first time in his career that he would fight in the United States since turning professional. He fought former WBC super bantamweight champion Óscar Larios (59-5-1, 37 KOs) for the vacant WBC interim featherweight title. Linares dominated the action with his jab combinations and power punches which consequently backed up Larios, although he remained competitive. Larios did not try to counter anything thrown his way. In the tenth round, a flurry of power punches from Linares sent Larios to the canvas. Larios beat the count, but referee Vic Drakulich stopped the fight giving Linares the win via technical knockout. At the time stoppage, Linares was ahead on two of the judges scorecards 87-84 and 89-82 whilst the third judge had Larios ahead by one point 86-85.
Linares made the first defense of his world title against former NABF featherweight champion Gamaliel Diaz (22-6-2, 9 KOs) on 15 December 2007 at the Plaza de Toros in Cancun, Mexico. Linares floored Diaz with a counter right hand in round eight, winning the bout via KO. Diaz was also knocked down in round four following a right uppercut. At the time of stoppage, Linares was ahead on two of the judges scorecards 68–64 and 67–65, whilst the third judge had it even at 66–66. Linares relinquished the title on 13 August 2008, in order to move up to super featherweight. Another reason for vacating the title was that he needing more time to recover from injuries. Óscar Larios was elevated from Interim to full championship status.
Eleven months after his last fight, Linares challenged 27 year old Whyber Garcia (20–5, 14 KOs) for the vacant WBA super featherweight title. The fight took place on 28 November 2008 at the Centro de Convenciones Atlapa in Panama City. Linares won the fight and claimed the vacant WBA title via fifth-round technical knockout.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
