Why did Linares go to Japan?

The public transport ran like clockwork, and that’s what first grabbed Jorge Linares about Tokyo. He was a million miles from home and couldn’t speak the language, but the bus was never late.

That was all he required. In Venezuela he craved routine but, in a strange land on the other side of the world, he had found it. It was the missing link that Linares knew, even at an early age, could turn him into a future world champion.

He was a skilled amateur who went 89-5, winning national prizes in his homeland, but that may have counted for little unless he was willing to leave behind his entire life in Venezuela. Even as an adolescent, Linares was already too savvy to ignore an enticing offer from a well-connected compatriot – namely, the president of the World Boxing Association, which was located in his home country.

“Gilberto Mendoza Jr asked if he would go to Japan, so he went,” recalls Rudy Hernandez, a coach who still oversees Linares to this day.

“He was a very talented amateur, he stood out. He was too young to turn pro in Venezuela but, in Japan, you can be a pro at 17. He liked it so much that he stayed.

“It was his goal to become a world champion and being in Japan, with Teiken Promotions, he stood a better chance.”

Mendoza Jr, of Venezuelan lineage, put the country’s newest teenage sensation in touch with Tokyo-based Teiken promising a faster route to the top. It was a 9,000-mile flight into the unknown for Linares but he believed every word he was told.

Everything was taken care of, …

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