If Freddie Roach is to be believed, Filipino slugger Mercito Gesta can score an upset win over WBA World lightweight champion Jorge Linares.
Roach has been hard at work preparing Gesta for the biggest fight of the 30-year-old’s career on January 27 and the Hall of Fame trainer said there will be surprises come fight night.
“He’s looking good so far. I feel we can win this fight, this is a good opportunity for us and we have to take advantage of it as much as we can,” said Roach in a report from BoxingScene.com.
Gesta (31-1-2) fought for World title only once when he lost to then IBF World lightweight champion in December 2012.
Since then, though, Gesta has strung together a six-fight unbeaten streak with his bout against Carlos Molina in 2015 the only one ending in a draw.
Linares (43-3-0), however, is considered as one of the top fighters in the lightweight division and won his last 12 fights including six World title bouts from 2014.
“We’re in a real tough fight, my guy is definitely getting ready for this fight,” said Roach who trained legendary fighters like Manny Pacquiao, Mike Tyson, Bernard Hopkins, Oscar Dela Hoya, and Miguel Cotto.
“We’re going over a lot of strategy, we started sparring and it went well. We still have a lot of time to work a little more.”