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There were still some three weeks left before Halloween, but the night of Oct. 10 was, nonetheless, a horrific one for for Jorge Linares (pictured above).

A Venezuelan-born 24-year-old who had enjoyed tremendous popularity in his adopted hometown of Tokyo, Japan, Linares was putting his WBA superfeatherweight (130 pounds) crown on the line against unheralded, 25-year-old Juan Carlos Salgado at the Yoyogi #2 Gymnasium before a juiced-up crowd that was partisan to Linares.

A Mexico City resident, Salgado entered the bout with a record of 20-0-1, and 15 knockouts. He was coming off of a first-round stoppage of light-hitting, Angel Reyna, who had come in at 9-1-1, with four KOs. But not much else stood out about Salgado, who had won four of his previous five bouts by decision.

Conversely, the hard-hitting Linares had stopped six straight opponents and was looking for his seventh straight stoppage. So, simply put, Linares had been on a roll.

Among Linares’ recent wins was a 10th-round knockout of Oscar Larios for the WBC’s vacant featherweight (126 pound) title; an eighth-round KO of Gamaliel Diaz in defense of that crown; a fifth-round stoppage of Whyber Garcia for the WBA’s 130-pound belt; and, an eighth-round KO of Josafat Perez in his first defense of that crown.

But when the final bell tolled ending his fight, Linares was being cradled in the arms of a referee, and he was without his senses, and, without a belt.

For Linares, the end had come at 1:13 of the first round — this after having been dropped once by the newly crowned champion. Salgado leveled Linares with a brutal left hook around his guard less than a minute into the fight — one that thudded solidly on the right jaw of Linares, who fell to his back.

Linares regained his feet, but Salgado charged across the ring and dropped him once more — this time with a right-left, right-left combination in the same neutral corner. Again, Linares struggled to his feet, his back against the ropes as he staggered. But the referee had seen enough.

Salgado (22-1-1, 16 KOs) was dethroned in his very next bout — January’s 12th-round knockout loss to hometown hero Takashi Uchiyama (15-0, 12 KOs), who scored his fifth straight stoppage at Tokyo’s Big Sight arena.

Linares has since rebounded with a March, 27, tougher-than-expected, 10-round, majority decision over 38-year-old Francisco Lorenzo (34-8, 15 KOs). But the loss still haunts Linares.

Linares, however, will continue his quest to excorcise the demons of his lone defeat on July 31, when he meets the rugged Rocky Juarez (28-6-1, 20 KOs), of Houston, Tex., in a 10-round, super featherweight clash at The Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas.

Linares-Juarez will take place on the undercard of a 12-round main event featuring WBO and WBA lightweight (135 pounds) champion, Juan Manuel Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KOs), of Anaheim, Calif., against Juan Diaz (35-3, 17 KOs), of Houston, Tex.

Marquez-Diaz is a rematch of a February, 2009, clash that earned Fight of the Year, and which ended with Marquez’s ninth-round knockout victory.

“Linares actually reminds me of what Amir Khan went through,” said Oscar De La Hoya, president of Golden Boy Promotions, which is promoting the HBO-televised pay per view card. “If you recall, Amir Khan got knocked out in one round, and he came back, had a little bit of doubt from different people where people thought that he was washed up.”

But the 23-year-old Khan (23-1, 17 KOs) has reeled off five straight victories, three of them by knockout, including stoppages in his past two fights since being stopped in the first round of a September, 2008 lightweight bout opposite Breidis Prescott.

That run has included a March, 2009, fifth-round technical decision win over five-time world champion, Marco Antonio Barrera — this, in Khan’s final bout at 135 pounds.

Khan rose to junior welterweight for his next contest, where he dethroned Germany’s Andriy Kotelnik (31-3-1, 13 KOs) as WBA king. Khan has stopped his past two opponents, Dmitriy Salita, and, Paulie Malignaggi, in the first, and, 11th-rounds, respectively, in December, and, May.

With the Prescott loss in the past, Khan is looking toward bigger and better things.

“Amir Khan will be at the fight on July 31, and, of course, very closely watching what’s going to happen,” said Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, hinting that Khan could face the winner of Marquez-Diaz.

De La Hoya said that Linares will need to rebound similarly, although it won’t be easy against Juarez.

“Now, Amir Khan is on top of the world, and I feel that the same thing can happen for Linares. But suffering a knockout in your career is not easy, and coming back from a knockout is even harder,” said De La Hoya.

“And this fight here, it’s not going to be an easy one against Rocky Juarez,” said De La Hoya. “This is a true, tough test against a real, tough fighter in Rocky Juarez. If Linares is not going to past this test, and he’s not going to win this fight, then it’s the time where we’ll have to re-evaluate his career.”

Manny Pacquaio has reached an agreement in principle to put his WBO welterweight (147 pounds) belt on the line against Floyd Mayweather

Mayweahter, Pacquaio’s adviser, Michael Konz, told FanHouse on Wednesday night.

Koncz added that there are documents in the hands of the Mayweather

Mayweahter camp. They include an agreement between Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions on Mayweather

Mayweahter’s demand for a random drug testing protocol and a tentative agreement on a 50-50 split of the purse, according to BoxingScene.com’s Rick Reeno.

Koncz said that Mayweather

Mayweahter’s camp has two weeks — “whether it’s July 13, or, July 15, it doesn’t matter, but it’s two weeks” — to sign and return the documents indicating their acceptance of the terms.

If Mayweather

Mayweahter does not indicate his acceptance of the terms by then, Pacquaio will begin negotiations with another opponent — likely either Miguel Cotto or Antonio Margarito.

“I’m not going to discuss the negotiations, but so far, though, there are no issues. We’re just waiting on Floyd. Floyd has to decide whether or not he’s going to fight this year or next year or not at all. It’s up to him … to decide whether or not he is up to any obligation,” said Bob Arum, CEO of Top Rank Promotions, which handles Pacquaio’s affairs.

“We want a fight this year, and if he doesn’t take the fight this year, then we’ll fight somebody else. As far as I’m concerned, there is no actual deadline date, but sometime in the middle of July,” said Arum. “If we haven’t gotten this thing locked up and done, then we’re going ahead and taking another opponent. We’re not just going to sit there and blow our chances for a fight in November.”

Arum said the need to complete the deal has everything to do with promoting the fight.

“We want this fight period. This is the fight we want, period. But a lot of things that you want can’t happen. Everything has to fall into place, and we need the time to start publicizing the fight during the month of August,” said Arum. “We’ve got to get the tickets on sale, commercials done, etc. We have to begin gearing up and getting ready to go by the beginning of August — whomever Manny is going to fight.”

Arum had long reserved the date of Nov. 13 for the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, for the proposed megafight, although it appears that the Las Vegas site is more likely.

Koncz said that Arum, Pacquaio, and himself have been involved in the negotiations for their side. FanHouse has learned that Mayweather

Mayweahter, his advisers, Leonard Ellerbe and Al Haymon, and HBO’s Ross Greenburg also are believed to have been involved.

“I refuse to comment on the specifics and I’m not going to discuss any terms of the agreement that we want signed. And my recommendation to Manny and to Bob Arum is that once the agreement is signed, that the terms of the agreement remain confidential also,” said Koncz.

“There’s nothing to say. It’s right and correct that we have an agreement, but there are no documents signed. And we will not sit here and jeopardize the November 13 fight date,” said Koncz. “So if there are no documents signed within a two-week period of time, then I’ve been instructed to inform Mr. Arum that we’re supposed to go ahead and find a new opponent.”

Arum has expressed optimism that negotiations would end positively, even as he believed that a resolution should come “one way or the other” over the next two weeks.

Then again, six-time champion Mayweather

Mayweahter (41-0, 25 knockouts) and seven-division king and WBO welterweight (147 pounds) titlist Pacquaio (51-3-2, 38 KOs) appeared to be set to fight on March 13 at the MGM Grand before talks reached an impasse in December over random drug testing for both fighters to be conducted by the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

The fighters had agreed on a 50-50 split of the revenue, as well as eight-ounce gloves and a clash at the welterweight (147 pounds) limit rather than a catch weight.

Since the original talks collapsed, a mutually agreed upon gag order has been in place for all parties involved in the negotiations until the talks are complete.

Promoter Bob Arum, CEO of Top Rank Promotions, has informed FanHouse that a likely bout between former five-time world champion, Marco Antonio Barrera, and WBC lightweight (135 pounds) titlist, Humberto Soto (pitctured above, at left), will happen on either Sept. 11, or, Sept. 25, in Mexico City.

The matchup will be huge, said Arum, since the 36-year-old Barrera, of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mex., was born in Mexico City, and the 30-year-old Soto is from Tijuana, Baja, California, Mex.

Arum promotes both fighters.

“It’s definitely going to be Soto for Barrera and vice versa. Soto likes it. Barrera likes it,” said the 78-year-old Arum. “They both like it, and so it’s going to be in September probably in Mexico City.”

Barrera (66-7, 43 knockouts) ended a 15-month layoff with last Saturday night’s unanimous decision in a lightweight clash against Brazil’s Adailton De Jesus (26-5, 21 KOs) at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Tex., as part of Top Rank’s Latin Fury 15.

Barrera-De Jesus took place on the undercard of a middleweight (160 pounds) non-title clash between Julio Cesar Chavez (41-0-1, 30 KOs) and John Duddy (29-2, 18 KOs), the latter of whom lost by a unanimous decision.

De Jesus was Barrera’s first opponent since losing a five-round, technical decision to present WBA junior welterweight (140 pounds) champion, Amir Khan (23-1, 16 KOs), of England, on March 14, 2009.

Most known for winning two of three bouts in a trilogy which, for Mexicans, rivals that between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, Barrera maintained his goal of earning a fourth crown in as many different weight classes.

Nicknamed, “The Baby Faced Assassin,” Barrera (pictured at right), if successful in winning another crown, could become Mexico’s first fighter to do so.

Soto (53-7-2, 32 KOs) has an eight fight winning streak, a run that includes four knockouts.

In his past two victories, Soto scored a March 13, unanimous decision over 33-year-old, former world champion, David Diaz (35-3-1, 17 KOs), of Chicago, at The Dallas Cowboys’ Stadium in Arlington, Tex., and another unanimous decision over Ricardo Dominguez (31-6-2, 19 KOs) on May 15 in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mex.

The victory over Diaz earned Soto the WBC title, and the win over Dominguez was in defense of it.

“Barrarea agianst Soto is a great match up,” said Arum. “They’ve been eyeing each other for a long, long time, so this one, it’s going to be a classic.”