His next fight took place in February 2003, a six-round bout against Chawal Sor Vorapin at the famous Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.

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.

[7] 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.

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.

On 21 July 2007, Linares fought on the undercard of Bernard Hopkins vs. Ronald Wright at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Nevada.

Larios beat the count, but referee Vic Drakulich stopped the fight giving Linares the win via technical knockout.

[9][10] 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.

[13][14] Eleven months after his last fight, Linares challenged 27 year old Whyber Garcia (20–5, 14 KOs) for the vacant WBA super featherweight title.

[17] On 10 October 2009 Linares traveled back to Japan to make a second defense at the Yoyogi #2 Gymnasium in Tokyo against unbeaten 24 year old Mexican boxer Juan Carlos Salgado (20-0-1, 14 KOs).

Linares got back up, only to be attacked straight away with a barrage of left and right jabs to the head and body flooring him again, prompting the stoppage.

[20] Linares took five months out before returning to Venezuela defeating 38 year old former interim WBC super featherweight champion Francisco Lorenzo in a scheduled 10 round bout via majority decision.

[22] In his second professional fight in the United States on 31 July 2010, Linares fought on the Juan Manuel Marquez-Juan Diaz II pay-per-view undercard at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas and comfortably defeated Mexican-American boxer, five time world title challenger Rocky Juarez (28-6-1, 20 KOs) by unanimous decision.

[33] However, Linares lost to Sergio Thompson in a WBC Lightweight title eliminator via a second round stoppage in Cancun, Mexico on 31 March 2012.

[36] Linares fought on the Shawn Porter vs. Kell Brook undercard at the StubHub Center in Carson, California in a stay busy fight on 16 August against journeyman Ira Terry (26–11, 16 KOs).

At the end of round 11, Crolla's trainer Joe Gallagher came into the ring and walked towards referee Howard John Foster, possibly to stop the fight.

[65][66] In the post-fight interview, he thanked his promoter Oscar De Le Hoya for making the trip and watching him ringside and said his next move would be a big pay day in Las Vegas against WBC lightweight champion Mikey Garcia.

[68][69] Golden Boy Promotions matchmaker, Robert Diaz, announced that Linares would next fight on 23 September 2017 and ruled out WBC Silver titlist Luke Campbell as his opponent.

As per WBA rules, a titleholder must fight a mandatory within 9 months, this time would expire on 23 July, having won the title from Crolla in September 2016.

[83] Eric Gomez, president of Golden Boy sent out a message to Garcia stating if he wanted the fight with Linares, it could be made, without any add-ons to the contract.

"[86] Gomez stated that Eddie Hearn had offered good money to get Linares back in the UK for a rematch with Luke Campbell.

[87] On 27 November Golden Boy Promotions announced a double-header which would kick off 2018, with Linares headlining the card, defending his WBA and The Ring Magazine titles against Filipino boxer Mercito "No Mercy" Gesta (31-1-2, 17 KOs).

[88] In front of 6,143 at the Forum, Linares outclassed Gesta in handing him a defeat by a 12-round unanimous decision and also retained his world titles.

The fight was confirmed to be the taking place at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California, on 29 September against Abner Cotto (23–3, 12 KOs) in a 12-round bout.

[114][115] In October 2018, the WBC stated they would likely order Linares to fight Adrien Broner (33-3-1, 24 KOs) in a final eliminator, as long as they abide by the code of ethics.

[117] In early December 2018, it was reported that Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn was looking to match WBO light welterweight champion Maurice Hooker (25-0-1, 19 KOs) with more credible opponents in 2019.

[118] DAZN announced Linares would fight 29 year old veteran Pablo César Cano (31–7–1, 21 KOs) on the card, which would take place at the Hulu Theater in New York City.

On August 16, 2019, the Teiken Boxing Gym announced that Lineres would face Al Toyogon in a ten round bout on September 7, 2019.

Haney controlled the action for most of the fight, but was hurt when Linares caught him with a powerful right-left combination toward the end of the tenth round.

The bout was scheduled as the main event of an ESPN and Match TV broadcast card, that took place at the RCC Boxing Academy in Yekaterinburg, Russia.