Terry Flanagan About To Become A Two Weight World Champion - Does The World Know or Care??
There IS A World Title at stake this weekend in Manchester...
There
is a world title title fight happening this weekend which is perhaps
the main event or the undercard, depending on your point of view.
That
point of view would depend on which story you are listening to from
Frank Warren though and what your thoughts on the return of Tyson Fury
are.
Warren
has stated time and again that the comeback of Fury isn't the main
event, even though it did have it's own press conference this week,
whilst "the undercard", including Terry Flanagan had it's press
conference the day after.
Are they both world level fighters? Again this depends on your point of view..
Flanagan
will come up against Maurice Hooker on Saturday night for the vacant
WBO super lightweight title. For many Flanagan is in for an easy night, I
don't think it will be as easy as some predict, although I don;t see
how Hooker can win it. "Turbo" Terry has been a lightweight world
champion for almost 3 years having had five defences, none of which have
really got the blood flowing. Some would say he is a boring fighter, I
would say he is just too good and doesn't get anywhere near the respect
he should.
Flanagan
is an unassuming fighter who goes about his business with no bluster or
bullsh*t. A southpaw who really is a class act in the ring, but is
sometimes lacking in persona out of the ring. Therein lies the problem
why he isn't held in the same regard as Fury, Groves, Joshua, DeGale,
etc in the minds of the British boxing public.
Boxing politics has always seemed to be the enemy of Flanagan and Warren -
Boxing politics has always seemed to be the enemy of Flanagan and Warren -
Flanagan - "When I won the world title we made Jorge Linares an offer before he
fought Anthony Crolla. He took less money to fight Crolla. We were close
to making the fight with Linares and then the rematch with Crolla
happened. I was always on Frank’s case trying to get big fights, but it
didn’t happen for multiple reasons.”
Many would have loved to have seen Flanagan Vs Crolla, a symptom of the Warren/Hearn nonsense.
His
opponent Hooker is a good fighter (23 wins, 16 by KO, with 3 draws),
although his best performance was against Darleys Perez, 18 months ago
which ended in a split draw, a decision many thought he was lucky to get
away with. Apart from that he hasn't fought at the level that Flanagan
has and may well find himself in deep water early on. Although in boxing
as many of you know, one punch can change everything. Hooker after all
has won 16 of his 23 fights via KO and is the natural super lightweight,
whilst Flanagan is moving up in weight.
Hooker expects a close, explosive fight on Saturday between the two of them -
“I’m
back now and better than ever. I’m ready to show the whole world who I
am. Before that fight with Darleys Perez, everybody was scared to fight
me. I’m still that monster, I’m still that dog. Come Saturday night, I’m
going to punch him in the mouth and I might knock him out in the first
round. Come Saturday night, I pray for him, because I mean business when
I get in that ring. It’s my best against his best. We’ve got a fight
Saturday night, so don’t blink.”
Personally
I think this will go the distance with Flanagan winning via a UD. He
doesn't carry the power to KO Hooker and Hooker doesn't have the skill
to cut the ring off and stop the southpaw Flanagan, unless there is a
mistake by either fighter, this will go the distance.
Irrespective
of who thinks what, this is the main event I feel and is the one fight
on the whole card that I am looking forward to the most, the circus can
wait for another day.
I wish them both well...
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