Terry Flanagan vs. Dejan Zlaticanin possible for October

By Boxing News - 07/29/2016 - Comments

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By Scott Gilfoid: A unification fight between lightweight champions Terry Flanagan and Dejan Zlaticanin are in the works for October. Showtime boss Stephen Espinoza likes the fight. One problem that could potentially get in the way of the Flanagan-Zlaticanin fight taking place is unbeaten Felix Verdejo (22-0, 15 KOs) being named as the #1 WBO mandatory challenger for Flanagan.

Verdejo wants a title shot, and if the World Boxing Organization order the fight, then Flanagan would have to face the talented Puerto Rican fighter. Flanagan has been pretty much taking it easy as the WBO champion since winning it last year against Jose Zepeda.

In Flanagan’s three defenses, he’s beaten 42-year-old Mzonke Fana, Derry Mathews and Diego Magdaleno. Flanagan has taken a lot of criticism for his choice of opponents, as he’s had soft guys for the most part. If the WBO decides to force Flanagan to take a stiff challenge against Verdejo, he’ll need to decide whether to vacate the WBO belt or take the challenge and risk being blasted out by Verdejo. I suspect that Flanagan would give up the WBO belt rather than face Verdejo and risk getting knocked out by the young 22-year-old talent.

“They’re pretty far along,” Zlaticanin’s promoter Lou DiBella said to RingTV.com. “Frank contacted me a few weeks back and we’ve been kicking it around. (Showtime Boxing chief) Stephen Espinoza has made an investment in Dejan. Stephen likes the fight and we could do it on ‘Showtime International.’ So it’s not a done deal yet, but it’s certainly in advanced discussions.”

Flanagan vs. Zlaticanin is a decent little fight. Personally, I’d much rather see the 5’9 ½” Flanagan face the 5’9” Verdejo rather than the tiny 5’4” Zlaticanin. At least with the Flanagan vs. Verdejo fight, we’d be seeing two guys the same size rather than the welterweight-sized Flanagan facing a much smaller fighter than himself in Zlaticanin. I do think Zlaticanin is a good fighter, but he’d likely be giving away a good 15 to 20 pounds along with close to six inches in height to the bigger Flanagan.

I’m not sure if you’ve seen any of Flanagan’s fights before, but the guy really blows up after he rehydrates. He puts a lot of weight after he weighs-in and he comes into the ring look like a full blown welterweight. While I think Zlaticanin is a fine little fighter, he’s not going to come into the fight as a welterweight or a junior middleweight in size against Flanagan.

Now if Flanagan fights the equally big Verdejo, then it doesn’t matter how much weight Flanagan puts back on after the weigh-in. Verdejo will be around the same size and he’ll be looking to get the better of him with his superior hand speed and punching power.

I can understand why Flanagan might want to drag his feet on a fight against Verdejo, because I see that as the end of the road for Flanagan. Verdejo has the talent to not only whip Flanagan, but do it in an impressive fashion. It might look bad for Flanagan to get beaten by Verdejo in front of his own loyal fans in the UK.

If the WBO gives their blessing for the Flanagan vs. Zlaticanin fight to take place, then the idea is to have it take place in Flanagan’s hometown of Manchester, UK.

“He’ll go wherever he has to go for a big fight,” DiBella said about Zlaticanin. “He had a great performance in the past in the UK when he beat Ricky Burns (in Scotland in 2014). Dejan is a man’s man. He’s another one of these old school guys.”

The 32-year-old Zlaticanin defeated Ricky Burns by a 12 round split decision two years ago in June 2014 in Glasgow, Scotland. Zlaticanin was able to whip Burns in front of his own Scottish fans. The fight was very, very one-sided from start to finish. Ignore the split decision jazz. It was a clear 12 round unanimous decision win for Zlaticanin. I didn’t give Burns one round in the fight, as it was a total thrashing that he received. The judging was just dreadful in my view. Frankly, I was surprised that Zlaticanin was able to escape with a victory because I figured that he’d wind up like Raymundo Beltran after he came to the UK, dominated Burns for 12 rounds, and had to settle for a draw in September 2013. I had Beltran winning that fight by a 11 rounds to 1 score.