By Marcus Richardson: A fight between former WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan (33-0, 13 KOs) and #1 WBO Maurice Hooker (20-0-3, 16 KOs) is close to being finalized for April 14 for the vacant WBO light welterweight title, according to Dan Rafael. The Flanagan vs. Hooker fight will take place in the UK.
The terms for the fight are close to being agreed upon by Hooker’s promoter Dino Duva of Roc Nation Sports and Flanagan’s promoter Frank Warren. The goal is to get the fight signed to avoid a purse bid.
Hooker and Flanagan will be fighting for the World Boxing Organization 140 lb. title that was recently vacated by Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford when he moved up to 147. Flanagan, 28, recently vacated his WBO 135 lb. title on October 26 after having held the title for 2 years from July 2015 to October 2017.
Flanagan has outgrown the 135 lb. division after 6 years fighting in the weight class. Flanagan successfully defended his WBO lightweight title one last time in beating Petr Petrov by a 12 round unanimous decision on October 8 at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. Like most of Flanagan’s fights as the WBO champion, he won a one-sided 12 round decision by the scores 116-112, 120-108 and 118-110.
“We should have all the terms agreed to in the next day or so and have a contract ready to go soon after,” Duva said to ESPN.com. “We’re probably going to make a deal and avoid the purse bid. We have basically agreed on the terms and we’re just working out a couple of details, but I’m pretty sure it will get done.”
Hooker, 28, is technically undefeated still, but he appeared to lose his fight last year to Darleys Perez in their 10 round draw on November 19, 2016. A lot of boxing fans felt that the former WBA lightweight champion Perez deserved a victory in that fight, as he wore Hooker down and had him hurt at times. Hooker came back from that fight to defeat Christobal Cruz and Courtney Jackson. Hooker has past wins over Ghislain Maduma, Ty Barnett and Wilfrido Buelvas. Hooker hasn’t beaten any of the top level light welterweights as of yet.
Hooker’s other 2 draws have come against Abel Ramos and Tyrone Chatman. As an amateur, Hooker posted a record of 85-7. He was a good amateur. He’s been a pro since 2011, and he’s been slowly working his way to title contention over the last 6 years. He’s finally on the verge of fighting for the WBO 140 lb. title against a very good fighter in 28-year-old Flanagan.
Hooker and Flanagan are fortunate that Crawford chose to move up to 147 rather than staying down at 140. Had Crawford stuck around at light welterweight, it’s unlikely that Hooker and Flanagan would have had much of a chance to win the WBO belt.