By Scott Gilfoid: WBO lightweight title holder Terry Flanagan (32-0, 13 KOs) successfully weighed in on Friday in coming in at 134 ½ pounds for his title defense against No.2 Petr Petrov (38-4-2, 19 KOs) this Saturday night at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. Petrov weighed 134.6 lbs. This is a fight that the 5’9” Flanagan is expected to win because he’s got a considerable height – and weight – advantage over the 5’6” Petrov. Flanagan looked mighty thin standing next to Petrov tonight.
You can always tell when a fighter has gone through a huge amount of pain to make weight. When you look at their face, they appear skeletal, as if all the water from their body has been sucked out of them. However, as long as Flanagan is able to put the weight back on overnight, he should be fine on Saturday night.
For his part, Petrov looked like he was ready to step inside the ring right there. He didn’t have the same weight drained look that Flanagan has. My guess is Petrov will probably put 10 pounds back on overnight, whereas Flanagan might add back 20 pounds. I can definitely see Flanagan walking into the ring on Saturday weighing over 150. In looking at how big Flanagan is for his fights, he looks like a small junior middleweight. That’s got to be hard for Flanagan’s opponents. I think it’s going to take a talented fighter like Mikey Garcia and Robert Easter Jr. to overcome Flanagan’s size advantage.
While the two of them weighed pretty much the same today, Flanagan is no doubt going to rehydrate overnight, and he could come into the fight looking as big as some of the top welterweights. Petrov is a decent level fighter, but he’s not going to be able to handle the height and weight of the much bigger Flanagan. That’s the thing. I don’t know how Flanagan is able to make weight for his lightweight contests, because the guy is huge after he rehydrates. If they went back to the same day weigh-ins, I don’t think Flanagan would be able to stay at lightweight. I think he’d have to move up to at least 140 if not 147.
The venue favors Flanagan, as the fight is taking place at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. I can’t imagine too many of Petrov’s Russian boxing fans will be making the trip all the way to Manchester to see him fight. Flanagan isn’t going to win because of him having hometown advantage. I think he’ll just win on size and weight tomorrow night rather than the boxing fans or his technical ability. Flanagan’s size will be the telling factor. If both guys were the same size, I think Petrov would win, because he’s the more technical fighter of the two.
Prediction
My prediction is Flanagan will wind beating down Petrov to the point where the fight will need to be stopped. I’d say by round 8, Petrov will be done for the night. He’ll fight valiantly, but the size of Flanagan will be too much for him to handle. The last time that Petrov fought someone with the size of Flanagan was in his 4th round knockout loss to Marcos Maidana in 2011. Flanagan is even bigger than the 5’7” Maidana, although he doesn’t hit near as hard as the Argentinian once did. Ultimately, Petrov is not going to be able to handle Flanagan’s height and weight advantage over him on Saturday night. If Petrov was a great outside fighter with crushing power, I’d give him a chance of beating Flanagan, but he’s not. He’s a small lightweight with average power, short arms, and not heavy for the division. I think it’s going to end badly for Petrov unless Flanagan suffers a freak injury.
Anthony Joshua says he’s stepping up for Wladimir Klitschko fight
IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs) is finally about to face the moment of truth in his career in facing former heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs) on April 29 at Wembley Stadium in London, England. Joshua, 27, is stepping up for the first time to face a quality opponent, who is at the end of his once great career. It’s a still step up for Joshua, even though Wladimir is clearly a shot fighter in my opinion.
Wladimir has seen better days, and he might not even be as good as some of the contenders in the heavyweight division at this point. You can argue that Wladimir is 25% of what he used to be as a fighter. I don’t think he’s 50% and definitely not 75%. The Wladimir that lost to Tyson Fury in 2015 and struggled to beat Bryant Jennings in 2014 is at 25% capacity, and that was 2-3 years ago.
Wladimir may be just 15-20% of what he once was. We’ll have to see on April 29 if Wladimir is even 25% of what he once was. Joshua’s opposition since he turned pro has been awful that even Wladimir in his current form is an upgrade. That’s kind of sad, but it’s the reality of the situation. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has matched him with care, putting him in with guys that didn’t have the talent of the wherewithal to throw punches back at him. They just stood there in front of him and were banged out, one by one. The one guy that threw punches back at Joshua, Dillian Whyte, staggered him before suffering a shoulder injury and winding up getting stopped.
“We were always training as if I was fighting better opponents,” Joshua said to Sky Sports News HQ. Everyone has to step up in their career and I am just doing mine now, whether it was against Klitschko or any of the other champions. As long as I win that’s the main thing and it is history making,” said Joshua.
I’ve heard all the talk about Joshua-Klitschko being a “history making” fight, but I don’t agree with that all. When you fight an old guy coming off of a 2-year layoff and a dismal performance in losing to Tyson Fury, I don’t see that any kind of history making. To me, history making is when you fight a top talent in their prime, and who has been active in recent years. If a TOP fighter is compositing 2-4 times per year, and winning all their fights, then I see it being history making if you beat that guy. But when you face a 41-year-old guy like Klitschko, who has been out of action for 2 years and lost his last fight to Fury, then to me it’s just another fight. In other words, it’s just Joshua facing an old timer coming back to the ring after being out of commission.
Some boxing fans think Klitschko is just coming back for the big payday he’ll be receiving for the Joshua fight. They point to the fact that Klitschko didn’t bother to take a tune-up fight for two the way that’s normally done for fighters coming off a long layoff. Why didn’t Klitschko take a tune-up to get ready for the Joshua fight? We’ve seen many fighters come back after a long layoff to take a big money fight and it usually ends badly for them and for the fans.
Joshua has flattened his first 18 opponents without any problems since turning pro in 2013. The one common theme in all 18 fights is the opposition stands in front of Joshua without throwing punches. Whyte threw punches for 2 rounds until injuring his left shoulder. The rest of the guys were just there, waiting to be obliterated. In his prime, Klitschko was capable of letting his hands go and destroying guys. After he got with trainer Emanuel Steward, he tinkered with Wladimir’s fighting style, getting him to tie up his opponents like Lennox Lewis used to do.
Before Wladimir was with Steward, he rarely clinched at all. If you look at old video of Wladimir’s past fights, he was an entirely different fighter before Steward began training him. Wladimir didn’t hold, and he threw LOTS of punches. Sometimes it would work against Wladimir by him gassing out from throwing too many shots. Wladimir gassed out against Ross Puritty in losing an 11th round knockout fight in 1998. It was a fun fight to watch with all the shots that Wladimir threw in that fight. The Wladimir that lost to Purity would be a real problem for Joshua. Unfortunately that fighter no longer exists. Wladimir doesn’t throw many punches now. He mainly holds and throws tentative jabs.
If all Wladimir can do is throw jabs at this point in his career, he’s not going to last long against Joshua. It’s another mismatch, but it’s one with a ton of hype.
