Terry Flanagan fights tonight.

Tonight in Mancheser UK, Terry Flanagan defends the WBO Lightweight title that he's held since 2015. Him being a boxer from Manchester (and me living there), I'm going along to the fight but it doesn't seem to have got the attention from the public and the media that it deserves, and while the arena will be almost full, it certainly won't be a sell out and that's a shame.

For anyone who doesn't know who Terry Flanagan is, he has the longest unbeaten record in British boxing with a record of 32-0 and 13 KO's. Along the way he has fought pretty much whoever wanted to step in the ring with him and originally won the title by beating Jose Zepeda, an American fighter that was billed as the next big thing until Flanagan retired him on his stool after only 2 rounds. Since then he has defended his title against world class fighters such as Diego Magdaleno, Derry Mathews, Mzonke Fana and the one that was most impressive, destroying Orlando Cruz at the end of last year. Tonight he faces another world class fighter in Petr Petrov and if he wins, will have defended his title 6 times overall, which in itself is something of an achievement.

Terry Flanagan comes from a poor, working class background being brought up in the suburbs of Manchester, about a 5 minute walk from where I myself live, and as well as being a top class fighter, he is an ambassador for boxing and a local hero to the next generation. He's shown others that with dedication and ambition, it doesn't matter where you come from, we can all fulfill our dreams if we put our minds and bodies to it.

That alone in my opinion makes him a fighter that people should get behind as these days, and especially in the fight game, there aren't that many role models anymore and win, lose or draw tonight, Terry 'Turbo' Flanagan deserves to be recognised for who he is and what he's done for boxing in the UK and in particular Manchester itself.

Just thought that I would give a quick update on the Flanagan fight. Terry went on to win this fight convincingly with a unanimous decision on points, and while it wasn't an explosive fight, there was only one winner. After the fight, what I found interesting is that he came out and said he's finding it harder and harder no to get himself motivated for the class of opponent he's being matched up against, so maybe he needs a new challenge?

At the moment he's beating the best lightweights in the world, and doing it without breaking a sweat. A record now of 33-0 after pretty much fighting everyone in the division speaks for itself. If I was Terry Flanagan I'd maybe be looking at another weight class because I'm not sure how much longer he can carry on going through the motions.

You are right when you said that the fight doesn’t seem to get public attention. I am a fan of boxing aside from MMA and I have to admit that I do not know Flanagan. And to think that this fight is his 6[SUP]th[/SUP] defense of the WBO lightweight title then I guess he deserves attention from boxing fans.
As per the news report, Terry Flanagan had successfully defended his title after getting a unanimous decision in beating Petr Petrov for his 33[SUP]rd[/SUP] win. Congratulations for that achievement which is worth taking note of.

Also like I said in my initial post, not only is Flanagan a good boxer, he's also a very down to earth guy as well. He try's to stay away from the limelight and when he's not in training for a fight he still helps out down the local gym and can be seen out and about around town, just doing his everyday thing. He always stops for pictures and autographs, and he's just a regular guy who happens to be a champion of the world.

That's maybe one of the reasons his fights don't get the exposure that they deserve. H tends to shy away from the trash talk and all the hype that a lot of boxers get involved in, and just goes about his business. We've all said on the forum before about how the hype before fights is getting ridiculous and needs to stop, but then when a fighter doesn't get involved, nobody watches his fights so it's a bit of a catch 22 situation.