Terry Flanagan vs. Maurice Hooker Being Worked on For April 14

By Ryan Burton

Multiple sources have advised BoxingScene.com that a showdown for the vacant WBO super lightweight title is being negotiated to take place on April 14th in the UK. 

The fight would pit former WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan (33-0), who recently relinquished his belt to move up in weight, against unbeaten contender Maurice Hooker (23-0-3).

Our sources say that the venue hasn't been locked in yet and that there are still minor contractual details being worked out.

The belt became vacant after Terence Crawford knocked out Julius Indongo in three rounds in August to unify all four titles at 140 pounds and became the division's undisputed champion.  He has since vacated all four belts and moved up to the welterweight division.

Flanagan, who is promoted by Frank Warren, fought once in 2017, when he successfully defended his title against Petr Petrov. A planned fight against Felix Verdejo was called off when the Puerto Rican star suffered an injury in training camp.

There were then negotiations to have a unification bout with WBA champion Jorge Linares, and a looming mandatory defense against Ray Beltran, but all of that was cast aside when Flanagan made the decision to move up in weight. Under the rules of the WBO, when a world champion vacates a title in order to move up in weight, he automatically becomes the mandatory challenger in the new division.

Hooker, who is ranked #1 in the WBO rankings and holds the NABO title, fought twice last year, picking up two unanimous decision victories.

In February, he traveled to Mexico to win a ten round unanimous decision over faded former champion Critsobal Cruz in Tijuana.

And then he came back to the ring in August to win another lopsided ten round decision over undefeated Courtney Jackson at the Omni Dallas Hotel in Texas.

The fight with Flanagan would be Hooker's biggest test to date, after going to a controversial draw with former world champion Darlys Perez back in November 2016 as part of the Andre Ward vs. Sergey Kovalev undercard at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

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