By Edward Chaykovsky
Promoter Frank Warren was hoping to put together a big unification fight between WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan and WBA champion Anthony Crolla.
Crolla brushed aside an offer of £500,000 from Warren. The Manchester fighter will instead face Ismael Barroso in a mandatory defense on May 7.
Warren is having a hard time understanding the logic behind that fight. He says a loss to Barroso will kill any chance of the Flanagan bout taking place.
"What is the logic of fighting Barroso?" Warren told The Mirror. "Of turning down the money I've offered other than they don't fancy it because there's no other logic. It's stupid because if he gets beat by Barroso, that's it. He ain't going to come knocking on our door then, that's for sure."
With no Crolla in the immediate future, Warren is focusing his attention on a unification with WBC champion in recess Jorge Linares (40-3, 27KOs).
That fight might be problematic to make, at least for Warren's target period of June, because Linares is dealing with a serious hand injury and there is no exact timeline for his immediate return. Warren may have to adjust Flanagan's return, depending on a deal getting done for Linares, who is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions in the United States.
"The next one, if Crolla doesn't want it, is Linares," Warren said. "We're going after Linares. I do believe Terry is the best lightweight in the world and I'd love to see him in the ring with Linares. We would have that fight wherever we could get it on and sometime around June."
