Frank Warren: Team Crolla Avoiding "Big Offer" For Flanagan

By Frank Warren

We are not much the wiser of the true world lightweight pecking order following Anthony Crolla’s fairly conclusive defeat to Jorge Linares recently.

What we do know is that the wily Linares, with all his experience, had a bit too much nous for the game Crolla. It was evident, despite the ridiculously slanted commentary at certain points in the fight, that he always had something left in the tank, which enabled him to pull away in the crucial championship rounds.

Despite the veritable ‘pick n mix’ of belts that were carried aloft into the ring, the lightweight picture isn’t really any clearer.

We know that a WBC ‘Diamond’ belt has been unified with the WBA one, but for the WBC status quo to be maintained Linares must now comply with an order to fight the genuine WBC champion Dejan Zlaticanin.

That one hits a stumbling block straight away with the news that a rematch clause was inserted, meaning Crolla and Linares are contracted to do it all again.

Don’t get me wrong, it was a good entertaining fight, but it was not contentious or particularly close. It wasn’t a fight where the public are particularly demanding an immediate rematch.

I am sure the Manchester – and the British public at large – would much prefer to see a fiercely contested local derby.

The trouble is, Crolla really doesn’t seem to fancy the job against our man Terry Flanagan. We made a big offer for a fight that Crolla and his team appear to be going out of their way to avoid.

I suspect they must be waiting for Turbo Terry to grow out of the weight, but they don’t want to hold their breath.

Forget all the self-serving bluster about profile – that is not Terry’s game. He is a genuine world champion who is unbeaten in 31 fights.

For me he is the cream of the lightweight crop and this probably explains why he is being given such an obvious swerve.

We have also been in touch with Linares’ team and made them an offer, so we will see what comes of that.

Flanagan-Linares would be a much more appealing option than a repeat against Crolla, a proper unification between the WBO and WBA – with the winner then able to take on the victor of the proposed match between Zlaticanin and Mikey Garcia, if it happens.

I am not for one minute knocking the performance of Crolla, who put up a very good fight, but he never really had Linares in any bother, with the veteran Venezuelan stronger in almost every department.

Crolla has been outstanding of late and I mean him no disrespect, but that is just how it is.

It is unfortunate that Crolla appears to have opted out of a tasty domestic duel with his near neighbour, so the next best thing for Terry is to prove he is top dog in the whole division and not just in Manchester.

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For occasional viewers of boxing, watching fights on Sky Sports must be a confusing experience.

The calling of contests is so lopsided in favour of the home fighter that viewers must wonder whether to believe what they are seeing with their own eyes.

It must be so misleading and does the sport no favours at all.

If the commentary was to be believed from the Manchester show, Jorge Linares was all but out on his feet against Anthony Crolla and it was only a matter of time before the home favourite would swat him aside and send him home with Sweet Caroline still ringing in his ears.

Televised boxing needs commentators, not cheerleaders. Fight fans are not fools, so just say it how it is – and that goes for the in-fight scoring as well.

It took Paulie Malignaggi to pull his co-commentators into line on more than one occasion and bring some reality to the broadcast.

He was calling it right and his colleagues should remove the blinkers and do likewise. The credibility of the sport will be severely reduced if they don’t.

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From November 2015 to date, Guillermo Rigondeaux has had two fights. The first was a laboured points victory over Drian Francisco to mark his comeback after a year of inactivity before six minutes of action in July where the jaw of Jazza Dickens was snapped with the only telling punch landed.

I am a fan of the great Cuban, but I fail to see how the above amounted to him being voted overseas boxer of the year at the recent British Boxing Board of Control awards dinner.

If Rigondeaux is an acquired taste he clearly tickles the pallet of the board’s awards committee. An award for the most avoided boxer might have been more appropriate.

For me, the award should have gone unquestionably to the brilliant South African bantamweight Zolani Tete, who has shown such devastating power in his two appearances in Liverpool this year.