Comments Thread For: Frank Warren Discusses The UK Lightweight Division

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

Our great lightweights are now the heavyweights of boxing.

Sixty one kilogrammes, or 135lb (that’s 9st 9lb in old money) may be the limit for boxing’s lightweight division, but it is one that is is emerging as the heavyweight as far as Britain is concerned.

Currently it is the liveliest in the UK, a division rich in talent and excitement headed by our man Terry Flanagan, who has become the first Englishman to win a world title at this limit and also WBA Interim World Champion Derry Mathews from Liverpool.

Which is why I was astonished to see on the telecast of last weekend’s Hull bill that Sky placed Ricky Burns at the top of their list of leading British lightweights, followed by Kevin Mitchell - above Flanagan who actually is a world champion and Anthony Crolla who has just fought a draw in one.
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[Kilrain]

HAHAHA, usual bitter mush from Warren! WBO title or not, Flanagan is not 'leading the way' for the British lightweights. Barely anyone knows who he is! Hardly anyone turned up to his fight with Zepeda (and small mercies given it was over in less than 2 rounds), especially compared with the huge crowd that saw Crolla fight Perez and saw Mitchell fight Linares (both opponents were superior to Zepeda anyway).

Not knocking Terry, he's a good fighter, but he won because the other guy got injured and so we can discount that, his best win otherwise is over Steven Ormond, need I say more?

Flanagan does not have the profile, nor the name wins, to be considered the no. 1 lightweight in Britain, despite holding the WBO title. Mitchell and Burns have vastly superior resumes and have boxed well of late. They are clearly the 1 and 2 in the division, with Campbell, Flanagan, Crolla and Derry all coming up behind.

I like how Warren claims Campbell is not world champ material, if he was signed to Warren, Frank would be singing from the rooftops about this guy's ability. But we've come to expect this juvenescent attitude from him: he belittles/shoots down top guys belonging to another promoter, who we all know. Frank would kill to have a stable like that, to put on shows like the recent Hull one.

Walsh is a great fighter but he needs to make up his mind, is he a super feather or a lightweight? He should be challenging for titles. I mean, he's the same age as Luke Campbell and Luke just fought in front of 10,000+ in a WBC eliminator. Walsh is still middling around at British levels in his best years. I believe he's well capable of winning a world title, but time's ticking on. Frank needs to deliver for him.

I'd love to see some of these Brits in with the likes of Zlaticanin, Redkach, Beltran, Lundy, Shafikov, Tatli, Magdaleno. There are a lot of good fights to be made.

Domestically, Campbell vs Burns, Flanagan vs Walsh, Ormond vs Coyle, Crolla vs Mitchell (if Crolla beats Perez) sound like good fights and could realistically be made. If Frank and Eddie could come together, they could do an excellent 'super six' style tournament matching all these guys together.