Comments Thread For: WBO Confirm Lightweight Champ Terry Flanagan Moves To 140

[Thetruthiserrol]

Why do fans always say this? As if boxing isn't means for this man to make a living.

As if he would turn down Garcia. It's prizefighting. He's not a popular champion even in Britain with its boxing renaissance.

As someone else eluded to. Unfortunately Flanagan also has the personality of a door knob. I am assuming this dude genuinely can't make the weight because I can't see where the money is for him.

I've never seen Hooker fight but I am assuming he could beat Flanagan if he is a good world-level fighter.

I think you forgot to read the part where he says that the Linares fight is "all but done". Why would that be the case if his plan was to move up?

[alexguiness]

Turbo Terry is like the weakest champ at LW and will be exposed as a very limited fighter at 140.

What is his best win, Derry Matthews?

I believe Flanagan's shortcomings are his style which is pretty dull and his personality...which is just non-existent.

[Randall Cunning]

Turbo Terry is like the weakest champ at LW and will be exposed as a very limited fighter at 140.

What is his best win, Derry Matthews?

I believe Flanagan's shortcomings are his style which is pretty dull and his personality...which is just non-existent.

Last good performance was against Magdaleno, after that fight I was on board with him, thought "here we go, he'll give the other champions a test". Since then somethings happened, even after the Mathews fight, never seems happy, saying his performance is bad, bad camps. Ive grown tired of it all now. Even if he lost to Linares/Garcia, would get him some notice from the public. Theres plenty of fights at the weight for him, just bite the bullet and get the deal done. Domestically its either him or Campbell that's the best at the weight, a toss up.

Now hes gone and put himself where hes not remotely close to being best even domestically, Josh Taylor would ruin him. Be another case of getting the WBO and hiding out doing in house fights with Catterall and Nurse, lower ranked Europeans and Africans.

[alexguiness]

Last good performance was against Magdaleno, after that fight I was on board with him, thought "here we go, he'll give the other champions a test". Since then somethings happened, even after the Mathews fight, never seems happy, saying his performance is bad, bad camps. Ive grown tired of it all now. Even if he lost to Linares/Garcia, would get him some notice from the public. Theres plenty of fights at the weight for him, just bite the bullet and get the deal done. Domestically its either him or Campbell that's the best at the weight, a toss up.

Now hes gone and put himself where hes not remotely close to being best even domestically, Josh Taylor would ruin him. Be another case of getting the WBO and hiding out doing in house fights with Catterall and Nurse, lower ranked Europeans and Africans.

Yes - you make some good points.

He needs a statement fight against a real name.
I get the feeling he will fade away and then moan about 'nobody wanting to fight him etc'. He is a World Champ, but need to start acting like one.

[TheBigLug]

Arum and Warren controlling the WBO is no secret.

Crawford moves up to 147, where he'll essentially automatically become champion.

While vacating his 140 pound title, where Flanagan moves up to essentially automatically become champion.

Freeing up the 135 pound title, where Beltran essentially automatically becomes champion.


Arum and Warren fighters moving up in concert to ensure the vacant belts all wind up on Arum and Warren fighters.


The WBO is not a world title, it's the puppet title of 2-3 promoters who can get the WBO to do anything they wish.

Well they don't call it the Warren Boxing Organisation for nothing

[Sparked_26]

I think you forgot to read the part where he says that the Linares fight is "all but done". Why would that be the case if his plan was to move up?

Can't see why he said that other than he's a dummy.

No one is better served being drained to fight but it's hard to see how Flanagan makes any real money. I can't imagine that was taken lightly to move up. His career is in reverse.

Nobody held too much stock in his belt either otherwise offers would have been made to him. British boxing isn't a gravy train. Josh Warrington is more valuable fighter than Flanagan ffs

[Boxing Logic]

In the early days of the WBO, when NOBODY considered them a world title, Warren put them on the map by constantly featuring WBO titles back when Warren ruled UK boxing. Warren basically had a monopoly on the WBO as nobody else recognized them, but the UK needed title fights and with Don King and Arum having all the WBC/WBA/IBF belts locked up, Warren could have the WBO all to himself since nobody wanted it to begin with.

But Warren did such a good job of helping the WBO get off the ground that eventually he couldn't maintain his stranglehold any longer, so Warren started resorting to the WBU so he could continue to have title fights whenever he wanted.

Before the IBF existed, Don King controlled the WBC and Arum controlled the WBA. King and Arum liked it this way as it boxed out all the other promoters and they each had plenty of title fights. Don King had the better deal though as he was personal friends with Sulaiman and didn't have to bribe the WBC. Sulaiman was independently wealthy and refused to take bribes. He'd play favorites for his friends, but you didn't have to buy him off.

Meanwhile, the WBA bribes were getting more and more expensive. It was getting ridiculous. Arum didn't mind at first though because he was the only one that could afford the bribes and it helped him maintain his WBA monopoly. When the Americans tried to take back control of the WBA to get rid of the corruption, Arum used his influence to prevent the Americans from regaining control as he feared he'd lose his monopoly. So the Americans pulled out of the WBA and started the IBF.

Then Don King pulled a G move. He already had the WBC in his pocket, so why not start out bidding Arum on the WBA bribes and then Don King could control both titles? That's what King did. Now King controlled everything. Arum, out foxed at his own game, pissed that Don King was out bribing him, went public about the bribes and explained exactly how it all worked, who you had to bribe, etc. Then Arum jumped in bed with the IBF and now King controlled the WBC & WBA and Arum did everything in his power to put the IBF on the map and control the IBF.

But the WBA's bag man who funneled all the bribes was disgraced and publicly shamed when Arum had exposed him by name. So he was blackballed by the WBA and started the WBO.

Eventually the IBF become just as corrupt as the WBA and Don King started out bidding Arum on the IBF bribes as well. Arum was a man without an island. He had De La Hoya, which meant a Mexican following, which helped him gain some power in the WBC. Not as much as King, but with King trying to control all three now, there were some WBC scraps for Arum. But Arum wanted to control his own org, like he had with the WBA and then later with the IBF, so Arum threw all his weight behind the IBA just as Warren was doing with the WBU as both were used to having a monopoly of one of the groups and if they couldn't have a monopoly of an existing group, they'd try to prop up a new one.

The plan didn't work though. There were just too many sanctioning bodies. The owners of the WBU and IBA ended up dying a few years later and Arum and Warren both started focusing fully on the WBO. They've managed to share it ever since, although Arum has way more pull than Warren at this point. With Hearn kicking Warren's ass, Warren has to just live with what he can get. But yes, Arum and Warren do coordinate. Look what just happened at the WBO convention with the belts all being vacated in concert with Arum & Warren fighters all being named #1 in each division.

Hearn and Haymon are so dominant with the WBC, WBA and IBF that Arum and Warren, as second fiddle in each of their markets, have to settle for the WBO. But it can get ridiculous. I think very recently 9 of the 17 WBO champions were with Arum? And if you cut out the bottom 5 divisions which are usually controlled by Asians, it meant Arum had 9 of the top 12 weight classes of the WBO. It's crazy. Warren had the rest.

Great post thanks! Some questions:

If Sulaiman didnt accept bribes, and only helped out his friends, then how did Al Haymon come to control the WBC? Was he friends with Sulaiman or something?

Secondly, if the bag man that Arum publicly disgraced is who started the WBO, then how did Arum get in the good graces of the WBO? Wouldn't the WBO have been against the man who exposed the man who started the WBO?

[Boxfan83]

For some reason I think Bob Arum is behind this looking like Mr. Burns.

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via *****

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[N/A]

Great post thanks! Some questions:

If Sulaiman didnt accept bribes, and only helped out his friends, then how did Al Haymon come to control the WBC? Was he friends with Sulaiman or something?

Floyd Mayweather is the most loyal and decorated fighter in WBC history. When Haymon took over his career, he gained a lot of influence with the WBC. Haymon also has a lot of stars and the WBC has always catered to the fighters that will best represent the WBC brand. In most of the key markets, the WBC is always in bed with whoever is the #1 force in that market (Hearn in the UK, Haymon in the US, GYM in Canada, etc).

Secondly, if the bag man that Arum publicly disgraced is who started the WBO, then how did Arum get in the good graces of the WBO? Wouldn't the WBO have been against the man who exposed the man who started the WBO?

How did Arum get in the good graces of the IBF after being the one that used his influence to block the Americans from regaining control of the WBA, which is what caused them to flea and create the IBF?

Simple . . . Arum is loyal until it makes sense to be disloyal. Even though Arum had totally screwed the American contingent at the WBA convention, once King took over the WBA, the Americans (who then started the IBF), needed legitimacy and Arum offered it.

Years later, when Arum took over the WBO, the WBO couldn't afford to hold a grudge over things that took place a decade or two earlier, especially when the people now running the WBO weren't even around back then. The WBO needed legitimacy and Arum offered it.

Arum's preferred method of doing business is to throw all of his support behind one sanctioning body so that they have to do whatever he says. Which sanctioning body he's aligned with has changed a few times, but the business model hasn't changed. Yes it is interesting that the groups he screwed end up becoming the groups he jumped in bed with later, but that's just how things go in boxing sometimes.

The dance between promoters/managers and sanctioning bodies is a delicate one. The sanctioning bodies only have whatever power the promoters/managers give them. The sanctioning bodies exist to create the illusion of independence, but it is nothing more than an illusion. You have to go back to why they exist to begin with. They exist because TV networks wanted the championships to sound more official and to not seem like something the promoter had just made up or decided on his own.

But then it got to the point that networks wouldn't buy a fight unless a "world" title was at stake, so the marketplace needed more and more world titles. Which meant more divisions and more sanctioning bodies.

Promoters are just trying to make a living. This corrupt mess we're in really needs to be blamed on the TV networks and the media.

[P4Pdunny]

Man i only just heard about this today