Not one WBO champion, but two tonight in Flanagan and Crawford are confirmed that they are leaving their current weight divisions.
The widely avoided undefeated fighter Terry Flanagan from Manchester, UK was thought to be on the verge of landing a big fight at 135lbs against Jorge Linares but it appears it wasn’t to be.
The World Boxing Organization have confirmed this evening however that their lightweight champion Terry Flanagan will be moving up to 140lbs (junior welterweight).
He will automatically become the number one contender at the weight for their belt. This comes only around ten days ago when Flanagan put out this tweet in pursuit of the Linares showdown:
Let’s get this fight made @JorgeLinares pic.twitter.com/YpA3YpaeP7
— Terry Flanagan (@terryflanagan5) October 17, 2017
However it was not meant to be and instead will become the mandatory challenger for WBO light-welterweight champion.
This should have been Terence Crawford but it has also been announced, literally in the same hour, that Terence Crawford will also move up in weight and become mandatory challenger for WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn from Australia.
Horn won the crown earlier this year in Australia against previous champion Manny Pacquiao. The WBO have confirmed that the fight must happen within 90 days:
https://twitter.com/WorldBoxingOrg/status/923581788001357824
Pound for pound rated Terence Crawford going to welterweight is obviously huge news.
The wealth of fights that can be made against fellow American 147lbs fighters alone on his door step are mouth watering.
The likes of Errol Spence Jr, Keith Thurman and Danny Garcia spring to mind straight away.
