Jorge Linares vs. Terry Flanagan deal almost done

Boxingnews24.com

By Dan Ambrose: WBO World lightweight champion Terry Flanagan (33-0, 13 KOs) says he’s close to having a deal done for a unification fight against WBA World 135 lb. champion Jorge Linares (43-3, 27 KOs) for a still to be determined date.

This is a good fight for the 32-year-old Linares, as Flanagan, 5’9 ½”, is essentially the same height as Luke Campbell. Linares beat the 5’9” Campbell by a 12 round split decision on September 23 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. It wasn’t an easy fight for Linares, but he proved that he could beat the bigger, taller, stronger and younger Campbell with his speed, ring IQ and boxing skills.

This is an excellent time for Linares to go from Campbell to Flanagan rather than waiting to make that fight down the line. Linares has already fought Campbell, and that’s a great warm up to get him ready for the unbeaten Flanagan.

WBC lightweight champion Mikey Garcia asked Flanagan if he’d be willing to fight him in a unification match, but he turned it down, telling him that he’s almost got a deal set for a fight with Linares.

Here’s what Mikey Garcia said on his social media site to Flanagan on Monday:

”Just say yes, you want to unify? You want a big fight? I can make that happen. Just say yes.”

Flanagan then responded with this:

”I’m aware your team have made mine an offer. However, I have to take care of Jorge Linares first. The deal is all but done.”

You’d have to favor Linares to win this fight. Flanagan, 28, is a good fighter, but he’s mostly a guy that gets over with his huge size in comparison to his opponents. Flanagan looks like a good sized welterweight by the time he rehydrates. I’m not sure how he can make the 135 lb. limit for his fights, but he somehow is able to do it. If Flanagan had to fight in the welterweight division, he’d be lucky to be a top contender.

Flanagan needs this fight. He’s been the WBO lightweight champion for the last 2 years, and he’s successfully defended the belt 5 times against less than popular fighters in Petr Petrov, Orlando Cruz, Mzonke Fana, Derry Mathews and Diego Magdaleno. Raymundo Beltran has been mentioned as an opponent for Flanagan to fight in the near future, but thus far the fight still hasn’t happened. Felix Verdejo should have fought Flanagan a long time ago for his WBO title, but instead he failed to take the fight. Verdejo would have been a tough fight for Flanagan.

Mikey Garcia, 29, needs to move up in weight already to the light welterweight division like he’s been talking about. He’s wasting time sticking around at 135, trying to get the other champions to fight him. The one fight that Mikey can make is against IBF lightweight champion Robert Easter Jr., and that would be a really hard fight for him. I don’t know if it would be worth it either. Mikey can get bigger fights by moving up to 140 and looking to get the likes of Terence Crawford