Flanagan vs Hooker results: Maurice Hooker wins WBO title by split decision

Maurice Hooker went on the road, went the 12-round distance for the first time, and in the end, came away the new WBO junior welterweight champion, beating former lightweight titleholder Terry Flanagan by split decision.

Scores were 115-113 and 117-111 for Hooker, and 117-111 for Flanagan. BLH had the fight 115-113 for Hooker, who improves to 24-0-3 (16 KO) with the win.

Flanagan (33-1, 13 KO) gave a great effort, but struggled some in the first half of the fight with the length and reach of Hooker, who is tall with long arms for the division and was able to establish distance pretty well, while Flanagan looked to bull his way inside and make it a scrappier fight.

Things changed in the seventh round, when Flanagan was cut both on the forehead and outside of his right eye on separate head clashes. With the blood flowing, Flanagan clearly felt a sense of urgency, and started to pick things up pretty quickly.

But Hooker kept himself competitive in the fight even when Flanagan was doing well, and most of the rounds were pretty close, with several that could have really gone either way.

Two judges wound up with fairly wide score cards, one going for Flanagan and the other for Hooker, with those judges perhaps just favoring those fighters in those swing rounds, creating the illusion of a wider gap than there really was in the bout.

How did you score this one?