The 28-year-old meets Taxas’s Maurice Hooker (23-0-3, 16 early) for the vacant WBO light-welterweight title at the Manchester Arena on Saturday night in a fight that “Turbo” believes can get him on the right track after deciding to vacate his 135lbs belt in order to seek fresh challenges.
“That would mean everything to me,” said Flanagan when speaking to David Anderson of the Daily Mirror about what victory would mean to him. “Ricky is someone I looked up to as a kid so to emulate what he did would be a dream come true.”
Warren handled Hatton’s early career and laid the groundwork for his June 2005 win over the legendary Kostya Tszyu at the same venue.
With all the fight week talk focused on the comeback of Tyson Fury, who meets Sefer Seferi over 10, Warren feels that Flanagan can quietly slip in and possibly steal the show by netting another WBO belt.
“They both have a great desire to win,” he said when comparing Flanagan to “The Hitman”. “They don’t know what defeat means.”
The show will be shown live on BT Sports here in the UK as well as being streamed live in the US via Showtime’s Facebook page.
By Terence Dooley — Photo by Lee Smith / Action Images
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