On Saturday, April 8, 2017, Terry Flanagan (33-0, 13 KOs) made the fifth defense of his WBO Lightweight title with a unanimous decision victory against former world title challenger Petr Petrov (38-5-2, 19 KOs) at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, United Kingdom.
The 12-round fight headlined a full night of action on BT Sports in the U.K.
Flanagan is a 27-year-old native of the UK at the very peak of his abilities, and with wins against Diego Magdaleno, Orlando Cruz and now Petrov, he has made his case as one of the best in his division, though he has stiff competition in the likes of Mikey Garcia, Robert Easter Jr., and Jorge Linares.
Petrov, 34, is a Russian-born fighter who lives in Spain. After his KO loss to Marcos Maidana in 2011, which was held at 140-pounds, he has fought for a crack at a world title in the Lightweight division.
Today, he was close, but it was not enough. Though he did present trouble to Flanagan in the early grounds by being aggressive and by closing the distance, it was not enough to beat Flanagan, who used the long reach from his southpaw stance to outbox and outland Petrov.
The judges scored the fight 116-112, 120-108, 118-110. The score of 120-108 is a very bad score that does not appreciate Petrov’s hard-earned effort.
Header Photo by Photo by Mark Robinson/Getty Images
