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Flanagan-Verdejo set for Sept. 16

Terry Flanagan will be making the sixth defense of his WBO lightweight title.

Boxing at Manchester Arena Photo by Mark Robinson/Getty Images
Wil Esco is an assistant editor of Bad Left Hook and has been covering boxing for SB Nation since 2014.

Young Puerto Rican prospect Felix Verdejo (23-0, 15 KOs) will be getting his first shot at a world title when he takes on WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan (33-0, 13 KOs) on September 16th at the Copper Box Arena in London, per an ESPN report.

For Flanagan, 28, this fight will mark his sixth title defense, most recently beating up Petr Petrov en route to a unanimous decision victory this past April.

Meanwhile Verdejo, 24, will be coming off his unanimous decision win over Oliver Flores in February — his first fight back since his motorcycle accident last summer. That accident left Verdejo in the hospital for five days with numerous cuts and bruises, and had him on the sidelines for the second half of 2016. But Verdejo says he’s happy to be finally getting his shot.

"I'm very happy with the agreement for my world title fight," said Verdejo, the 2014 ESPN.com prospect of the year. "Now it's only a matter of getting ready and going back to England [for the first time since the Olympics], where it all started, and making my dreams of becoming a world champion come true."

This fight will be held on the same card as the recently reported Billy Joe Saunders vs. Willie Monroe Jr. title fight.

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