Terry Flanagan vs. Maurice Hooker set for April 14th vacant title bout

Terence Crawford’s exodus from the super lightweight division left four belts in need of filling. The WBC put together a top-notch tournament, the IBF sanctioned a solid fight between Sergey Lipinets and Akihiro Kondo, and the WBA ordered a rematch between Rances Barthelemy and Kiryl Relikh.

The WBO, meanwhile, will fill its vacancy with either Terry Flanagan or Maurice Hooker, who are officially set to duke it out on April 14th.

Flanagan (33-0, 13 KO) successfully defended his lightweight title five times before signing on to face Felix Verdejo in September. He wound up injuring his leg and ultimately vacating to campaign at 140, where he’s beaten up a few no-hopers but faced nobody of note.

Hooker (23-0-3, 16 KO) should be a sizable underdog despite the weight situation. He was lucky to escape with a draw against Darleys Perez in 2016 and has yet to fight anyone even remotely on Flanagan’s level.

The WBO’s super lightweight rankings are kind of a mess, so this isn’t the worst fight they could have put together, but it’s still a sad excuse for a world title bout.