Manchester Arena Results Apr 8 – Flanagan Holds off Petrov

Manchester Arena Results Apr 8 – Frank Warren and his Queensbury Promotions had the famed Manchester Arena booked Saturday night for a full night of boxing that was headlined by Terry Flanagan’s fifth WBO lightweight title defense as he faced Petr Petrov.

From the start it was clear that Flanagan was facing a determined foe. Flanagan, a skilled counter puncher won several of the earlier rounds in the match as Petrov came up short on his right hand punches. Towards the middle rounds Petrov started to land a bit better as Flanagan appeared to slow down a bit. From there, Flanagan continued to do his best work from the outside as he used a lot of movement to make Petrov chase him, but too often he got bogged down in close by Petrov.

Petrov wanted the fight in close and he had his moments, keeping the fight close through the middle and into the later rounds. In the 11th round Petrov received a cut above his right eyebrow from an apparent head butt. It bled profusely for a minute, adding to his sense of urgency.

Petrov came out with much of the same in round 12 as the crafty Flanagan had seen all Petrov had to offer. In the end, Flanagan successfully defended his title for the fifth time with a 12 round unanimous decision via judges scores of 116-112, 120-108, 118-110. Flanagan now goes to 33-0.

The co- feature was to be for a vacant WBO “interim” world title at 154 pounds but the title would be in play only for Liam Williams as Liam Smith failed to make the official super welterweight limit at the Friday afternoon weigh-ins. Smith is best remembered for his September of 2016 bout with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and he is popular in the U.K. where he is one of a set of four fighting brothers, but the scales were not the only place Smith would look bad.

In Williams, he was facing a man who appeared quicker and crisper with his punches from the outset. Smith was cut above his right eye in the third round, but he never stopped fighting and methodically worked his way back into the fight. In round nine he turned the fight around, cutting Williams with an apparent head butt and flurrying in an attempt to finish him.

The head butt was not scored by the referee and Williams’ corner did not allow their fighter to continue because of the cut, a double laceration of the right eyelid that will require cosmetic surgery. The WBO interim world title remains vacant as Liam Smith steals a win with Williams ahead by one point on all three scorecards.

The pair of co-featured bouts came after a long undercard of matches. Feature fight results appear below.

Manchester Arena Results Apr 8

Saturday, April 8th, 2017 – Manchester Arena, Manchester, U.K.

154 LBS 12 RDS: Liam Smith def Liam Williams via RTD after 10 RDS.
135 LBS 12 RDS: Terry Flanagan def Petr Petrov  via UD (116-112, 120-108, 118-110).
140 LBS 10 RDS: Jack Catterall def Martin Gethin va TKO in RD 3 @1:40.
154 LBS 10 RDS: “Jimmy” Kilrain Kelly def Rick Godding via PTS (96-95)

Manchester Arena Results Apr 8 / Check out more boxing news on video at The Boxing Channel.